Making an offer on a boat.

Read Paul mckenna's book before nagotiations, a friend of mine has been using Pauls book for years in buying and selling.
Only last week he secured a HR 39 for £12.99

Ah, but he still had to buy the book !
You have to take your hat off to MCkenna that he can churn out all these pap books and someone still buys them.Maybe we ve all been hyponotised (self, of course).
 
To some extent it depends what other boats of the same type/age/condition are going for. If this is £36K then that's about what its worth and I suspect he wont move to where you want him to.

If, however, £36k is for the same type/age & in good/very good condition then your £23K may be right.

Is it through a broker? If so their opening prices are, in my experience, often VERY optimistic. I have sold and bought boats through brokers at around 75% of their opening prices - 6-8% of the £13K difference is a fair chunk for them to loose.

If its not through a broker then its probably the owners own valuation and the "much loved" aspect is probably playing a part in his valuation.

In both cases it is also pertinent how the boat is described on the manifest. If it says its shot then that limits your negotiations; if it declares it in good condition and its not then you have more room to negotiate.

Either way if you think its worth/are only prepared/able to pay £23k then that's your offer point so go ahead and make the offer.

If the boat IS worth £36K and you are trying to get it for a knock-down price its a different matter and you should take it on the chin when you are told NO!!
 
If the vendor is asking £36k and the bidder is offering £23k, one or both of them are deluded. If it is the seller, it is going to take a while for the message to be absorbed so while you can make the offer it might be a long time before it is accepted. If I was offering I would do it with as much courtesy and apology as I could muster even if I thought the asking price was daft, then go away and wait and wait.
 
I do feel that offence is taken when an owner of a very well looked after craft is is insulted by a chance low offer.
Good luck

You are not looking for a long term relationship here, If the vendor feels offended that is unfortunate, but make an offer of what you think a boat is worth, to you. The vendor can just say "No way"

The same principle applies to anything including houses. Many years ago we were looking to buy our second home, a house came on the market for more than we could afford, but it was during the slump in the early 70s, we put in a low offer which was rejected by the agent as "ridiculous" It did not sell and was still on the market 18/12 later at a reduced figure, we put in an offer not much more than our original one - I had had a pay rise and could afford a bit more - and this was accepted. We found out that the owner had also rejected an offer at the earlier time which was higher than our final purchase price!

This seems to demonstrate that vendors must be sure that they have priced their boat/house appropriately to the market. Unless of course they don't really want to sell it.
 
If you want it at a certain price, there is a 100% chance that you WON'T get it, if you don't make an offer.

Golden rule in any negotiation: Be prepared to walk away.

If you have decided you do want it at your price, and he has an emotional attachment to the boat (thus the inflated price) you could either:
a. point at all the deficiencies in his pride and joy - deficiencies that will cost you a lot of money to put right. This will probably annoy him and he won't budge.
b. tell him how much you want to take care of the boat, all the attention you want to lavish on it to bring it back up to good-as-new condition - but that will cost a lot of money and that has to be reflected in the price. This approach MIGHT (possibly) convince him to come down to your level.
 
If the vendor is asking £36k and the bidder is offering £23k, one or both of them are deluded. If it is the seller, it is going to take a while for the message to be absorbed so while you can make the offer it might be a long time before it is accepted. If I was offering I would do it with as much courtesy and apology as I could muster even if I thought the asking price was daft, then go away and wait and wait.

I first saw my Citroen DS on an internet advert. I rang the owner and chatted about it. The car sounded - and turned out to be - excellent but his asking price was 30% higher than I could afford. I explained this, said I wished him luck and we parted very amicably.

Three months later he rang,a couple of weeks before returning to South Africa, whence he and the car had come, and asked if I was still interested at my price. I was, and we concluded the deal.

On the basis of this experience, I suggest that the OP resists any temptation to say "Your boat is only worth £23K" and instead says "It's lovely, but I'm afraid I can only go to £23K - there's some work I'd need to do for my intended use and that cuts what I can afford to pay. If you can't take that at the moment, fine, I understand. Good luck with the sale, and do get back in touch if your situation changes."

He might get a pleasant call in a few months ...
 
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When I bought my boat I went to look at it to see what a really good one was like - this one had been reduced from £80 to £65K well beyond my price range. But the broker was very keen to make a sale and so I offered £48K subject to survey knowing that there were a couple of problems.which the vendor reluctantly accepted saying that he wouldn't accept any less. Survey went well agreeing with my findings and a couple of extra issues. I feigned disinterest and said I was going to walk. Eventually the broker came back and asked what price would I be interested and I said not at all , but when pressed I said £40K, a couple of days later the offer was accepted. It has cost about £8K to sort it, so you never know!:D
 
I would have no problems 'going in low' if its a dealer or a broker selling, you won't offend them, but an individual can be offended, either by the thought you are saying the boat he has loved for years is actulally a floating turd, or by him thinking you are taking the michael and just trying to screw him on price.

When I have sold boats or cars there comes a point in the dealing where you think 'I can tell where this is going', at that point, it's over. You have to be as prepared to walk away from a deal as a seller as you would if you were a buyer.
 
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