Transporting Car from England to Northern Ireland

[Warhon3]

Hello all,

 

I’m currently looking at purchasing my first Westfield. The only problem I’m having is living in Northern Ireland there isn’t much choice.
 

I have seen a car advertised on here in Stamford, Lincolnshire but I’m having problems with how to get the car back home. 
 

I don’t have an access to a trailer and I wouldn’t feel confident driving it home with the car needing a bit of work and for fear of something going wrong (driving time would be in excess of 5 hours). Also the great British weather is hit or miss at the moment.

 

Has anyone had experience with this sort of thing? I have looked at quotes with car transport companies but they are quite expensive coming in at around £1000. 
 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks, Waz

[Mark (smokey mow)]

6 minutes ago, Warhon3 said:

Hello all,

 

I’m currently looking at purchasing my first Westfield. The only problem I’m having is living in Northern Ireland there isn’t much choice.
 

I have seen a car advertised on here in Stamford, Lincolnshire but I’m having problems with how to get the car back home. 
 

I don’t have an access to a trailer and I wouldn’t feel confident driving it home with the car needing a bit of work and for fear of something going wrong (driving time would be in excess of 5 hours). Also the great British weather is hit or miss at the moment.

 

Has anyone had experience with this sort of thing? I have looked at quotes with car transport companies but they are quite expensive coming in at around £1000. 
 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks, Waz

what concerns you about driving it home? You mention it needs a bit of work, has it been off the road for a while or is it just cosmetic?

 

my local company were £1 per mile the last time I used them so your 800 miles (400 in each direction) plus the cost of a ferry and overnight accommodation does seem a fair price.

 

why not make a road trip of it and break the journey down into short legs? There’s some lovely roads to enjoy on that journey.

[Flying Carrot Steve]

20 minutes ago, Warhon3 said:

Hello all,

 

I’m currently looking at purchasing my first Westfield. The only problem I’m having is living in Northern Ireland there isn’t much choice.
 

I have seen a car advertised on here in Stamford, Lincolnshire but I’m having problems with how to get the car back home. 
 

I don’t have an access to a trailer and I wouldn’t feel confident driving it home with the car needing a bit of work and for fear of something going wrong (driving time would be in excess of 5 hours). Also the great British weather is hit or miss at the moment.

 

Has anyone had experience with this sort of thing? I have looked at quotes with car transport companies but they are quite expensive coming in at around £1000. 
 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks, Waz

One of the lads in our Bristol and Bath WSCC WhatsApp group now lives in NI, he may know. Also it may give you someone to blat with and do track days if that's your thing. 

 

I'll give him a nudge, not sure if he's on here or not. 

[Warhon3]

11 minutes ago, Mark (smokey mow) said:

what concerns you about driving it home? You mention it needs a bit of work, has it been off the road for a while or is it just cosmetic?

 

my local company were £1 per mile the last time I used them so your 800 miles (400 in each direction) plus the cost of a ferry and overnight accommodation does seem a fair price.

 

why not make a road trip of it and break the journey down into short legs? There’s some lovely roads to enjoy on that journey.

Hi Mark,

 

Thanks for getting back to me.

 

I would absolutely love to drive it home and I never thought about splitting the journey up so thanks for that recommendation.
 

My only concern is that the seller has stated that the carbs need set up to get it running properly? He also stated that he never really takes it on long runs so wouldn’t be sure what it’s like over a journey like this. 
 

It also doesn’t have poppers to be able to fit the wet weather hood so if it rains it might be a problem! 

[Warhon3]

5 minutes ago, Flying Carrot Steve said:

One of the lads in our Bristol and Bath WSCC WhatsApp group now lives in NI, he may know. Also it may give you someone to blat with and do track days if that's your thing. 

 

I'll give him a nudge, not sure if he's on here or not. 

Thanks Steve 

[evosteve]

If you have a tow bar worth looking at trailer hire. A Westfield is a nice light load.

[Mark (smokey mow)]

22 minutes ago, Warhon3 said:

Hi Mark,

 

Thanks for getting back to me.

 

I would absolutely love to drive it home and I never thought about splitting the journey up so thanks for that recommendation.
 

My only concern is that the seller has stated that the carbs need set up to get it running properly? He also stated that he never really takes it on long runs so wouldn’t be sure what it’s like over a journey like this. 
 

It also doesn’t have poppers to be able to fit the wet weather hood so if it rains it might be a problem! 

Hi Waz, I understand your concern if it’s not running right.

 

As for the hood don’t expect to to be brilliant, a set of good waterproofs can be more effective at keeping you dry than a roof.

 

I used mine a lot but more so when it was cold to stay warm. In the wet I tended to prefer a full tonneau and a good goretex jacket.

[Mark (smokey mow)]

13 minutes ago, evosteve said:

If you have a tow bar worth looking at trailer hire. A Westfield is a nice light load.

Or if it’s for a number of days buy one rather than hire.

 

depreciation on trailers is virtually non-existent so you may find that buying one and then selling again once you get back to Ireland works out cheeper than the cost of hiring.

[7Westfield]

Can you hire a trailer one way?

[evosteve]

Very unlikely, never found anyone with more than one site. 

[Mark (smokey mow)]

30 minutes ago, evosteve said:

Very unlikely, never found anyone with more than one site. 

Indespension have branches across the country including NI and ROI and offer hire. 
 

https://indespension.co.uk/trailers/to-hire?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrcKxBhBMEiwAIVF8rCX3G0ajaO1K0-dRWGLHUspLCM6diXN3duiBv0F2CWNSZ6tHVXY1rBoCwsAQAvD_BwE

 

No idea of prices though and whether you can return it to a different branch.

[Flying Carrot Steve]

[Flying Carrot Steve]

At least you can sell the trailer afterwards if needs be and as @Mark (smokey mow)says, depreciation is almost non-existent 

[jeff oakley]

Whatever you do it will cost you. 

 

Option 1 fly to East Midlands and then train to Stamford. Make sure you have RAC recovery and drive it back. If it did breakdown you are covered. It is around 170 miles to Liverpool and three hours and a bit if you stick to Motorways.

 

Option 2 get it transported, a thousand is not far out in truth and easiest.

 

Option 3 hire a trailer drive over collect car and drive back, with ferry costs fuel etc that seems hard work and will you save much?

 

A mate of mine sold the shonkyest locost which had a rover V8 to a guy in greece. He flew over and drove it back with no weather gear or heater in October. Motor bike gear and helmet, he got back fine. Unless the car you are looking at is a shed it should make that journey okay 

[Nick Algar - Competition Secretary]

I've gone across to NI racing for 15 years, but always trailering the car (not road legal) as has already been said there are some great roads you could use to get back, rather than the motorways. Whatever you do, I think you'd find it cheaper to split the journey into 2 parts, mainland UK and then Ferry/NI Journey. As long as car is running the 2nd bit shouldn't be a problem for you, drive on Ferry and then home. If you don't fancy driving it up to Ferry terminal then see if you can get a transport company to take there, it will cost, but no-where near as much as adding the crossing in.