Buying a boat privately and paying a deposit

If you feel that you are likely to lose the deal, use a pukka Escrow agent to hold a deposit, but it is a buyers market so don't let some seller pussy you around; if you are both keen to make a deal, make it.
 
if the guy isnt a reasonable bloke, do you want to buy a boat from him?
If you are putting commitment into the cost of a survey, and craning charges he should be comfortable that you are serious.
His only concern is that you might wobble out on some feeble excuse. You could say that should he find another buyer with whom he agees a price, and who will put down a deposit within the time you take to conclude a survey and sea trial, you will accept his decision. (thats not going to happen in 2 weeks, is it..)If you also say you will conclude final payment within 5 days of a successful sea trial, so total time is under three weeks (Or maybe two?)... well, if he wont accept that, personally I dont think I d care to own his boat.
The deposit is supposed to be of mutual benefit. I cant see it is in this market, so I dont see a reason for it. Actually, I ve never bothered with a deposit on any boat I ve sold, but then I ve trusted the people buying- not that I knew them , or anything; they just seemd genuine, and all were concluded in a very short time. After all, thats what the seller really wants.
 
I would offer to pick up the craneage bill (plus any any other out of pocket items which are identified in advance) and pay direct to the crane operator; nothing else.
 
H Mike I have just been reading and rseponding to Alrobs thread "would you trust a broker" which clearly makes ref to not trusting brokers to pay you the proceeds of selling your boat, and I thought here we go again another thread knocking brokers in general.

That thread is one of many recently knocking brokers and suggesting "find a private sale do it youself"

Now here we have someone finding a boat privately and being nervous about placing a deposit with a perfect stranger, quite rightly to.

Is'nt it ironic then that from the suggestions so far it would seem suddenly, brokers arnt all that bad after all. Indeed some have suggested putting deposit with a broker or third party for safety.

Hmm
 
Clive, I was not intending to have a go at brokers just pointing out the fact that, in the present economic climate, there will be brokers going bust. If you are unfortunate enough to have just sold your boat through a broker just before he goes bust, then at best, it will be months before the administrator releases your money and at worst, there isn't any money. Several brokers have gone bust recently and some sellers have found themselves in this unfortunate position
In the past on this forum, I have advocated using a good broker to sell a boat because I believe that they can often achieve a quicker sale and a better price than selling it privately. In addition, they relieve the seller of the hassle of showing potential buyers around the boat and drive the transaction process through. Were it not for the unfailing patience and hard work of one particular broker, I wouldn't have the boat I own now
The purpose of my post was to alert sellers to the potential risk of selling through a broker, not to have a general dig at them
 
Hi Jez

I sold my Targa 37 privately; however, I did use a marine solicitor (Chris Fairfax at Tyler Law, as was) to handle the sale for me - and the buyer appointed his own chap as well. I think both sides legal fees totalled less than £1500 - which seemed a reasonable compromise between paying a brokerage fee, versus doing the whole thing yourself.

cheers
Jimmy
 
I didn't pay a deposit when I bought the current boat, and that was through Princess MY Sales at Swanwick. In that case I wasn't so worried about the broker going bust or running off with the money, but I couldn't agree terms with the seller on what constituted "material defects", and allowed the boat to be rejected after sea trial and survey. I proceeded with the survey anyway, and accepted the small risk that he'd get a better offer in the meantime. He didn't, and I bought the boat.

I've also never asked a buyer of my boats for a deposit, but then i've always trusted the people who've bought them.
 
We are just setting up a fixed fee brokrerage service for situations such as this. Our new website goes live in a couple of weeks. Give me a PM if you want some more details.
 
Re: Buying a boat privately

We bought our first boat in 1972 after years of chartering. Begrudging the broker's commission (his recommended surveyor new nowt about electrolytic corrosion and our prop fell off!) we bypassed the system by locating owners thro Class Associations etcet but went back to the broker and agreed a fixed fee to do the paperwork when we moved on to the next boat - £100 for £12k sale price I recall.
We repeated that format thro five more transactions before settling for RYA paperwork which is quite simple and has proved legally watertight and hassle-free so far!
 
Mike you've got me wrong I saw nothing in your post having a go at brokers quite the contrary. I addressed this to you as I am always assured of an intelligent and informed response, I knew you would see the irony given the recent Alrob thread and the suggestions on this thread.

Not all brokers are bad boys folks :~)
 
Hurricans SWMBO Why don't you do the sensible thing, open a joint account at the bank where you are joint signatories ie you both have to sign to withdraw any funds,then you can pay the deposit with confidence that he cannot withdraw it without your say so when all the survey and sea trial has been done.
 
Simple but effective! and as far as I can tell FOC and without a downside!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Thanks Mary
 
Excellent lateral thinking, but there's a "but". Would need to be an account where both must sign to withdraw. Jrb's/chas's real risk in this deal is that the person turns out not to be decent, and if the boat badly fails its survey (say) he refuses to refund the £5k, forcing jrb/chas to litigate. Alas, with this bank account they are in the same position. Ok the seller can't abscond with it, but no-one absconds with £5k - £5m yes. Jrb/chas remain on risk that the seller behaves badly and doesn't consent to refund the £5k, so it stays frozen in bank, forcing litigation as before. Can you tweak this excellent idea? :-)
 
[ QUOTE ]
Can you tweak this excellent idea?

[/ QUOTE ]The first obvious tweak is to get rid of the bank account and make it even simpler with cash: the buyer cuts the 5k notes and gives the seller just half of them.
But the seller could still behave badly and not refund it as you say, even if that half is useless for him.
To avoid it, just ask the seller to do the same and give the buyer another half of notes: maybe just 4k (or whatever), to consider the lift out costs.
 
Paperwork for the boat would be worthless - plus Seller will probably think it's a scam /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

£500 or a £1000 down PLUS a signed contract (RYA download). and you pay any lift out / back in costs in advance with proof to him is pefectly reasonable.

Purchasor should only be after you to show commitment to the deal (and paying expenses also does that). If he has a good enough boat then the sale price will hold and the boat sold. If not YOU want your cash down to be as small as possible to save any legal / practical aggro in re-claiming it....or writing it off.......for that reason I favour a nominal deposit.

I would have no problem with selling my boat on that basis. If buyer has paid for lift out and a surveyor he ain't a tyre kicker. Why do I need his cash? If he wants money off after a survey I either agree or wait for another buyer. Not me out of pocket /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

S
Sailing to the USA. Do I need a special visa?
2 3
Replies
50
Views
2K
Roberto
Roberto

Share this page

Top