Buying ex charter boat - how much would you offer?

[Irish Rover]

I'm going to look at a boat this week which is being offered by the brokers attached to the charter company. As far as I know, the boat was bought new by a private buyer and leased to the charter company. The lease arrangement has finished and the charter company are now selling on behalf of the owner [the charter company are still the registered owners] VAT is not paid and I assume the owner who is an EU resident would have to pay the VAT if he wants to take possession of the boat.
My question - assuming I like the boat and subject to survey, sea trial etc how much below asking should I offer - 5, 10, 15, 20%?
PS - I don't want to give any more details just now as I discovered a couple of years ago that a company I asked questions about were actually reading this forum.

 

[harvey38]

Go in as low as you think sensible, 20% sounds OK, you can always raise it.

 

[Sea Change]

Can't you compare the asking price with other similar offerings on the market?
I'm not sure if there's a hard and fast rule. We had 90-95% offers turned down (by greedy sellers/brokers who later dropped the price to less than our offer).
Current boat was 94% of asking.
Previous one was 73%

 

[Tranona]

The fact that it is an ex charter boat does not change how you pitch your offer. That depends entirely on your assessment of how much it is worth to you. They will (hopefully) have pitched the asking price against the alternatives on the market. Do your homework to try and get a "market" price. Whether the seller will accept a lower offer depends on how desperate they are to sell so finding out how long it has been on the market may help.

 

[Major Tom]

Slightly different answer, but the price differential ex charter prices Vs the same boat ex private is significant. I was told to factor about 15% discount, plus account for needing to pay tax.

 

[garymalmgren]

Aren't charter boats pretty well maintained?
that would be a plus for me.
Tranoma's advice seems sound to me.

gary

 

[Refueler]

This is the old argument similar to buying an ex Rental car.

My view is that as long as the Charter Co were using a reasonable registry - they would have had to comply with regulations and standards to maintain the Charter status ..

So the sails may be a bit baggy ... but overall - I would be expect structurally / rigging wise to be sorted ... to be honest - unless its a shiester Charter Outfit - I would expect boat to be good.

As to what to offer ... I do not follow the idea of see what market is .. because sellers pricing is IMHO optimistic and you rarely see what they actually sell for .. I always offer low - I mean LOW LOW !! then inch up towards my max. Only once have I paid sellers price ... and that was because his price was actually lower than my max !!

 

[Tranona]

Slightly different answer, but the price differential ex charter prices Vs the same boat ex private is significant. I was told to factor about 15% discount, plus account for needing to pay tax.

Depends on the boat. Many charter boats in the Med are better value than private boats because of equipment and high level of maintenance. OP does not make it clear but he is non resident so non VAT paid is attractive.

 

[Irish Rover]

Thanks for all the replies and advice. I'm guessing the private owner will have set the asking price. When I'm selling I generally ask 10/12% above my bottom line price but I'm not sure what others do. If it's in as good a condition as claimed the asking price is in line or a bit cheaper than the small number of others for sale. If I buy look forward to many more questions and threads.

 

[Refueler]

TBH - boat prices are :

1. What seller is prepared to accept.
+
2. What buyer is prepared to pay.

My latest 38ft Cruiser Racer 6mths before I bought was on market at 2x what I paid for her .. and even that price was lower than others on market.

Sorry but I do not subscribe to the support market price b*******t ....

 

[Tranona]

Thanks for all the replies and advice. I'm guessing the private owner will have set the asking price. When I'm selling I generally ask 10/12% above my bottom line price but I'm not sure what others do. If it's in as good a condition as claimed the asking price is in line or a bit cheaper than the small number of others for sale. If I buy look forward to many more questions and threads.

The owner will be guided by the broker and is unlikely to set an unreasonable price. Once the contract is ended the boat is of no use to the owner and he is likely to want to sell quickly. That was my experience when I owned a boat through the same kind of deal. I kept mine but others left it to the manager to sell for the best price. It is more like buying an approved used car with all the advantages of service record, pre delivery inspection and clean title than buying an old boat where asking prices are all over the place. Still need a survey though, but otherwise low risk compared with buying from an absentee private owner as is often the case.

 

[Irish Rover]

The owner will be guided by the broker and is unlikely to set an unreasonable price. Once the contract is ended the boat is of no use to the owner and he is likely to want to sell quickly. That was my experience when I owned a boat through the same kind of deal. I kept mine but others left it to the manager to sell for the best price. It is more like buying an approved used car with all the advantages of service record, pre delivery inspection and clean title than buying an old boat where asking prices are all over the place. Still need a survey though, but otherwise low risk compared with buying from an absentee private owner as is often the case.

Thanks. That pretty much accords with my own view. 10% more or less won't make or break me and getting a boat that has been reasonably well looked after is more important to me. I imagine the owner will have got some kind of survey done at the end of the lease arrangement and I'm hoping to get sight of that. The charter company have also been fairly forthcoming with maintenance records even before I go to meet them.

 

[38mess]

You haven't even looked at the boat yet but you want to make a reduction in the asking price...
I run charter boats and they are all maintained much better than equivalent private boats.
Why not look at the boat first before making any offer.

 

[Irish Rover]

You haven't even looked at the boat yet but you want to make a reduction in the asking price...
I run charter boats and they are all maintained much better than equivalent private boats.
Why not look at the boat first before making any offer.

Of course I'm not going to make an offer before looking at the boat .
Do you know anyone who wouldn't want to get something they want as cheap as possible?

 

[38mess]

Of course I'm not going to make an offer before looking at the boat .
Do you know anyone who wouldn't want to get something they want as cheap as possible?

But you are asking how much you should reduce the asking price before you have even looked at it.
If the boat is well found and in good condition give him a fair price not how low you can screw him down

 

[Refueler]

But you are asking how much you should reduce the asking price before you have even looked at it.
If the boat is well found and in good condition give him a fair price not how low you can screw him down

I agreed with you till the last few words.

What is it for you if he secures the boat at a knock down price ?

"How low you can screw him down" ??

If Seller accepts - what's the problem ? Seller can always say no.

If you look at my earlier posts - I was with you guys that generally the boat would be maintained - due to the Registration requirements - as well as presenting a well found boat to rental ..

 

[Sea Change]

After having a number of what we thought were very good offers turned down by brokers (by good, I mean we were offering 85%+ of asking, with handover immediately, or whenever best suited the seller), we only knocked a couple of £k off the asking price for the boat we eventually bought.
The seller was very happy with the deal and he arranged the launching, delivery to a mooring, picking us up from the airport, etc etc. And he's still on the other end of the phone to answer any questions we have. Hard to put a price on that but I bet he wouldn't have been as helpful if we'd beaten him down too far on the price.

 

[Refueler]

After having a number of what we thought were very good offers turned down by brokers (by good, I mean we were offering 85%+ of asking, with handover immediately, or whenever best suited the seller), we only knocked a couple of £k off the asking price for the boat we eventually bought.
The seller was very happy with the deal and he arranged the launching, delivery to a mooring, picking us up from the airport, etc etc. And he's still on the other end of the phone to answer any questions we have. Hard to put a price on that but I bet he wouldn't have been as helpful if we'd beaten him down too far on the price.

C'mon ... most sales are NOT of that order ... That is a sale in a higher price bracket ...

This is PBO ... not Yachting Monthly !!

 

[38mess]

I agreed with you till the last few words.

What is it for you if he secures the boat at a knock down price ?

"How low you can screw him down" ??

If Seller accepts - what's the problem ? Seller can always say no.

If you look at my earlier posts - I was with you guys that generally the boat would be maintained - due to the Registration requirements - as well as presenting a well found boat to rental ..

NOT how low you can screw him down.

 

[wonkywinch]

This is the old argument similar to buying an ex Rental car.

How many times has a charter boat hit the bottom? I'd want to be sure the dealer priced it accordingly and there will be no rule of thumb about discounting from asking price. Depends if the seller is motivated.

Ex rental cars = except if it's a battery car then steer well clear ..