Boat Brokers the Good The Bad and The Ugly

[fisherman]

Bro was not getting enquiries for his 42ft Laurent Giles, for several years. When he told me he was leaving it to me, but wanted to give it to me before he died, I panicked (it needed a lot of work). We sat down to get it sold. It was with a local broker, boatyard (to be fair, which has changed hands since, I think). We could not find it on the net, until we put in very specific terms, 'Laurent Giles', in a very small area.
Filling in the forms on Apolloduck thay had not entered the length, so it came up in under fifteen feet section. First thing people put in their search is the length.
Did our own ad, sold within a week.

 

[fisherman]

Bit of drift in re estate agents. Lady divorced her husband, but she being well off had to provide for him, so she bough a farmhouse for him to live in until he died, which he did.
Then she saw the house on sale. She went for a viewing. You can imagine the conversation, and discomfiture of the agent, although he would not I suppose have verified title beforehand.

 

[bill bligh]

Two brokers I would have no problem dealing with are Dickies of Bangor and Doug Edwards on Anglesey. Owing to the distance I would have had to travel both gave me straight answers to my my questions. In my case it was asking questions that helped me in making my decision.

 

[lusitano]

Your not wrong !
Never trust a boat broker ! Or owner they can cover up and tell lies to get the sale
Then denie any knowledge off known faults both together
And don't trust a boat survey either use it as a very rough guide they are not responsible for anything they miss either as they did not see it at the time @
Or the classic while doing the survey I could not check the structure as poor access to this area here and there all over the boat ! So what are you really paying for ! I have had two bad experiences with YDSA Boat surveys keep away from them !

Plus one on that remark - avoid that lot like the plague !

 

[14K478]

I bought my present boat through Berthon. They were courteous, professional and precisely correct at all points. The point being that this boat was for sale at about a tenth of the price of the boats that they usually list, but they did not drop their standards or cut corners. Their young lady broker was meticulous in making sure that I understood the transaction in all its details but without patronising me at all.

I bought this boat’s predecessor through David East and sold her 29 years later through Woodenships. Both were excellent. I made and stayed friends with the previous owners until they died, and I am a friend of her current owner ten years after the sale.

The boat before that was bought through Woolverstone Marina and sold through Davies and I’m friends with the buyers forty years later!

The only advice I can offer is - wait for the right buyer to turn up. Woodenships were insistent that one particular buyer was the right one for the boat and I should take his offer. I took their advice, which was good.

 

[ProDave]

Earlier this year we were looking for a new boat, some research had narrowed it down to 2 types of boat. There was one n our list for sale in North Wales, which is quite a treck from the Highlands, so I first contacted the broker to ask if it was still for sale. 2 weeks later he answered with a simple "yes" So I then sent some more questions about the boat, like what was it's general condition and was it afloat or ashore. That would have been leading up to how to get it home if we bought it, in other words if it was afloat was it in a fit state for a delivery by sea. I never did get any answer whatsoever from the broker.

We bought a different boat advertised by the seller not by a broker.

I was staggered at the total disinterest from the broker and certainly not one I would choose to use, and would be having words if they were selling my boat and ignored a potential buyer like that.

 

[Cariadco]

I have bought three boats through Brokers and they have all been marvelous. A real pleasure to deal with.
The first was a Dutch Yacht broker in Athens in the Mid 90's. a joy to deal with and no probs at all. He's retired now.
Second was a young guy with Boatshed in Gibraltar around 2005. Again, it all worked perfectly, nothing but praise. He's left the company shortly after, to return to Blighty.
5 years ago, the third was a Broker in Split, and again faultless. in fact we've remained friends.
Maybe I'm just lucky??

 

[fisherman]

As for surveyors, bro left one to do the survey for a buyer, came back to find he had dug holes in the cascover sheathing. I have the name, described as 'OK with GRP and not much else'.

 

[Kelpie]

Earlier this year we were looking for a new boat, some research had narrowed it down to 2 types of boat. There was one n our list for sale in North Wales, which is quite a treck from the Highlands, so I first contacted the broker to ask if it was still for sale. 2 weeks later he answered with a simple "yes" So I then sent some more questions about the boat, like what was it's general condition and was it afloat or ashore. That would have been leading up to how to get it home if we bought it, in other words if it was afloat was it in a fit state for a delivery by sea. I never did get any answer whatsoever from the broker.

We bought a different boat advertised by the seller not by a broker.

I was staggered at the total disinterest from the broker and certainly not one I would choose to use, and would be having words if they were selling my boat and ignored a potential buyer like that.

Doesn't surprise me, I had exactly the same treatment from most brokers.

Maybe it's different when you're buying a boat worth the same as a house?