Brexit and the used boat market - questions!

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thecommander

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With the likelihood of a hard Brexit with no deal, how do you think it will effect the used boat market in the UK?

If the rich boys and girls are no longer willing to purchase European boats due to higher import costs and higher costs associated with the devaluation of the pound, will they choose to purchase used boats on the UK market?

Are we likely to see an increase in the value of second hand boats in the coming years as demand outstrips supply?

Also are we likely to see a resurgence in the yachting manufacturing industry in this country?

Can the European builders afford to lose the UK market altogether?
 
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More than likely Europeans and Americans will buy UK boats as they have effectively become 10% cheaper due to the change in the exchange rate post Brexit vote.
That's what happened about 10 years ago when the pound went low.
 
Interesting question! I've recently been reviewing and binning about 20 years worth of Yachting Monthlys, up to late '90s now. Rather obvious how the British manufacturers have struggled to keep afloat over the years whilst the Europeans have taken their opportunities to break into our markets. I'd put the blame for this on a number of factors eg the high value of the pound over the Thatcher and Major years, the increasing popularity of Mediterranean and other hot charter venues where designed for purpose European boats became predominant and the British importers of said boats who were happy to make a good living undercutting British boatbuilders and pandering to those who had enjoyed the European boats in the Med and wanted something similar for themselves at home.

I can't really see how the position might be reversed. If there's any effect at all I'd guess that the newly rich types that used to buy new boats here will still be doing so, but in Europe or America say where they've followed the money. There'll be fewer people here that want to buy them. The Europeans, if they are still allowed to import them, will buy up the most modern stock here. Our marinas will go bust because no-one owning the remaining MABs will be able to afford them so they'll be filled in with housing or with residential moorings in the interim. Older MABs will break their moorings and litter the foreshore because no-one wants them. Meanwhile you won't be able to get a job at Tescos to eke out your redundancy because your gran and all her generation have all those jobs and have rediscovered Trade Unionism and won't let you take theirs.

Or nothing much will change maybe...
 
The new boat market in the UK is tiny compared with what it was 30 years ago - in the hundreds a year for cruising sailboats, primarily because of the huge stock of existing boats and the declining demand. This is structural and unlikely to change in the future. Domestic demand will never support a production builder in the UK, and the majority of UK production of MOBOs is exported, or sold to UK owners for use abroad.

Expect euro buyers will continue to buy used boats here if the exchange rate is favourable as it is at the moment, although who knows what will happen to duty and VAT when the break finally comes.

All speculation anyway, and nothing we can do to influence what happens, so just wait and see.
 
There will be zero effect. People who can afford a new boat buy on features, lines, etc the country of manufacture is irrelevant.

European manufactures can easily afford to lose the UK market as it is tiny percentage of their turnover, it may be of benefit to them, but this will result in the loss of jobs in the UK due to dealerships closing.

Do you have figures for the number of new boats sold in the UK from European manufacturers?
 
Judging by the crash and burn of the UK boat shows and the absence of volume European manufacturers at them the UK market must be irrelevant. The same structural curve is going to hit the EU makers - except the boats built for the charter market. The UK got into mass leisure boat ownership a few years before the continent so they will reach saturation in a few years time.
 
GrahamM376 said:
Used boat market should be fine as all resident boats are EC VAT paid or deemed so and can visit/stay anywhere. New boats after Brexit may be more of a problem if moving around various territories.
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Sounds sensible but given the abhorrent way May and her cohorts have taken European residents hostage to their lunacy I wouldn't put it past them to renege on previous VAT paid status.
 
awol said:
Sounds sensible but given the abhorrent way May and her cohorts have taken European residents hostage to their lunacy I wouldn't put it past them to renege on previous VAT paid status.
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Residents hostage? Me thinks you haven't had much negotiating experience. Bad idea to give things away before knowing what will be given in return.
 
Well if the gov don't pay the EUs leaving bill estimated to be around £100 billion, then I fully expect the EU claw it back via other means.
 
GrahamM376 said:
Residents hostage? Me thinks you haven't had much negotiating experience. Bad idea to give things away before knowing what will be given in return.
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As the whole Brexit fiasco is predicated on the concept of giving away all the UK's rights and benefits in Europe without the faintest idea of what we will end up with in return, I would have thought there was a strong precedent.
 
awol said:
Sounds sensible but given the abhorrent way May and her cohorts have taken European residents hostage to their lunacy I wouldn't put it past them to renege on previous VAT paid status.
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Don't be a prat. May has made it clear form last November that she wishes to resolve the ex pat situation but it needs to be both for EU residents here, 3.3m, and the UK residents there, 1.3m. A reciprocal deal.
France and Germany are the ones blocking things, you may have noticed that they are involved in elections and if Merkle blinks then Schultz will be all over her.
 
awol said:
Sounds sensible but given the abhorrent way May and her cohorts have taken European residents hostage to their lunacy I wouldn't put it past them to renege on previous VAT paid status.
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Erm... It wouldn't be reneging. If the UK is outside the EU then anything sold from the UK into the EU will attract import duty (deals apart). In the same way that a French boat sold to the US will attract duty when brought back into the EU. On the upside, we'll be visitors to the EU, so the whole VAT thing will be irrelevant unless you overstay your visa.

The other big unknown is the RCD, CE marked boats should be fine, but the currently exempt boats may not be easily sold into the EU without certification - like a boat coming from the US does at the moment.

It's entirely possible a deal will be done on all this...

Other than that, I'd expect an economic slump of some sort, which will likely suppress prices of second hand boats further.
 
We shall all proudly be sailing Westerly Centaurs and telling everyone that they're far better than that foreign rubbish.

If you don't then you're a saboteur and will rightly be outed.
 
Sandy said:
There will be zero effect. People who can afford a new boat buy on features, lines, etc the country of manufacture is irrelevant.

European manufactures can easily afford to lose the UK market as it is tiny percentage of their turnover, it may be of benefit to them, but this will result in the loss of jobs in the UK due to dealerships closing.

Do you have figures for the number of new boats sold in the UK from European manufacturers?
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See above. My (reasonably informed) estimate would be under 1000 cruising sailboats and larger cruising MOBOs. Difficult to get a good fix as many boats sold by dealers in the UK are for use in other parts of Europe. So the true UK based market is likely to be even smaller than that.
 
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