Caveat Emptor I guess?

[[165264]]

Well, I thought my slow look for a first boat might be shifting up a gear. I saw an advert for a Sun Odyssey 32 advertised through a “well known broker” based on the S coast. And I thought this might be right for me as an occasional single-handed sailor in moderate conditions.

This is what the advert said: “A excellent opportunity to purchase a lifting keel version of the Sun Odyssey 32.

"XXX XXX" has been well looked after and, in our opinion, presents very well. The yacht has a high level of specification to include plotter, radar, autopilot, heating, cockpit enclosure and copper-coating. The lift keel configuration maintains excellent performance characteristics whilst opening up the ability to explore shallow waters as well as dry out on the keels and rudders.

Used for light cruising in current ownership, she is now ashore at XXXXXXX and viewable 7 days a week. We highly recommend early viewing!"



But when I sent an email about looking at it, this is the reply I got:-


“SO32 lift keel – this yacht is currently having hull repairs completed following a survey earlier in the year. Anticipated timescales for viewing are late this month”.



Well, they didn’t say that on the website, did they? “Presents very well”. Hmmm. And “viewings later this month”- not just a coat of paint. I guess they couldn’t write, “Falling apart”?


Call me paranoid, and I know, my survey would have picked up the problem, but to me this is just dishonest. I can’t see me going anywhere near this broker/dealership again. Would you? Or am I being too harsh?

 

[Bathdave]

There are plenty of stories on here of people turning up to look at boats that clearly didn’t match the description, and the broker had said nothing in advance. It seems to me telling you the boat wasn’t ready is a step ahead of what some brokers would have done!

 

[Sticky Fingers]

This comes up a lot. I don't have an answer, but do know that there are some brokers out there that ARE trustworthy, so it's not all bad. Trick is to identify them. Two that post on here seem very well regarded.

 

[Tamar]

Best£450 I ever spent was on a survey on a 60k gaffer that was advertised as 'perfect in every way'
The surveyor was only two hours into the survey when he rang me to ask how fast I could run ?
The whole deck needed to come off to replace some rotting wood underneath.
A rough estimate was £30k minimum.
Get a good surveyor.

 

[Stemar]

Maybe a survey turned up some previously unknown issue that's now being fixed before sale. I'd want to know what the issue was, and what had been done, but it wouldn't necessarily put me off.

Dishonesty would be to keep quiet about it and hope it's missed.

 

[Biggles Wader]

To be fair I think the broker has been upfront here. OK they might have removed the ad while the work was done but they havnt wasted your time beyond sending an email. Different if you had travelled to view or even worse shelled out for a survey.

 

[[165264]]

This comes up a lot. I don't have an answer, but do know that there are some brokers out there that ARE trustworthy, so it's not all bad. Trick is to identify them. Two that post on here seem very well regarded.

WHo please?!

 

[[165264]]

I clearly have too high an expectation of other people.

 

[bedouin]

Isn't that a good sign - known issues being fixed and the broker being honest about it? Think of the alternative - to slap on a bit of filler/paint and hope you didn't notice - that would be dishonest.

Doesn't really mean anything in the description was inaccurate.

I don't think that would put me off viewing the boat if it was one I liked.

 

[prv]

The original ad was probably reasonably accurate when written. Sure, one might hope they’d keep published details up to date on all their stock, but it doesn’t really surprise me that they haven’t.

As others have said, at least they volunteered the current situation when you asked. There are offices that aren’t even on the ball enough to do that.

Pete

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Who please?!

The two Forumites are John Rodriguez (known on here as "Jonic") and John Wilson of Yachtsnet ("jwilson").

Yachts For Sale with John Rodriguez Yachts - ABYA Yacht Broker

Yachts for sale at Yachtsnet - UK sailing yacht brokerage and boat sales

 

[Graham376]

It seems some brokers just print out whatever description the owner tells them. We had a boat surveyed and walked away after finding it needed about £10k in repairs. Not long after, it appeared on a brokerage site with a glowing report about condition, broker not too happy when I accused him of telling porkies and emailed a copy of the survey

 

[xyachtdave]

I’m not sure why you’re upset?

Broker has been straight about issues raised at previous survey, these are being rectified and will be completed shortly. The web listing may not mention this as probably posted before the event.

Beneteau Sun Odessey’s aren’t a rare beast, if worried forget and move on.

 

[V1701]

There is unfortunately no getting away from the fact that you would be crazy not to take whatever an advert's claims are with a hefty pinch of salt and that applies to private and broker advertised boats (with a few notable exceptions that have already been mentioned). You simply have to spend time and effort finding a good one and when you think you have pay a surveyor to confirm or otherwise your choice. If you're not prepared or able for whatever reason to do that then you will likely end up never buying one...