Questions about selling a boat
 

I have read a number of posts about buying/selling a boat and have followed the general consensus on a couple of transactions in the past. I am now in the process of selling my Cig to an out of town buyer, we have agreed on a price and he is in the process of setting up a survey and a mechanical insp. but at this time I don't have anything in writing or any deposit. I just got a call from the surveyor to schedule an appointment and he was planning on doing a sea trial, which was a complete shock to me. I had pretty much been under the impression, that after a deal is made, ie; deposit, contract, inspections etc. that a boat is sold contingent on a sea trial by the buyer, and assuming there were no issues it was a done deal. Now I know in a tough boat selling market you might have to go the extra mile but this? Am I out of line here or not????
HELP!!!

Thanks.
John

Grin and bear it!

I wouldn't let the surveyor drive the boat for insurance purposes. The sea trial I had done the surveyor just went along for the ride............and about shut his pants at 65mph during a rough day on the chesapeake.

Will it not make it through a sea trial?

I'd run the surveyor all over the lake. The buyer is going to listen to him more than you, so give him a smooth ride. Hell the surveyor might give you a deposit if the boat is nice enough!:D

If I were paying for a survey long distance (which I did), I would certainly expect that the surveyor would do a sea trial. That is part of what he gets paid for. I would make any deal contingent upon the boat passing a full marine survey & sea trial. As a seller, you should have no problem with that in my opinion. As a buyer, wouldn't you want the same?

"Questions about selling a boa"t

Buy Low, Sell High

The buyer is spending money for the survey so maybe he is serious. It would be nice to get a deposit though. In this market I would go for the boat ride with me driving.

I would have something in writing and a deposit before a sea trial. The sea trial isn't going to break the deal he should be willing to give you a deposit if he is serious.

What he said!!!

If he's ponying up for a survey, he's probably serious. If you have another buyer, you can press the issue. if not, I'd smile & be accommodating. I'd at least check to see what accreditation the surveyor has. If nothing else, if the guy carries no certifications nor has any high-performance experience, he may do you more harm than good. Plus, I wouldn't want a non-accredited surveyor fooling with my boat.

Send the guy a contract that he will purchase the boat pending Sea trail and survey for the agreed price within X amount of days. I have seen people plan a vacation on a high performance boat during a vacation. No intention of actually buying. Now he did for k out the cash for the survey, but thats cheep when gas is $4.50 per gallon and you will be trailering, probably buying lunch and generally kissing his his rump to get the deal done.
Without a contract signed up front, niether one of you have actually "Agreed" on anything. He may have said he would pay you a price, but you both left all the variables open. If its in writting, you both know the expectations of performance and quality to meet an agreed value.
People do "Joy ride" and waste each others time when it comes to boats more than you would ever think!

1. Get contract signed.
2. Letter from lender or bank on funds.
3. Delivery date post sea trail and survey.

But what do I know?

That sounds good on paper, but...

I've looked at ALOT of boats in the last 30 years. Not one time have I been given a prior description that was 100% accurate. They have all varied from minor omissions to blatant misrepresentation. In the majority of cases the seller was deliberately misleading. My "good faith" is paying from my own pocket for the surveyor. If someone harballed me, first I'd consider that to be a red flag on condition. Second, I'd want a provision that they'd pay the surveyor's fee if the survey wasn't reflective of the boat's actual condition.

It all comes down to how much you want to sell the boat and how concerned you are about scaring off a buyer. If he's serious enough to send the surveyor, I'd say he's going to be serious enough to enter into a written agreement. Obviously if the survey contains some undisclosed defect that changes the deal but agreement, test ride and re-negotiation on price "just because" wouldn't fly with me.

OK let me get this straight, you have a buyer who is serious enough to pay for a surveyer to go out on a sea trail and you have concerns??????

Take the surveyer out, so what if you spend $100 in gas, it doesn't say it has to be a 3 hour drive. 20 min is usually more than enough. Answer the surveyer questions and be done with it.

I guess I just do business different, if customer wants to drive boat, I take them out, they want surveyer, no problem (usually works in my favor) I demo a boat this past winter 40degrees and rain, 65mph in the Chesapeak bay, back to the dealership signed the paper work. Customers exact quote "you are the only dealer that would take me on a demo in this weather, I want the boat before it gets nice out" OK fine by me. Very happy customer.

WILL:D

Do whatever you have to do to get the deal done.

Especially in this market, with a boat that's been for sale for quite a while.

I guess it's just hard for me to imagine someone purely pretending to buy for a joyride?

It's generally a huge purchase, and although a sea trial is a hassle, I could see someone changing there mind afterwards even if it surveyed and trialed right. It's a buyers market afterall, and they may look at some others.

I haven't been in all sorts of boats, and someday might like to sea-trial my top 2 or 3 before buying to KNOW what the difference is and what I'm getting, would that make me a joyrider or scumbag or something?:cool-smiley-011:

I'd expect to pay some gas, etc, generally, but a motivated seller wouldn't mind $100 of gas to sell a $50K plus boat (and it's not like you shouldn't enjoy that time on the water too if you're the seller)

The deposit prior to a sea trial thing is to stop joy riders. If you have agreed on the price and he's sending a surveyor long distance he isn't out for a joy ride.

My thoughts exactly. Get er dun! :D

For what it's worth, as a buyer, I'd be hesitant if the seller was balking at a sea trial.

I just bought my first boat.

I first contacted the seller and asked a million questions. Then I contacted the first owner (Pantera's owners) and asked even more questions. Once I had enough info from them to be comfortable I set up a time and went to see the boat. I liked what I saw, got a fairly good feel for the seller and what he wanted and I made him an offer based on the boat passing a survey and leakdown/compression test.

The leakdown test was done by the owners own engine builder because the owner refused to let anyone other than him touch the engine. I was wary of this at first but finally agreed after a phone conversation with the builder (Bischoff Racing Engines). I decided it was in my best interest to go all the way back down 500miles just to watch the leakdown test so there could be no BS. I got to meet the engine builder and watch the test. Motor was built right, and compression/leakdown showed that.

I then went back to Canada, got a surveyor and had him inspect the boat. Still no deposit given on the boat. Surveyor gave the boat a great clean bill of health and I then called the seller and sent him the money.

If it was an older boat I would have had the surveyor go on a sea trial with the guy.

EIther he wants to sell his boat or he doesnt. There are alot of boats and money is too hard to come by to be giving deposits to sellers who could be BS'ing you.

I came close before I bought the Pantera (about 1 year before) to pushing the stupid button and sending a certain person on this board a deposit for a 28 Apache that I had been completely mislead on. Thanks God I got a survey and it only cost me about $1000 as opposed to 40times that or more. Boat had been seriously damaged and it was all covered up shoddily but stupid me I didnt know, just a young punk with a fat wad of cash looking for something loud and fast:cool-smiley-011: This experience made me realize I would never send a deposit EVER until I was sending the whole thing and I kew it was all good. If that bugged the seller then he was the wrong seller (although maybe the right boat--you need both IMHO). Never make financial decisions with a woody, they never turn out good:cool-smiley-027:(my last credit card bill proved to me that I didnt learn the lesson yet-maybe never will)

Buyer beware--my advice from a buyer perspective is let the guy have what he wants if you have nothing to hide. Buying a boat is very nerve racking and some people like myself have had poor experiences and are EXTRA wary when it comes to dealing with people especially when there are state (or international) barriers that could pose issues for any legal action if there is a problem.

Good Luck with the sale,

I thought about making an offer on your boat before I bought the Pantera--it is very nice looking-- but being a Canuck the paintjob would have gotten me way too much flak from the boys up in Toronto!!

Cheers.

Which Apache was this? Is it the one with al the drama in the Apache section?

That doesn't narrow it down much. :)

Ok maybe this will. Is it the one with the dense owner:D

So many Apache dramas, so little time.

I bought my Cigarette from Texas, iam from NJ. we set a price up first, i flew down drove and inspected the boat and that point i gave him a $ 5,000. deposit check, everything worked out great !!

Hey VetteLT.... Your avatar says it all...

I live in Texas and bought my Cigarette from a guy in Michigan. I paid for a survey and bought the boat "sight unseen"! :eek:

I couldn't be happier! :D

If he is paying for a survey, he is serious. As long as he has realistic expectations and the boat was represented accurately, you shouldn't have any issues. I would take the surveyer on a sea trial without question.

Actaully, when the survey comes back excellent, as I'm sure it will, you will have more bargaining power, assuming you haven't established a final price yet.

I would think the survey would make him very Serious , take the surveyor for a ride and with a clean bill of health your deal should work out ..good luck

it has very nice painted bravos and a beautiful cabin:party-smiley-004:

Not the one I was thinking about.

If you send the guy a contract you are going to look like a sheister and will probably scare him away. Take the surveyor for a ride and just deal with it. All part of the game.

no not ol' Johnny boy's I never saw that one in person but I did talk to him about it and I decided to stay away for various reasons.

the boat I am talking about has painted drives...thats all I will say so as to not stir any ****pot, and I am happy I didnt buy it :D

BTW

Someone should man up and buy that single 28 Apache with the 3 man.........hell thats one more person than can fit in my boat, bonus! Although I think 90mph might be a bit optimistic.

now back to the original thread sorry for hijack.

I know which one you are talking about. I would love to have that # man set up but I'm pretty sure my wife would divorce me:D and i would like to be married longer than 4 months:party-smiley-004:

I am pretty sure there are less than 10 Apaches in that setup, might even be the only one

last time I checked (I check every time mine burns my scrambled eggs) there were billions of women......and in that thing you can put one on each side...blonde and brunette:cool-smiley-027:

Hey John congrats on the pending sale.

Mind if I ask who the surveyor is?

Do people normally negotiate the price of the boat before getting a marine survey done?

Lakeluvr: Hey stranger, how's it going?

If a buddy dropped by, and wanted to go for a ride in your boat, would you take them out for a spin? You've got a great boat there, and it sounds like a serious buyer who's paying for a third party to survey it. I don't see any red flags with that. Heck, it sits in your dock 40' from your back door. And you get to go on a nice boat ride. You are planning on going on the test ride with the surveyor, right?

Refundable deposit after sea trial.