USA Boat purchase

[Busterbrown]

I am hopeing I can save others from the screwing around I recieved while purchasing a boat in the USA. I had been dealing with a broker on a boat in the San francisco area for approx 1 month. We had exchanged dozens of emails,photos and talked on the phone many times and had come to a deal on price. Now the work and expense starts.I thought I had done my due diligence on the boat. I had a mechanical inspection done,all was good. I then arranged for a survey to be done on the hull and a sea trial scheduled with the surveyor when I arrived to pick it up

I drove 15 hrs down to Sanfran and arrived around 20:00 checked into the hotel and headed to the marina where the boat was sitting on its trailer for the hull survey the next day. When I arrived the boat looked like it had never seen a brush or soap.It looked nothing like the photos I recieved. In addition there was a medium sized area that had a discolouration in the gelcoat,not noticable unless you were looking for it,which I was. I called the broker and explained my pissedoff -o- meter was off the charts.This despite the claim from him that the boat was "like new".At this point I had only spent $800 on mechanical inspection and fuel to get there.They did have my $4500USD deposit.
In the am I arrived at the boat to find 6 people working on it with buffers, acetone and polishing compound.It actually looked like a different boat than the night before

About an hour later everyone involved arrives, two brokers,the boat owner,surveyor and mechanical tech. I showed the surveyor the discolouration on the gelcoat and he explained that it could be as minor as some dock rash or could be major damage repair. Fifteen minutes later he calles me up to the boat as he had pulled the panels off to reveal significant evidence of major structural repair. The first two questions I asked when beginning the process was Any damage history with the boat and any insurance claims. The responce was no, it is like new!!
That was a deal breaker for me. I demanded my deposit returned and which was wired the next day.The owner and the broker claimed they did not know about the damage. Not possible . Another 15hrs home with no boat. In total I had invested $800 in mech inspection,$500 for the survey and $600 in diesel.I guess my recomendation is to get as much info as possible, ask if the photos you recieved are current and see the unit in person. Shipping might be easier or cheaper but may not be the best idea

 

[Tugcapitan]

What a let down
Thanks for sharing, and good for you not letting 'new boat fever' take control of your senses!

 

[Peahead]

X2 Thanks for sharing.

On a positive note I think for the most part you were successful with the process.......what I am saying is that you avoided getting stuck with a bad boat because you followed a process to eliminate a bad boat. Asking if the photos were current and if they are the actual boat for sale are good questions - ask to have more taken at specific camera angles so that you can determine more info as well as shows they are likely recent photos ( since you asked for that angle) . It will always cost some money to pursue a boat purchase and better you bail due to a bad surveyors report then to miss something and get stuck with a bad purchase. Yes you could have saved some travel costs and its the steps in the process than help avoid that.

It is buyer beware, even with a broker. I think it is certainly possible that a broker may not be aware of any previous damage, especially if the boat showed no past record of repair/ insurance claims. The boat could have been repaired privately and/or with no insurance claim anyway. The owner ( if he was not original owner ) may also have not known of any damage repair either due to no survey when he bought it.....or an incompetent surveyor. If the seller knew of a repair, he may feel the repair is done perfectly well and therefore feels that it is not necessary to disclose this. Asking for service/repair history may help find it - if seller has no service history paper work then that's one mark against the sale right there anyway. Again , buyer beware.

When ever you look to purchase south you obviously have to look at the extra costs involved compared to buying local. Also you must accept that there may be some costs involved in the process before you choose the "right" boat. Buying local you still have mechanical and survey costs but little to no travel cost. Buying in US you must narrow things down as much as possible with each choice because you want to avoid shelling out hundreds of dollars toward checks and travel then to just have to eliminate it to move on to yet another with its own set of expensive checks/travel.

The process is to go through the steps in proper order and if at any point the boat doesn't satisfy (after 100+ photos viewed, service records, the mechanical check, the surveyor's report, and finally travel for visual inspection and sea trial) then you move on to another. What you want to attempt to avoid is paying $ to travel to US prior to having done all the preliminary checks first. You can save a lot of money by doing your checks in the right order.

My only suggestion ( that would have saved your travel time, travel and accommodation expense) is to have the mechanical and survey done prior to your travel. In your case the cost of time and travel and hotel would have been eliminated because the surveyor would have reported to you the issue that he found that was a deal breaker for you. You can always have the surveyor meet you at the boat if his original inspection, before you travelled there, was acceptable to you. Visual inspection and sea trial being the last steps.

Have your offer sheet written up with all 'subjects' in writing done once you decide you want to make an offer (this along with deposit will hold the boat for you until you can travel to sea trial if all other checks have passed) Offer should be subject to all the checks stated above as well as your final visual inspection and satisfactory sea trial. Also, the signed offer should be stated that your deposit will be returned to you within 5 days if for ANY reason you choose to not purchase the boat.

FYI Deposit should have only been about 5-10% so unless the boat was worth $45,000 that was too high.

 

[Busterbrown]

All very good points..thanks. I did have the mechanical inspection done before I went down, everything checked out great compression good , no codes, gear box dry and held pressure. The survey included a sea trial with the surveyor to check on all operation of the boat. I wanted to be there for the sea trial,unfortunately it never got that far The price of the boat was in excess of 45k

 

[steve01]

I bought a boat from a dealer two years ago on the east coast used..never seen until the day it arrived at the border(besides photos and videos). Never got a survey I trusted the dealer and the boat has been great.

Problem with brokers I noticed most of them actually know nothing about the boat there selling they just want the commission. I'm sure some are good but I'd stick with a private sale or a dealer. Do your homework and you won't have to waste your time. Your the buyer demand videos photos to insure the boat is really what is being advertised.

Good luck