so who buys them?

A lot of problems in life stem from comparing what you have with others. Far better to understand what makes you satisfied or happy. Most of the time that is not dependent on money (accepting that no or low money is a problem). Time restricts me more than money. Everyone makes different time and money choices about boats, cars, houses according to their circumstances.
 
Birdseye said:
Are there many people willing and able to spend that sort of cash money on a toy? Could it be that the Europeans are so much better off than us Brits that I am being misled?
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Perhaps the fallacy here is the assumption that everyone has similar priorities: an assumption that people are only willing to pay a certain percentage of their total wealth (5-10%?) on a boat so the only folks considering a £300k boat are those with a £3m house and a couple of million in pension accruals.

For some people sailing is a passion and a boat isn't "a toy". They might not own a house or a car. Plenty of people have wealth which exceeds £300k. How people allocate their wealth is simply a question of priorities.

Personally I wouldn't spend £300k on a benneteau but if I was retiring with a pension to support me and a house to sell I'd very definitely be looking to trade the house for an expensive boat to live out my twilight years voyaging on.

I would imagine though that charter companies, sailing schools etc. are a very sizeable market for 12m AWBs
 
Goldie said:
We used to have neighbours who always had his and hers cars bearing the latest number plates (not company cars) but then moaned that they couldn’t afford to replace their boiler.

As my late grandmother would have said “fur coat but no knickers”.
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I think there's perhaps a certain type of wealthy person who likes to moan about prices they can easily afford. I can only guess the psychology of this.

I used to belong to a retirees' walking group. Most seemed reasonably comfortably off (certainly compared to me), but most drove modest small hatchbacks and a few standard medium-sized family cars. One woman, though, drove a luxury brand sports coupe, went frequently - numerous times a year - on luxury package holidays to exotic locations around the globe that each must have cost many thousands, etc., but her main topic of conversation (apart from bewailing social/political horrors she'd gleaned from Daily Mail headlines) was how expensive were minor incidentals on each of her trips.

I recall one time she'd been on a few days city-break to Dublin (made a change from long-haul, I guess). A few years earlier I'd been to Dublin for a couple of days for a job interview, flew Ryanair or similar, and stayed in a B&B in the suburbs, but she told us she'd paid £3,000, and had a city-centre luxury hotel's bridal suite to herself. She complained bitterly and at length to us that she'd had to pay 4 euros for a coffee somewhere in Dublin. She was also horrified to discover that another couple on the trip had got the same package for £1,500 as a last minute deal. I wasn't sure whether these outrages had ruined the trip for her, or had made it all the better because she'd could revel in the injustice of it all for weeks following!
 
johnalison said:
I used to console myself when I saw people tanking past my Austin/Renault in their Mercs/BMWs that they were only company cars, and that nobody would spend honestly-acquired money of such a depreciating asset. When I am minister of transport, I shall enact a law making all company or work-owned cars display a C plate, both to warn us of the additional hazard and to restore them to their proper status.
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In Singapore, it is law to have your company name and address painted on any commercial vehicle. I often think it should apply in the UK if any trader has benefited from tax rebates, then this might reduce the anonymous "white van man" aggression I see on the UK roads.

truck.jpg

On the topic of boats, I started the well trodden journey with first boat purchase just 2 years ago. Had a budget of <£100k, looked at a few c £70k to leave a budget for updating/repairs. Then decided some of the older interior layouts didn't really suit (partner really doesn't like V berths). Ended up drifting towards the newer AWBs but now budget pressed towards £150k. Looked at brand new as base price wasn't much higher and then spoke to dealers who rustled up quotes, then I realised how expensive "options" were. It was easy to double the base price and end up at £300k+.

Back to the drawing board and I also realised as a new buyer, the market was full of stuff that was stuck there, only I didn't know it at the time. One Saturday, a new listing popped up on Yachtwotsit and we drove up to the Lakes to view it first thing Monday morning. It was a 6 year old AWB where the original buyer had a VAT discount and had ticked every box. Referring to the brochure, the only things he hadn't ordered was a generator and aircon. The price was reasonable, in budget and the engine less than 300 hours. Everything looked new, the broker was very helpful, held off other interested parties until we had a survey which came back good. Three weeks later, the boat was on a truck on it's way to Hamble.

Two years later, still very happy with our purchase!
 
ChromeDome said:
An anecdotal remark about the rich:

My neighbor's wife made a whimsical decision and bought a car. Big. Expensive, very expensive.
The man was so captivated by it that he bought an identical one.

Now people passing by their driveway say, "Oh, they are very rich!"

My thought: "No, not anymore." The depreciation on those two metal boxes is absolutely insane.
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I wonder what the depreciation rate is on that £300k of GRP.
 
I’ll fess up that I bought my 40’ Hanse new about 5 years ago. I reckon I’d get back broadly what I paid for her but that value has been held up by the 70% increase in the equivalent new price today.

In real terms with inflation I guess I’ve effectively lost 20% and more had I of invested that money instead of spending it on a boat!

It’s fine, sailing is my passion but it’s a shame I wasn’t into chess or basket weaving

I think a lot of boat buying is coming from share options and pension cash but the pandemic was a bubble and I suspect that is unwinding now
 
In the same way that nearly all new cars are bought on some kind of credit, you would think that many new boats are also on some kind of marine mortgage. There are plenty people in the world for whom credit is a way of life and there is a saying along the lines that a man living within his means is not living at all. Certainly if you look at the boats.co.uk YT channel where they highlight various mobos that they are selling, James always discusses finance costs which suggests that it must be a common thing in that world.

Anyone into cars who gets on the pistonheads forum will soon encounter plenty of men of working age who financing Bentleys and Ferraris etc on tick.

When I was at school I had a mate with (seemingly) rich parents and his dad sure knew how to spend it. 6 bedroom house in an expensive bit of Cheshire, his daily driver was a new Bentley Turbo (this was about 1989), a Corvette stingray in the garage, 1100cc motorbike for fun, the most expensive chalet on the Warren in Abersoch, a brand new Formula 26 speedboat (which I remember costing £120 to fill up nearly 40 years ago), trophy wife, you name it he had it.
Bumped in to him a coupe of years later and it was all gone. House, wife, cars, the lot. He and his now dishevelled unshaven dad were living in a council house. Never could tell what his dad did for a job but it was all on credit and one day the music stopped.

I would agree that inheritance and/or downsizing are the most likely alternatives, in other words free money.
 
According to local scuttlebutt, the whopping yacht that popped into Ocean Village the other day cost £35 million and is £3 million a year to run.
 
Goldie said:
We used to have neighbours who always had his and hers cars bearing the latest number plates (not company cars) but then moaned that they couldn’t afford to replace their boiler.

As my late grandmother would have said “fur coat but no knickers”.
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Two posh cars on the drive and f...all in the 'fridge. (Jasper Carrot)
 
Supertramp said:
A lot of problems in life stem from comparing what you have with others. Far better to understand what makes you satisfied or happy. Most of the time that is not dependent on money (accepting that no or low money is a problem). Time restricts me more than money. Everyone makes different time and money choices about boats, cars, houses according to their circumstances.
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This in spades

Far better to learn to be be happy with what you do have than be endlessly unhappy about what you don't have,
 
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