Tell me about you 3.5T horse box please

[Seventimesaday]

My horse isn’t good on the road and since there is more and more traffic I am considering buying a horsebox, so I can park up and just hack off road.

I saw. a 2016 conversion within my price range, but looking at its history it regularly fails the MOT first time. Another one said ‘tax’ was around £30 per month. That can’t be road tax can it???

What make of horse box do you drive? How old is it and what mileage has it done, and is it still reliable?
Also a rough cost of running it per year would be extremely helpful.

In all honesty I'm not a fan of 3.5t boxes. They tend to be flimsy, poor conversions and don't have the correct payloads. Ask about the payload and see how many are around 800kg yet regularly carry 2 x horses!!
I understand the attraction in that they drive more like a car but I've seen too many shoddy ones. Personally prefer either trailer or 7.5 t.

Yes, it’s the ease of drive that attracts me. In theory, I could drive a 7.5 but it’s just too big. The box I was looking at had a 1200 kg payload which is more than enough. I would only be transporting one horse in it except in emergencies.

My car isn’t suitable for pulling a trailer and everyday mileage in a towing car would make it too expensive to do my commute to work, which means I would have to buy a second car just for pulling a trailer, and that combination works out a lot dearer than a small horsebox.

Certified 1200 payload?
I would personally budget 2K on top of purchase price for a good mechanic to give it a thorough look + replace basic parts.
Others will hopefully comment with more recommendations for 3.5t

I recently sold ours.

It was made by courchevel and was a crew cab (so 5 seats) 3.5t. It had a certified payload of 1.08t. i bought it new in early 2017 and it was a 2010reg. It came with about 130k on the clock and left with about 139k (pony did an injury which meant for 2.5 years it went on occasional trips to horse-pital and I’d drive it about to give it a leg stretch). For most of its time with us we did PC/DR so venues were only local, usually 20 min away or so. In its last year I was competing nationally so it was regularly 70-100 miles each way.

The road tax on it was £40 a month I think, the insurance/recovery was about the same.

I was lucky and didn’t have any major issues. Aside from annual service, I had a couple of minor issues. Break pads I think, tightening the handbrake for MOT, new battery, new wipers. Only slightly bigger issue was new starter motor.

I did have to replace the ramp… but that was because I leant it out and the borrowing horse pratted about, and managed to rear and land on the edge of the ramp, bending it v slightly, just the edging lip that you weren’t meant to stand on.

I was thinking about this earlier and forgot to say- my only criticism of the box, and one of the main reasons I decided to sell, was that the interior was just too big for our 14.2 cob.

The breast wall was 5ft, and I don’t know how long the interior was but long enough for a much bigger horse.

When travelling he didn’t put his head above/over the breast wall as it was too tall to be comfortable. He would stand further back with his head inside the horse area, his bum still didn’t touch the wall.

This was never an issue when we were doing local trips but when we were going much longer (and competing in endurance), he would be tired for the return trip and had started to get a bit tricky to load sometimes. I think it was because he was tired, and he had to really hold himself in that lorry, he couldn’t lean.

We had used it to carry a friends 17.2 warm blood who fitted absolutely fine, so you can imagine, it was cavernous inside!

I think it would have been fine for a bigger horse, but perhaps something to bear in mind if yours is pony size or so.

Obviously I don’t know your commute Op, but mine is 30 miles each way, every day.
I have done loads of comparisons and the cheapest options stay at car and trailer ( I did even run a 3.5 t and a small car for a while and the costs were horrendous).
i run a VW tiguan, can tow more than 2.2 tonne, and a trailer. Based on daily commute plus 1x trip to trainers after work, plus 1x trip reasonably local (30-40 mins) every weekend and my diesel costs are £70-80. Then only 1x insurance, maintenance, mot, tyres etc.a

I have a 3.5 tonne 13/14 plate which has done 76k miles. Its a movano base converted by Courchevel. Its brilliant, tough, starts every single time and is very easy to drive.

I have a movano too. I love it. Drives really nicely!

I hate trailers with a passion and keeping a 7.5t road worthy was getting too much, booking 6 months in advance for platings every year was stressful too.

I have had a few 3.5ts now, my current one is a 2010 Renault Master, fully coach built converted in 2021. certified 1180kg pay load. drives brilliantly, fun paintwork that i can notice in a field of other 3.5ts at a show😂I have a full wall separating the grooms are and horses, plus a stallion partition so its rear safe too.
i think its £38 tax,

I have an Equitrek 4.5t box and it is an absolute dream - we live down a narrow road so a 7.5t lorry would be massive and I hated reversing with my old trailer. It has a payload of 1500 so I can fit in two warmbloods and their odds and sods. I gave it a new floor when I bought it (just to be sure) and as it's built on a Peugeot, the engine light likes to go on and off for fun, but it gets me where I need to be and both my mares will load into it immediately. Costs me around £42 a month including tax, insurance and breakdown cover.

This is a very ignorant question but how do you get the payload certified. I travel with only one horse (14.2 connie) but would like the option to take a friend, but I need to know the payload and it doesn't seem to have come with my paperwork

I'd not be scared of a 7.5t. Gives you a much sturdier vehicle and considerably more payload / flexibility. As long as you have somewhere to park one...

While not quite the same, we decided to go for a >10t expedition truck and we take it along single track roads etc. all over the country. It did require us both to take our C licence (rigid >7.5t) - but that was a good experience - we both gained a lot of confidence and it made us better drivers. Cost about £1.75k for training and test (each). As a private HGV our tax is only c. £165 per year.

Agree with the recommendation of getting an inspection, whatever you buy.

@Flixon Google public weighbridge + your area and you’ll find the nearest one

There should be a plate or label on the vehicle giving max payload. You could load your horse and weigh at a weighbridge to see how much spare capacity you have for another horse on board.

by the way… weighing your vehicle at a weighbridge doesn’t give the payload - it gives the total weight of the vehicle.

Not to put a downer on owning a box but I’ve had 2 Renault masters and the cost of running was astronomical.

Repairs even worse. Both of mine broke down multiple times. Each time the bill was £1000s!

I would always go trailer now. It’s probably way cheaper to hire unless you use it a few times a week.

i did 10,000 miles a year in my old Renault Master and no issues, my current ones the same so far (touch wood!)

A lot of people will take it for an MOT to see what it will fail on, then do the work, rather than pre-emptively do the work (often in case it's not going to pass economically), so fails aren't a huge issues. However, if you look at the advisories and the same ones come up time after time, then it shows they're happy to ignore safety issues, so may be worth avoiding.
I am also considering a 3.5 as fed up with having to wait ages for plating on a 7.5 and it costing £1500+ every year, even when it's a couple of bulbs and a windscreen wiper. Even the tyres on my 7.5 are £300+ each.