New boat agents

[zoidberg]

In the aftermath of another 'slimmed-down' SIBS, I found myself yet again marvelling at the large number of yacht agents and their blue-blazered bouncers. Who are these people?

And.... what is the role of an 'agent'?

What Value do they Add for their not-inconsiderable cut of purchase price? That runs to multiple £thousands and, if my memory of many 'orrible tales in here is sound, they seem to do little - and badly - to earn it.
Could one not simply buy straight from the factory/yard and save lotsa moolah?

There may be different perspectives; I'd like to hear them.

 

[flaming]

In the aftermath of another 'slimmed-down' SIBS, I found myself yet again marvelling at the large number of yacht agents and their blue-blazered bouncers. Who are these people?

And.... what is the role of an 'agent'?

What Value do they Add for their not-inconsiderable cut of purchase price? That runs to multiple £thousands and, if my memory of many 'orrible tales in here is sound, they seem to do little - and badly - to earn it.
Could one not simply buy straight from the factory/yard and save lotsa moolah?

There may be different perspectives; I'd like to hear them.

it's less the agent and more the logisitcs of getting the boat from the factory gate to your home berth. Plus of course the import duty and all of the other paperwork.

In some cases a lot of the extras are not installed by the yard but by the importer. The yard preferring to simplify their production, but the importer recognising the value of giving the customer what they want.

And the importer can also act as your advocate. One purchase that my father made, the first boat to arrive had a fault, a pretty big one. The importer spotted it and got the hull sent back to the factory without us ever even seeing it. They had a go at fixing it and then when they sent it back the importer/sales agent simply refused it. The same process dealing directly with a foreign yard could have been quite different. And of course if you aren't accustomed to unpacking new boats you might not see the issue until much later.

However - plenty of yards don't operate this way. Don't have sales agents and you have to deal directly with the yard.

They're generally not the ones exhibiting at shows though....

 

[johnalison]

I can't say that I have had a problem with agents, any more than car salesmen. On the old days I dealt with Westerly and Fairways marine directly but bought the Sadler through an agent. In that case they received the boat, repaired the damage that their gutter did when it blew of in the '87 hurricane, and arranged for things like sign-writing.

In the case of our HR, Transworld sold it to us at SBS, during which we had a long and fruitful discussion about extras, including a chat, if it can be called that, with Magnus Rassy, followed by copious Champagne. We collected the boat ourselves but took it to Transworld, who went over it with a fine tooth-comb looking for faults, and fitted the anchor-windlass that was a boat-show offer. They also arranged with an electronics firm to trace a wiring fault to the compass before begging to borrow the boat for the next SBS, which in fact occurred. In following years they have helped with minor spares and advice, and also have a relationship with the Association. Some years after purchase they arranged for repair of our saildrive when the drive started to part after encounter with weed and we limped in. I have heard of other agents who have fallen short of this sort of service though.

 

[KevinV]

Having witnessed the chaos that can ensue when (relaxedly, amicably, even jovially) neither boat buyer nor boat builder nail down the specification beforehand, and neither take proper notes of subsequent discussions and agreed works....The bad blood it caused, which then meant that chunks of the extensive snagging list never got done, or only at the owner's considerable expense and inconvenience. 20 years later there are still systems on that boat that have never worked properly, with manuals missing, no wiring diagrams, etc, etc.

So with that experience I'd say a good buying agent is an excellent idea for those with either limited time, limited organisational skills, limited people skills, limited local trade contacts or limited patience. It would have easily been worth say 5% on the boat I was involved with, just for the effort required - 10% if you value your heart health. Pay the money to make it someone else's problem - that's what money is for.

 

[Tranona]

In the aftermath of another 'slimmed-down' SIBS, I found myself yet again marvelling at the large number of yacht agents and their blue-blazered bouncers. Who are these people?

And.... what is the role of an 'agent'?

What Value do they Add for their not-inconsiderable cut of purchase price? That runs to multiple £thousands and, if my memory of many 'orrible tales in here is sound, they seem to do little - and badly - to earn it.
Could one not simply buy straight from the factory/yard and save lotsa moolah?

There may be different perspectives; I'd like to hear them.

Most production builders use the dealer model for much the same reasons as car manufacturers. They are not "agents" but independent businesses that trade on their own account and have an agreement with the builders to sell their products in a designated area. So your contract is with the dealer who buys the boat from the builder. An agent is a different legal animal who represents to builder and earns a commission for introducing buyers to the builder. The buyer's contract is them with the builder. This is more common with high end custom builders.

There are many reasons builders use the dealer model. The most important perhaps is that otherwise they would have to invest in their own sales and support network in many markets. The second is that in many countries, including the EU and UK the law makes the local supplier with whom the buyer has the contract responsible for the product under consumer legislation.

Does it work? By and large yes. Most boats are imported and most buyers would not want to deal direct with factories overseas, nor would the factories want to deal direct with individual buyers. However it all relies on the quality and financial stability of the local dealer. Most are sound and well established but there have been a number of well known problems with boat dealers over the years (just as there were with UK boat builders who dealt direct in the UK!). I have bought 2 new boats from dealers and in both cases entirely satisfactory.