Trailer & 4x4 running costs vs box hire

[TraceyBond]

Could I ask you how much you spend on running a towing vehicle and trailer? Storage, Tax and Insurance etc.

I need a new car and am seriously considering doing my trailer licence (about £500) and buying a 4x4 and trailer. I think I'd spend about £5000 on both or perhaps £5000 on the car and then hire a trailer at £60 per day for a few months while saving for a trailer.

But I am having doubts, I've had really costly cars in the passed and must have spent thousands on fixing problems. I am getting the Fear that I should just buy a little car and get a much newer, lower mileage car for that money. Then I could hire a local 3.5 tonne box at £100 per day.

I want the trailer to go out hacking, we're happy hackers and while my current yard is great in every other way the hacking lets me down. I'd love the freedom to just box up on a Sunday morning and head off to the beach or forest or gallops.

I just can't decide which makes the most financial sense.

a - Small car, lower costs, lower mpg. Hire lorry once a month £1200 over the year
b - Big car, higher costs, higher mpg (although my daily drives are

There are some trailer/car combinations that can come in under the weight for needing to take trailer test. Obviously this would depend on how many horses you want to travel. There is some really good information of the Horse and Hound forum about this and one chap in particular is very up on this.

Yeah I'm a member of HHO too. I've thought about the smaller vehicle but my horse is a chunky cob and it would be more fun to be able to take friends.

TBH I've just done some calcs of my own and every combo of loan, storage, car, lorry, insurance, tax comes out at £250-300 per month and I can't justify spending that much on a car.

I think I might just have to think about lorry hire every few months as a special trip - or move yards LOL

I’ve not got my own transport, but a friend bought a smart new trailer. Her big bugbear, was how many people asked her to ‘do her a favour’ and transport their horse. In exchange for a tenner of petrol money!

I have a car able to tow 2200kg which does not cost much more than a normal car to run (Tiguan) and it can easily pull a small trailer plus ponies. Our trailer is 990kg plus pony at 400kg puts us well underweight.

I don't think it's worth it financially to do what you want with a large 4x4 though and if I were you I would stick to hiring.

I've just bought a trailer and a car that can tow it. The car is a 2.2l 4x4 and boy, does it guzzle diesel! I traded in my previous car as it couldn't tow enough weight. Car payments are £350 a month but that's for a 2 yr old car.

Trailer storage at my yard is £1.20 a week, trailer insurance was around £130 for the year and I got a years free equine breakdown and recovery cover with my trailer as it was purchased new.

Even using it every week it'd probably work out cheaper to hire transport than doing it my way!

I bought a single trailer to avoid having to give lifts!

I would buy because as you say if you hire then it will end up being a very rare occurrence you get a trip out.
I have a ifor mare and foal ( ie big single, only 12" narrower than a regular ifor) and tow my 16:3 mare in that with a 2010 kia sportage ( need to be careful which model, mine is a 2l 4WD and Can tow 2 tonnes, others are much lighter so no use for towing)
Horse and trailer together weigh about 1500 kg so plenty of wriggle room for water and kit.
I use it loads, 2-3x a week, and love the idea that if i want to go somewhere i can, and the only additional cost at that point is diesel. It is also so much more convenient, no worries about early starts, or late finishes costing you extra.
Cost wise, no idea what insurance for trailer is as lumped in with horse, keep trailer at home.
Car cost me £6k this year, and does about 37 mpg commuting.
I do think if you are short of money then thinking you have to buy a double so you can transport mates is probably stretching it.