Motorboat Brokerage

[thailand69]

On the website (and in the office) spell out <u>clearly</u> how the boat buying (and selling) process is meant to work (albeit always exceptions!)......ie, a looksee (or 2), seatrial, offer subject to seatrial / survey (and what is / is not considered rejectable) with a deposit (for this I would say a few hundred, maybe £500 is more than enough to seperate the time wasters - certainly not 10%!! LOL!) and also what the various registrations actually mean.

Making the move from writing the cheque to boat on the water painless as possible (especially for newbies / folk not familiar with your area) would also be a bonus - If I bought a boat in your area I would have no idea what my mooring or guardiage (sp?!!) options are - stuff you would already know.

Regarding taking payment I would consider it a big bonus to at least have the option of using a (reputable) 3rd party Escrow service......yeah, I do have trust issues about giving £50k or more to what I <u>know</u> are often 1 man and his dog operations - no matter how smart the office / salesman is.

If you want to attract the punters to your website you could also write a guide to VAT!

I have not done any bizness with Boatshed (but would guess as a Franchise experiances will vary between offices), but I have used their website as a point of reference (as I am sure overs do!) due to the photos, my main criticism is that some Photographic training would be no bad thing and also the descriptions are a bit sparse and searchs parameters are too wide when you know pretty much what you are looking for - I recall that they were offering franchises at the £20k mark at one point - seems an awful lot for a website..........

 

[Renegade_Master]

Our policy is only to take the deposit into our account. The rest is paid directly from buyer to seller upon completion. We then pay the seller the difference between commission and deposit, simple

 

[RogerRat]

[ QUOTE ]
The nearest example in England is Essex Boatyards, but the one and only time I ever went there, I found disinterested staff, filthy dirty stock and had to spend half a day peering through boat windows.

[/ QUOTE ]

They must have really peed you off, you're sounding a little bit like the guys who can't get to view a boat at the boat shows cos the staff couldn't be bothered and wouldn't let them on.

I've bought 3 boats from Essex and I hope my next one will come from there too. They do the job right and look after their customers!

I know what you mean about dirty boats but some could arrive that way.

For me the main point is that promises made were promises kept!

That says a lot for Essex Boatyards and it's probably why they sell more boats than most and are growing constantly.

 

[Major Catastrophe]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The nearest example in England is Essex Boatyards, but the one and only time I ever went there, I found disinterested staff, filthy dirty stock and had to spend half a day peering through boat windows.

[/ QUOTE ]

They must have really peed you off, you're sounding a little bit like the guys who can't get to view a boat at the boat shows cos the staff couldn't be bothered and wouldn't let them on.

I've bought 3 boats from Essex and I hope my next one will come from there too. They do the job right and look after their customers!

I know what you mean about dirty boats but some could arrive that way.

For me the main point is that promises made were promises kept!

That says a lot for Essex Boatyards and it's probably why they sell more boats than most and are growing constantly.

[/ QUOTE ]

I drove all the way from Cheshire to Essex to look at boats and hopefully buy one. This was winter 2004/2005. I arrived on a Saturday and asked to look at some boats. The guy pointed at the boats in the yard and said, "There's some."

So I went looking. A Landau 20 caught my eye, but even though I was told someone would open it up for me, no-one turned up. After peering through windows for a bit, I left god daughter to wait for man while I went to look at other boats. Saw couple of others I was interested in, retrieved GD and found another man.

He didn't know what had happened to the first guy and wasn't particularly keen on finding keys for (now) three boats.

Hung around for another hour, along with a another couple who couldn't get served, then then headed for pub down the road. A few weeks later I went to LIBS and bought a new boat.

I won't go near them again.

 

[BrokerBen]

Excellent idea about the guides, could really bring some people in!

 

[BrokerBen]

Agreed, however the consensus is that the boat needs to be clean. If that means as a broker I need to badger the owner to actually clean his/her own boat in order to help, or bill them for cleaning then that may be what happens.

Nobody is going to fall in love with a boat on a viewing if it's filthy except in extreme circumstances or unless it's price reflects the amount of dirt.

We can get boats cleaned, and where alot of cleaning is needed I think we will ask the owner to get stuck in or offer to do it for him at cost.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Simple one.

£XK when clean
£lessK when grubby

 

[Sneds]

Surprised at the coments re Essex Boatyards.
We are in the process of buying a brokerage boat there, yes it was a little dirty but perhaps the owner wasn't willing to have it cleaned? (££)
I have bombarded Essex with questioning e-mails since my visit and all have been answered quickly and factually (as fas as I can tell).
I was also able to part-ex my current boat, although they won't let me keep my chart plotter
I also like the Boatshed thing, loads of photos is the key thing.
Nice to have a look before you undertake a 4 hour drive and a night in a hotel!
Ben, good luck with your venture, maybe see you in two years time!
Of course, we don't have to use a broker to sell our boats, theres allways the free ads like Boatmart, Boats& outboards and of course the Trade-it! (if you can be @rsed!)

 

[RogerRat]

[quote
I drove all the way from Cheshire to Essex to look at boats and hopefully buy one. This was winter 2004/2005. I arrived on a Saturday and asked to look at some boats. The guy pointed at the boats in the yard and said, "There's some."

A few weeks later I went to LIBS and bought a new boat.

I won't go near them again.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can't blame you if that's how you were treated, I would have been peeved too. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Did you let them know you were going or did you just turn up?

I also went there a about that time and did get the impression that they were short staffed. I had to wait around for keys but I was pleased to be left to look around on my own for a while.

I would suggest that you do give tham another chance in the future but call first and mention your previous experience. I bet the response will be apologetic and keen to help. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Major Catastrophe]

[ QUOTE ]

Did you let them know you were going or did you just turn up?

[/ QUOTE ] I rang them three days before to check they were open. Wasn't really expecting a champagne reception when looking for a sub 25 footer, but did expect at least to be able to look inside boats and talk to a person.