Who hires transport?

Mary Poppins

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Oct 10, 2004
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I am utterly devastated at the death of my lorry. Due to the fact that I am now starting an MSc I October, funds are really limited and I can’t afford to buy new transport for at least the next 3 years. So I am wondering, who hires on a regular basis? Any pros or cons? Or tips?
 
I know someone who has a pony which they take to driving events and they dont have transport so they hire a small box from a company. I think it costs them about £100 a day for the hire.
 
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I do! I use a company around half an hour away from home (seems to be the closest one!)

It’s £120 per day weekend hire and you pay for any fuel you’ve used. With this particular company you have to pay £250 refundable deposit.

It’s a bit of a pain in the back side as have to go collect first thing in the morning and return at the end of the day.

That said the one I hire is a really lovely lorry with all the high tech gadgets.

It’s really nice to be able to not have to worry about the condition of the lorry knowing it’s nearly brand new etc

I’d love to have another lorry someday however it’s the next best thing until then!
 
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I do! I use a company around half an hour away from home (seems to be the closest one!)

It’s £120 per day weekend hire and you pay for any fuel you’ve used. With this particular company you have to pay £250 refundable deposit.

It’s a bit of a pain in the back side as have to go collect first thing in the morning and return at the end of the day.

That said the one I hire is a really lovely lorry with all the high tech gadgets.

It’s really nice to be able to not have to worry about the condition of the lorry knowing it’s nearly brand new etc

I’d love to have another lorry someday however it’s the next best thing until then!

This has cheered me up, and yes I like the idea of driving a new lorry as well. I worked out that my lorry cost me about £2000 per year to run if I factor in the cost of buying it and maintaining it over the 6 year period.

Weekend rentals round my way cost between £75 and £95 per day and about £60 per half day. Therefore I could hire a lorry at least 25 times per year for less than it costs me to keep my own. And for that I always get to drive a new one.

Ben is getting old and slowing down. He is still recovering from his op and won’t be trotting till at least November, if at all. Even if he makes a complete recovery we won’t be boxing out for lessons and clinics anymore anyway, our outings will focus more on fun shows.

I am desperately trying to convince myself that my lorry dying is a good thing. I am failing miserably. I want it back!!!
 
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It was costing you £2000 a year. I'll say it again. £2000 a year. Honestly you will have £2000 to spend on Ben now. You've said it yourself, hopefully you dont need it till November at least (no more trips to horse hospital). If you do then just hire one. Theres no point in having a lorry sitting there if you dont need it. It's a money drain and will deteriorate with no use anyway.
 
It was costing you £2000 a year. I'll say it again. £2000 a year. Honestly you will have £2000 to spend on Ben now. You've said it yourself, hopefully you dont need it till November at least (no more trips to horse hospital). If you do then just hire one. Theres no point in having a lorry sitting there if you dont need it. It's a money drain and will deteriorate with no use anyway.

You know it is crazy when you think about how much it costs to keep a lorry on the road. Mine was really cheap compared to some. This is how I broke it down.

£5000 for the original purchase (including check from mobile mechanic)
Per year:
£295 road fund
£180 breakdown
£250 insurance
£500 (at least) servicing/MOT/maintenance costs.
Therefore £1225 per year for 6 years.

£1225 x 6 = £7350.
£7350 + £5000 = £12,350
£12,350/6 = £2,059 per year.

I know that it is now a death trap, but I can't help feeling upset at the loss. I think that is part of the bigger picture. For 8 years of having him, Ben has been at the very heart of my life. Absolutely everything revolved around him. Now he is injured, the lorry has gone, and I am about to start a very intensive MSc training course. Life won't be all about him anymore and I won't be taking him out in my lorry twice a week anymore.

I don't know why this has suddenly hit me now? He has been lame for over 18 months and I have only used the lorry to take him to hospital and back twice in all that time anyway. But I guess I always had hope that we would go back to our old ways. But even if the lorry hadn't died, that will never happen. Ben is still lame and after all this time he is never going to get back to his previous level and I need to accept that. It's just very hard to accept and I don't want to!
 
I know how you feel, believe it or not but I actually have a hard time accepting that I cant do what I use to with chunky. I only rode him about 6 times during the whole of last year. The year before I did a bit more. This year I've sat on him twice, and the last time I could feel he was not happy with me on him. In spite the girls rode him a lot last year and we even took him to 5 funrides. Something I thought 4 years ago would never happen again. I miss riding him 4/5 times a week. I have one girl who still rides him once a week and I think he enjoys being able to go out with Billy but I hate that it's not me riding him. I still drive him once or twice a week and the odd lunge but it doesnt have that spark anymore. The reason I got Billy was to make up for not being able to ride chunky, but a lot of the time I still wish I could ride chunky. Some how I feel I had a better bond and was more connected with him when i rode. I dont know how long till I have to retire him from any form of work or indeed how long I will have him, but I know I have to find a way to enjoy him, it's just how.
 
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I know how you feel, believe it or not but I actually have a hard time accepting that I cant do what I use to with chunky. I only rode him about 6 times during the whole of last year. The year before I did a bit more. This year I've sat on him twice, and the last time I could feel he was not happy with me on him. In spite the girls rode him a lot last year and we even took him to 5 funrides. Something I thought 4 years ago would never happen again. I miss riding him 4/5 times a week. I have one girl who still rides him once a week and I think he enjoys being able to go out with Billy but I hate that it's not me riding him. I still drive him once or twice a week and the odd lunge but it doesnt have that spark anymore. The reason I got Billy was to make up for not being able to ride chunky, but a lot of the time I still wish I could ride chunky. Some how I feel I had a better bond and was more connected with him when i rode. I dont know how long till I have to retire him from any form of work or indeed how long I will have him, but I know I have to find a way to enjoy him, it's just how.

That last sentence says it all. Even though it isn't what we really want or what we have planned or dreamed, we need to find a way to enjoy our horses in the here and now. Mourning of what I can't have or what I used to have doesn't do either Ben or I any good.
 
I know how you feel - I had a little yellow Fiesta van that I bought for my son to run around in when he was at Uni - then I used it to deliver engines & gearboxes all over Europe - that van did 1000s of miles and it never missed a beat - eventually it was getting too corroded to be worth repairing and I picked up another van cheap on Ebay - it was a non runner (but a simple fix) and the little yellow van's last job was to go and tow the new van home. I stripped out all the good stuff from the yellow van and took it to the scrap yard - I was really sad at saying goodbye to it and even told the scrappy to take good care of it! :rolleyes:
 
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I know how you feel - I had a little yellow Fiesta van that I bought for my son to run around in when he was at Uni - then I used it to deliver engines & gearboxes all over Europe - that van did 1000s of miles and it never missed a beat - eventually it was getting too corroded to be worth repairing and I picked up another van cheap on Ebay - it was a non runner (but a simple fix) and the little yellow van's last job was to go and tow the new van home. I stripped out all the good stuff from the yellow van and took it to the scrap yard - I was really sad at saying goodbye to it and even told the scrappy to take good care of it! :rolleyes:

It does make me feel better to know I am not the only person to feel sad at the death of a vehicle! I have actually sold my lorry at a very cheap price to a friend who has a mechanic husband. He is either going to try and replace the chassis on it, or will strip it down and make a profit selling off all the parts as spares. At least I know it will be as useful as possible until the very end.
 
I rented trailers a lot for years, we were such frequent fliers at one point the guy used to do us a special deal to have a trailer Friday-Monday every weekend (he had about a dozen he rented out), he knew we looked after it and returned it clean etc. It probably cost me half a trailers value in a year, but it was new trailers and all the maintenance included, and we were going all over the country so I didn't mind.
 
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This has cheered me up, and yes I like the idea of driving a new lorry as well. I worked out that my lorry cost me about £2000 per year to run if I factor in the cost of buying it and maintaining it over the 6 year period.

Weekend rentals round my way cost between £75 and £95 per day and about £60 per half day. Therefore I could hire a lorry at least 25 times per year for less than it costs me to keep my own. And for that I always get to drive a new one.

Ben is getting old and slowing down. He is still recovering from his op and won’t be trotting till at least November, if at all. Even if he makes a complete recovery we won’t be boxing out for lessons and clinics anymore anyway, our outings will focus more on fun shows.

I am desperately trying to convince myself that my lorry dying is a good thing. I am failing miserably. I want it back!!!

I know what you mean! I think you’ll definitely be financially better off just hiring once or twice a month for fun things!

I sold my lorry I think 5 years ago now? (Wow where has that time gone!) I had no choice but to sell it for various reasons and it felt very sad letting go of our freedom!

I made a plan this year to hire a lorry once or twice a month during the summer and to really enjoy Finn, then he went lame in May and we are facing the similar sort of situation as you and Ben now.

I’m just praying the vet will deem him ok for a hack once or twice a week, and maybe the odd fun ride. It’s very hard letting go of what you used to be able to do, and trying to fill that void with other things is a real struggle !
 
I know what you mean! I think you’ll definitely be financially better off just hiring once or twice a month for fun things!

I sold my lorry I think 5 years ago now? (Wow where has that time gone!) I had no choice but to sell it for various reasons and it felt very sad letting go of our freedom!

I made a plan this year to hire a lorry once or twice a month during the summer and to really enjoy Finn, then he went lame in May and we are facing the similar sort of situation as you and Ben now.

I’m just praying the vet will deem him ok for a hack once or twice a week, and maybe the odd fun ride. It’s very hard letting go of what you used to be able to do, and trying to fill that void with other things is a real struggle !

Oh no, I hope that Finn recovers. What is wrong with him?

It really is a void when the horsey part of life falls down. Going out in my lorry with Ben was the highlight of my week. It was my social life and I really enjoyed meeting up with friends and making new ones. We would mainly go out completely on our own and always end up chatting to the people who parked next to us etc. Without this I feel lost and cheated. It's like I haven't got an aim for the week or anything to focus on or get excited about anymore. While I obviously still love Ben and still care for him like I always did, walking in straight lines for 9 months just doesn't give me the same thrill as I used to get from doing all the other activities we took part in.

But, I am aware how lucky I am to still have him, and we will keep going with the rehab, whatever the long term outcome may be.
 
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