Advice looking at boats abroad...

[trying]

We are thinking about upgrading our boat and one or two possibles have come up in France.
Mobos in 8-10m bracket.
Just after some outline advice on buying from abroad from those that have... idea of import costs, transport costs etc? Is the procedure for survey and trials the same as in UK? Is it likely to require multiple trips over there?
Like I say just possibles at the moment and interested in your comments...

 

[jfm]

We are thinking about upgrading our boat and one or two possibles have come up in France.
Mobos in 8-10m bracket.
Just after some outline advice on buying from abroad from those that have... idea of import costs, transport costs etc? Is the procedure for survey and trials the same as in UK? Is it likely to require multiple trips over there?
Like I say just possibles at the moment and interested in your comments...

Zero import costs if the boat is already VAT paid. If it's not, please say because French VAT and boats is complex. I'd 99% expect 8-10m to be VAT paid. Road transport in the £5k ballpark

Boat purchase process is similar to UK. There are many UK ex-pat brokers who do the whole thing in English using EN documentation. If you do it under Fr law the ownership of the deposit money wont be quite the same as under UK law so tread carefully there and keep the deposit to a minimum (it need not be anything near as much as 10%, for example). If the boat is Fr flagged you will likely want to de-flag it but personally I would do that after the sale and not let it hold the sale up, provided the annual boat tax isn't about to become payable (which might be something like €2k order of magnitude)

 

[Spi D]

If at any point you get interested in a boat over here, do not hesitate to ask.

Of course all EU rules apply. In addition we have no mandatory registers, annual tax integrated in insurance premium so no outstanding liabilities possible.
The only thing to dig into is proof of payment to ensure no loans on the boat.

All boats here are VAT paid if not registered for commercial traffic or hire.

No matter where in the EU you look, make sure CE marking / certificate is in place. Can be tricky on boats imported from non EU countries

 

[lanerboy]

this is an interesting thread for me because if I manage to sell my boat I too am looking at boats in france I have found some very nice examples so I will be following this thread with interest

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I have bought a few boats in Europe over the years and my general thoughts are in post 5 on this thread http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?398267-Surveyor-in-Zadar-Croatia

 

[trying]

Thank you all for the comments...