Buying a boat - Normal procedure or not?

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lowlander_nl

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Hello,

The case: I'm in the process of buying a second hand motor boat.
We negotiated a price. A sea trial and survey are sceduled. The broker never, never mentioned additional costs.

Now - out of the blue - the broker send me an email: 'To prepare for the new season, the owner sceduled a full service on the boat, like engine service, service of the heels, new antifouling, washing and polishing of the boat. Because of these works, the price of the boat will increase.'

:confused::confused:

Is this normal procedure or a sign to run away?
 
lowlander_nl said:
Hello,

The case: I'm in the process of buying a second hand motor boat.
We negotiated a price. A sea trial and survey are sceduled. The broker never, never mentioned additional costs.

Now - out of the blue - the broker send me an email: 'To prepare for the new season, the owner sceduled a full service on the boat, like engine service, service of the heels, new antifouling, washing and polishing of the boat. Because of these works, the price of the boat will increase.'

:confused::confused:

Is this normal procedure or a sign to run away?
Click to expand...


No
you did not instruct the work
 
lowlander_nl said:
The case: I'm in the process of buying a second hand motor boat.
We negotiated a price. A sea trial and survey are sceduled. The broker never, never mentioned additional costs.

Now - out of the blue - the broker send me an email: 'To prepare for the new season, the owner sceduled a full service on the boat, like engine service, service of the heels, new antifouling, washing and polishing of the boat. Because of these works, the price of the boat will increase.'

:confused::confused:

Is this normal procedure or a sign to run away?
Click to expand...
It would be worth knowing what the contract says ? If you have a standard contract there is sometimes a term that says that the vendor undertakes to remove the boat from use from the point the contract is signed and that would IMHO preclude him from servicing the engine except under your instruction.

Otherwise it depends whether you have a contract or not ? If not your choice is to back out or up the price, but if it were me I'd firmly tell the broker s/he is trying it on and it won't wash.

lowlander_nl said:
No I did not signed anything. I would have a seatrial first. After the sea trial I could decide if I would continue to buy. If yes, sign pre-contract, pay deposit and survey.
Click to expand...

Well in that case it's up to you to decide whether you want the boat or not at the new price ? If you are not committed financially yet then you could proceed with the sea trial and decide afterwards. But it does occur to my suspicious mind that the broker is trying to ensure that you don't go to trial and survey and then renegotiate the price down at that point. If you take it up with him and he says something like "Well I will hold the original price as a special concession..." or something like that then you will know his game (hardball:-).

Good luck,

Boo2
 
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As others have said, no that is not normal. Generally when a vendor is serious about selling, he does not undertake works then increase the price once the boat is allready under offer or thereabouts. Such things only happen after an agreement to purchase has been made and the boat falls short of its advertised/expected condition at survey, and then they usually happen at the vendor's expense. I suspect he has changed his mind and is trying to put you off rather than pull the plug. If I were you I'd probably not want to be messed about and would walk. You could, of course, say that your offer stands as it is and you now expect these works to be included in the price.

I'd also probably not be keen to deal further with a broker that sent me an email like that.

Cheers
 
You state the owner scheduled a full service and it sounds like the broker is just passing on a message. I don't see a problem just get the owner to cancel the scheduled work and continue with the sale. If you buy the boat and it's then your's then it's up to you to decide what you want done, who will do it and at what cost. If he doesn't agree them walk away. If he says he can't cancel then it comes out of his pocket not your's.
 
lowlander_nl said:
Hello,

The case: I'm in the process of buying a second hand motor boat.
We negotiated a price. A sea trial and survey are sceduled. The broker never, never mentioned additional costs.

Now - out of the blue - the broker send me an email: 'To prepare for the new season, the owner sceduled a full service on the boat, like engine service, service of the heels, new antifouling, washing and polishing of the boat. Because of these works, the price of the boat will increase.'

:confused::confused:

Is this normal procedure or a sign to run away?
Click to expand...

I would not have thought this to be normal practice. The point is you have already negotiated a price based on current condition, subject to satisfactory sea trial and survey. If these additional works are not included in your negotiated price then you should not be expected to cover them. Likewise you should not expect them to be carried out if your deal proceeds. Essentially once these works are complete the boat becomes different to the one you negotiated on.

As has been said, without a contract and no deposit paid unfortunately for you nothing is binding and the vendor is at liberty to change what he's selling. However I would be somewhat p****d off if he organised this in the knowledge that I had already shown serious interest. I would also have doubts about the integrity of the seller (and perhaps broker, who I would have expected to have provided better advice to his client - why risk losing a sale?).
 
I am incredibly leery of tradesmen of any sort. I fear being ripped off. Yet I almost always seem to end up feeling that way if I do use a tradesman. I can imagine the vendor getting the work done or possibly only partially done then claiming the exagerated cost of the work via the broker to you. All to enhance his return.
Certainly if you were to pay for the work to be done you should be able to talk to the tradesman directly and observe the work beiong done are at least satisfy yourself that if you are going to pay for it you get your money's worth. olewill
 
Pull out now.

As others have said this is not normal.

The broker / owner have shown their true colours. Do you really want to get a position later in the transaction (e.g. When you have paid for lift and survey) and then find that the broker/ owner is messing about still.)

Explain the situation to the broker and that you're pulling out as you're not prepared to deal with someone who is untrustworthy.
 
lowlander_nl said:
Hello,

The case: I'm in the process of buying a second hand motor boat.
We negotiated a price. A sea trial and survey are sceduled. The broker never, never mentioned additional costs.

Now - out of the blue - the broker send me an email: 'To prepare for the new season, the owner sceduled a full service on the boat, like engine service, service of the heels, new antifouling, washing and polishing of the boat. Because of these works, the price of the boat will increase.'

:confused::confused:

Is this normal procedure or a sign to run away?
Click to expand...
No.. but maybe there has been some misunderstanding.. for some reason the vendor thought that you have requested the boat to be prepared for the new season, and of course that isnt going to be his bill, or he simply had scheduled the work anyway, and if it is to go ahead then he isnt willing to pay for that.
Simply clarify that you do not require the work to be done, and you wont be paying for it. I dont see why there should be anything suspiscious going on. If you want the boat and are comfortable with the purchase, I wouldnt listen too much to the usual WALK AWAY mob.
 
gjgm said:
No.. but maybe there has been some misunderstanding.. for some reason the vendor thought that you have requested the boat to be prepared for the new season, and of course that isnt going to be his bill, or he simply had scheduled the work anyway, and if it is to go ahead then he isnt willing to pay for that.
Simply clarify that you do not require the work to be done, and you wont be paying for it. I dont see why there should be anything suspiscious going on. If you want the boat and are comfortable with the purchase, I wouldnt listen too much to the usual WALK AWAY mob.
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I agree that there may have been a misunderstanding so it's good advice to find out why the vendor had the "full service" done without at least asking you whether you wanted it. But at the end of the day you have two choices; to put up with it and pay the extra or walk away from the deal. If you do walk away one of two things will happen; the vendor will either have to find another buyer or he/she will have to negotiate an acceptable deal with you (which might mean that he/she has to swallow the service cost). It's a buyer's market so which of those do you think is most likely?
 
It's a bit naughty IMO but presumably not an issue if the work hasn't been done & can be cancelled. If it has you either accept the new price, renegotiate or tell them no & see what happens. I'd tell them no cos I bet they'd come back & accept the originally agreed price, no-one's queueing up to buy boats are they?
 
You haven't bought the boat, you haven't signed a contract.

The boat belongs to someone else. He can polish it, antifoul it, service it or anything else he likes.

If he wants to put up the price he is offering it for sale at he is perfectly entitled to.

If you want to buy it at that price then you can.
If you want to make him an offer then you are entitled to do so.
If you want to walk away that is also your option.

However, both the owner and the broker are idiots to try to change the price of a boat that is verbally committed to, subject to trial and survey.

Or, perhaps they think you aren't serious.

Two good reasons to walk away.
 
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Ex-SolentBoy said:
You haven't bought the boat, you haven't signed a contract.

The boat belongs to someone else. He can polish it, antifoul it, service it or anything else he likes.

If he wants to put up the price he is offering it for sale at he is perfectly entitled to.

If you want to buy it at that price then you can.
If you want to make him an offer then you are entitled to do so.
If you want to walk away that is also your option.

However, both the owner and the broker are idiots to try to change the price of a boat that is verbally committed to, subject to trial and survey.

Or, perhaps they think you aren't serious.

Two good reasons to walk away.
Click to expand...

If i were selling a boat there would be no sea trial until a deposit were in place,indicating "intention to buy" it would be a tyre kickers delight otherwise.
 
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