donzi matt

iTrader: (1)

Hi guys, i am going to pose a question for a friend of mine who finds himself in a predicament:

he purchased a used 2001 Fountain 35 Classic from a very reputable fountain dealer in New Hampshire. the boat appears to be in excellent condition with a pair of 502 mags and 80 hours on the meter. His third day out on the boat the port motor died and he returned on 1 engine to his house. while looking around the engine compartment for anything obvious it was discovered that the hour meter was unplugged. The marina came to his house and replaced the bad fuel pump free of charge and the boat was running again. At the end of the weekend he returned the boat to the marina and they agreed to hook to the engine computers and retrieve the hours. He has now found out that instead of 80 hours his boat has very close to 200 hours on it. The marina was very forthright about this and he has agreed to meet with the owner of the marina to try and work out an agreement.

Here is the question: What would you do?

1) Ask for your money back and walk away from the boat? (he has only owned it for two weeks)

Or

2) Go for an extended warranty to make up the difference? He only puts about 20 hours each on his boats so I would say 5 years would cover it.


I do not know if the boat was a trade in or a brokered boat, but it seems to be a bad situation for all involved. I am just curious as to what you guys would find to be a suitable solution.


Matt Burns

Dock Holiday

I don't think this is the first time this has every been done by dealers. I would expect if you purchased any new boat from dealer inventory there is a good chance that it has been demo'd without the hour meters hooked up.

I would go to another dealer that has the computer scan tool. From what I understand it can tell you exactly how many hours are on the engines and how they were run in terms of max RPM.

If this checked out OK I would not worry about it.

Good Luck

Adivanman

You would not worry about the engines having 120 more hours on them then you were told or paid for? Wow.

I would go for bulletproof extended warranties, ask for two new engines, or walk away. Even if he stole the boat, he's just getting into the expensive hours.

My two cents.

IDRPSTF

Tell your friend to drive it over to the dealer and get his money back. Why would he even consider doing anything else? There is a huge difference between 80 hours and 200. Not only on the engines, but on the Hull. I have worked for a dealer that did that **** deliberately! It is called lying!!! So if you lie about the engine hours, what else will you lie about? There are two kids of dealers Honest and dishonest! Its black and white my friends. If the dealer takes the boat back in and gives a full refund and makes an effort to help your friend get another boat, he is a stand up guy. If he trys to B.S. his way around it then don't walk away...RUN!
If I sold you that boat, I would take it back. Because I do honest business. I would not have disconnected the meter. And If it was a brokered boat that I represented I would take it back and drive it straight up the sellers ass!
C'mon, start holding people accountable for there actions instead of letting them off the hook with a warranty. Plus Fountain Warranties usually are a head ache anyway.

Strip Poker 388

iTrader: (6)

The difference in price on a boat with 80 hours than a boat with 200 hours .There would have to be a compensation diff not just a extended warranty, . There would be some depreciation and think about resale for when he gets ready to resale starting out with 200 hour not 80.The extended warranty on merc usually has a good mark up,The best i can remember its about 1300-1500. The deprecation on it with a extra 120 hours would be a lot more.!! they warranty on the hull would be by the years not hours, talk to the prev owner and see who disconnected them.Depending on what part of 2001 this guy bought the boat thats a lot of Horus per season.

Most extended warranty has a deductible?

Cord

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like they are being VERY honest. They didn't have to disclose the truth. I'd see if they are willing to make a price adjustment. The value between the actual and disclosed hours should be pretty cut & dried.

G-Force

I think you'd only get one or the other. If he bought the boat at a reduced price knowing there were 200 hours on it - he wouldn't be expecting a warranty on it, would he? So he's entitled to one or the other, if he wants to keep the boat.

Personally...if I liked the boat and didn't want to give it up...I'd go with some type of warranty deal. But who knows...I'm an idiot when it comes to my own boat!

IDRPSTF

What do you mean "They didn't have to disclose the truth" This is not an attack on you Cord, I just see this happen at dealers and they get away with it. If you did this to a cars odometer, It FEDERAL Jail! They didn't disclose it until the guy went back with the wire disconnected. Thats called getting caught!
So lets all play a little number game here. The game is called "How much is this boat worth?" not How much is the asking price, or even how much did this poor guy pay. But, how much is it worth?
For the sake of argument lets call real dollars on a 2001 Fountain classic with 80 hours on 502 fairly well loaded $155K with a trailer.
Now what is that boat worth with 200 hours on it. Not just on the power, But on the whole boat.

I say no more than $115K in todays market. Maybe more like $105?

What do you guys think?

Jassman

You bought the boat uder the pretences that it had 80 hours, now that it has 200 hours the value has decreased. A law suit will get you know where if your trying to resolve this quickly, if you like the boat, and the dealer is willing to work with you, get it surveyed, check for stress cracks, have the dealer repair the engines to the correct specs, and go through the drives, these are the important items, and let the dealer go after the party that traded it in to recoup their losses, thats there problem, not yours. Any reputable dealer will make it right for you, to make sure you are 100% happy. I wish you good luck.

cigarette1

How about this. I bought my boat under the assumption it had the hours on it that were on the hour meters. A couple of years later when I had to go behind the dash, I found that the hour meters were way newer than the other guages in the dash. WTF

Anyway I bought the boat based on the condition of the obvious and hoped the engines would last at least a season. Well the motors did run longer than expected and I have yet to find any other surprises.

If your buddy paid for what he thought were 80 hours, I think he should be compensated for the difference. What that difference is, who knows.

G