Buying in France

[alsedo]

Hi All,
New to this forum so excuse if anything is out of place. I am looking at buying a Merry fisher/ Antares in Brittany and we have singled out a dozen boats but I am having difficulty in contacting the brokers due to my complete lack of French and my emails via google translate seem to be ignored! I am wondering if anyone here has used a buyers agent to deal with a shortlist of boats? I am probably looking at going over in the next few weeks so I would like to set up viewings etc before I get a any surveys done. Any recommendations of agents or brokers? Thanks in advance

Alsedo

 

[Stemar]

Can't help with the buying process, but I presume that the boat will be kept in France. Bring her back here and you'll get stung for VAT.

 

[Ceirwan]

Hi All,
New to this forum so excuse if anything is out of place. I am looking at buying a Merry fisher/ Antares in Brittany and we have singled out a dozen boats but I am having difficulty in contacting the brokers due to my complete lack of French and my emails via google translate seem to be ignored! I am wondering if anyone here has used a buyers agent to deal with a shortlist of boats? I am probably looking at going over in the next few weeks so I would like to set up viewings etc before I get a any surveys done. Any recommendations of agents or brokers? Thanks in advance

Alsedo

In general emails from google translate just read like scams.
Might be easier just to pick up the phone. Parlez vous anglais?

Worst case they say no. But if you at least speak on the phone they'll take your emails seriously.

 

[alsedo]

Can't help with the buying process, but I presume that the boat will be kept in France. Bring her back here and you'll get stung for VAT.

Back to Ireland, the vat and import from UK is seriously penal on the UK imports to Ireland 33% on top of the sterling rate

 

[Stemar]

Ah, that's another matter, but think about the costs of shipping the boat to Ireland - I wouldn't fancy sailing from France to Ireland in one of those, especially not this time of year! Could you rent a lorry with a hiab and diy it?

 

[pandos]

Ah, that's another matter, but think about the costs of shipping the boat to Ireland - I wouldn't fancy sailing from France to Ireland in one of those, especially not this time of year! Could you rent a lorry with a hiab and diy it?

The french brokers respond well to telephone and an attempt to ask in French if they speak English...they all do...or you could ask if they speak Irish first and then compromise on using English....

Shipping to Ireland shouldn't be too expensive...plenty of direct ferries...thanks to the thing that ends in xit that we dare not speak of....

 

[Sea Devil]

I find the French generally do not respond to emails - they use Messages - the system attached to phone numbers a lot or the telephone. I think you will find most brokers speak some English and if you just pick up the phone and say do you speak English you will probably have some success....

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

The french brokers respond well to telephone and an attempt to ask in French if they speak English...they all do...or you could ask if they speak Irish first and then compromise on using English....

Shipping to Ireland shouldn't be too expensive...plenty of direct ferries...thanks to the thing that ends in xit that we dare not speak of....

Regarding the request to speak English; I have always found that they have no problem speaking English once they know that I'm Irish rather than English?
(OTOH, whenever I try to speak
French they answer in English anyway.)

 

[pandos]

Regarding the request to speak English; I have always found that they have no problem speaking English once they know that I'm Irish rather than English?
(OTOH, whenever I try to speak
French they answer in English anyway.)

Thus my suggestion to try Irish first...much less rude than saying I am not English so please speak to me in English...

I had a place in France in the past and this always worked especially with utility companies and officialdom...

 

[Jim@sea]

Hi All,
New to this forum so excuse if anything is out of place. I am looking at buying a Merry fisher/ Antares in Brittany and we have singled out a dozen boats but I am having difficulty in contacting the brokers due to my complete lack of French and my emails via google translate seem to be ignored! I am wondering if anyone here has used a buyers agent to deal with a shortlist of boats? I am probably looking at going over in the next few weeks so I would like to set up viewings etc before I get a any surveys done. Any recommendations of agents or brokers? Thanks in advance

Alsedo

I nearly came unstuck in France when I bought a similar boat to a Merry Fisher. It did not come with a trailer so as the Broker/Boatyard sold trailers I asked them to supply one. They were agents for Sattellite Boat Trailers. They totally underestimated the weight of the boat they were selling me.
I noticed when I collected the boat (on the trailer) and I got it home in Brittany that the tyres were bulging at the bottom.
So I took the boat to a local Agricultural Merchant and put it on the weighbridge. The trailer with the boat on it was 500 kilos over what the trailer was supposed to carry.
It turned out that this Sattellite Trailer was the biggest one they made for a Merry Fisher type hull.
If I was doing it again I would buy a UK made Boat Trailer and get it over there.
Also Sattellite Boat Trailers have a design fault. Great trailers if you are not going to launch down a slipway.
They have a Grease Nipple on the Brake Hub. So you can get a grease gun, pump the grease and at the back of the hub the excess grease is ejected.
BUT the Valve at the back of the hub has a Chrome Ball Bearing. Which goes rusty. So a couple of months after buying the trailer you are pumping the grease gun, the Chrome Ball Bearing has got rusty and seized, so when you are pumping, it blows the rubber seal to stop water getting to the wheel bearing and you are filling the brake drum and shoes with grease.