Related Articles
This is How to Buy a Boat – Everything You Need to Know
2-How to Buy a Boat With the Best Price?
3-Buy Your Boat Directly – From the Dealers!
4-When is the Best Time to Buy a Boat?
Yves Klein, a great artist who devoted his life to beauty of one color, used to paint everything in blue hue and spent all of his career to find a specific shade of it; the one that we see when looking up! He was in love with blue indeed. And that’s why I decided to celebrate him, by mentioning his passion for art — and blue.
However, Yves Klein — the name behind IKB (International Klein Blue) — is not the only lover of this amazing color. There are millions of people out there who share the same passion with him. And yes, I’m talking about sailors. Even though the color of seas and oceans is something next to an illusion caused by sun’s light (same reason the sky is blue), sailing lovers see a whole different shade of blue in it anyway — one that represents quietness, deepness and beyond.
If in love with the ocean and want to start your own journey to find the 50 shades of blue, having a boat would make it possible. The only problem is that, buying a boat is somewhat complicated. Since there are lots of factors capable of affecting the price and actual value of a boat along with its safety, you must be careful and theoretically well-prepared to choose the best boat among all other options.
On this article, you will read some basics and tips on how to buy a boat. Read on to find out when is the best time to buy a boat, where is the best place to buy it and a lot more.
Where to Buy a Boat?
One of the first questions that may pop up on your mind is “where to buy a boat?” And continues with: “is it like going to a supermarket and coming home with a new boat? Do you have to be a professional sailor to buy an actual boat? Do you need any specific certification before buying?”
Well, it’s more like buying a car (if that). There are several ways to buy a boat which are pretty much similar to buying a car, which means you don’t have to be worried too much — a little consideration would be enough. One of the ways to buy a boat is visiting boat shows, where almost all sellers come together and introduce what they have! These shows are great for boat lovers — even those who are not looking to buy one. Since all sellers try to be at boat shows promoting their products, you can have a look at new and/or old models of boats that may be the one for you. Keep in mind that you don’t have to buy anything at a boat show and it’s totally OK to be a window shopper!
However, boat shows are not the only places for buying a boat and all of those dealers that you may meet through the show, have their own office (not surprising, right?). For this reason, you can pay them a visit at their own place, and negotiate with them about boats of interest! The only difference between visiting dealers offices and boat shows is the fact that you don’t have to search for all dealers when it comes to a boat show. That is, you can have all major (and even minor) business at on place without any effort. Contrary to dealers offices, which can only offer you limited options, boat shows leave you with enough stuff to consider and think about.
So, boat dealers offices and boat shows are two main places to visit when it comes to buying a boat. But since everything has went online these days, would not be rational to neglect boat selling websites. Yes, I know that none of you would want to buy a boat online! But give them a try. These websites can offer you some great information about the prices, related businesses around you, owners of used boats nearby and a lot more. I won’t recommend you to buy a boat actually online, since there are plenty of factors that may cause a bankruptcy if going wrong. However, making some research through these boat selling websites might come in handy when the face-to-face negotiations start.
How to Buy a Boat With the Best Price?
To buy a boat with the best price, you have to smart! There are no happy hours and buy-one-get-two things in boat selling businesses. So, you have to plan your own tactical moves and create new chances. Sounds hard? Well, it may ‘sound’ hard but it’s not impossible for sure. Below, you can find some tips on how to create better situations and plan tactical moves before making any deals.
Buy Your Boat Directly – From the Dealers!
Remember when I was talking about boat shows and dealers trying to promote their products? Well, there’s a secret about that “promoting” part: it costs some Benjamin for the dealers, resulting higher prices for boats that you may see at the show. That is, buying a boat from boat shows may cost you more money, because the dealers would raise the prices to pay for extra money used for promoting and renting a place at the show. That’s why most of the dealers recommend you to pay them a visit at their actual office for more negotiations, (you will experience it soon as starting a conversation with them). The more they pay for promotion, the more you need to pay for your new boat — because no dealer is would pay for extra costs. They may not tell you about the reason behind the prices, but keep in mind that chances of buying a boat for an unfair price is so high at boat shows.
For this reason, you need to plan something smart and practical… OK, don’t worry about it, I have a practical plan ready for you! All you need to do is to visit a boat show, talk to different dealers, check out all promoted boats, compare them to your desires and expectations, and make a list of your favorites. This list must include the dealers information (e.g. phone number and address) along with everything you can find about the boats (e.g. type, size, price).
This list will be your reference for further researches and processes, so be precise when making it. After finishing it up, it’s time to go home and start a vast online research. To do that, first gather some information based on the boats on the list and then order them based on prices — in a way that the cheapest is on top. Then try to find some information about the dealers you met at the show and were selling boats that you put in the list. Anything like reviews, comments and track records would come in handy. (If there was anything special about the dealers, make sure to add it to the list).
Now, all you need to do is waiting for the right time to come! Be be patient and don’t rush at any circumstances. Since there are some periods of time that affect the prices for boats, waiting for the right time would be one of the best tactical moves in the process of buying a boat.
When is the Best Time to Buy a Boat?
In business jargon every product has a specific season, which affects the prices — actually increases them! Boats are not exceptions to that, and the prices raise eventually when sailing seasons starts. However, this little fact can drop a hint to you that buying a boat when sailing seasons start is not a good move! For this reason, you need to wait until the season is over and most sellers are preparing for the next one. During the off-season periods, some dealers are worried about the unsold boats and that makes them much more open to negotiations about the prices.
Waiting for the off-season periods to come is a tactical move which will help you find much more better price tags and discounts. Dealers will need some space for new models when the season is over, and you can help them with that! Offer them a good price (include the fact that they need you to buy the boat) and then prepare to sail abroad on your new boat…
So, if you want to buy a boat for the best price possible, it’s better to act off-season and try to find dealers in a hurry to get rid of their unsold boats. However, if your budget wouldn’t allow you to buy a new boat, don’t lose your faith! Because there’s always a way out — in this case, there’s always a used boat out there waiting for you.
How to Buy a Used Boat?
Used boats are a bit risky, but when it comes to prices and budgets, buying a used boat would actually be better than all other options! However, you must be extremely careful when buying a used boat and never trust what the owners tell you about the boats before surveying it.
Some buyers may struggle with finding used boats for sell — especially those who live in big cities. For this reason, you have to put some effort into the searching part and try harder than usual. To help you with that, I decided to make a list of websites that sell used boats directly and/or introduce you to some owners who are willing to sell their boats. Following, is a list of best websites to buy a used boat.
YachtWorld
Yachtworld.com is a website that offers almost all kinds of boats and lets you to choose among them based on customized filters. That is, you can find an exact boat you’re looking for and/or have a look at different models with no specific model in mind. There are thousands of boats that are used and ready for sell on this website so you won’t need extra effort to make vast research on possible sellers. Finding a boat that fulfills your needs would be a piece of cake for you, thanks to easy-to-use filters and options prepared for users.
BoatTrader
Similar to YachtWorld.com, BoatTrader is one of the best websites to find used — and new — boats near to you and/or all the country. What BoatTrader does is pretty much similar to YachtWorld, so there’s no need to explain it. However, keep in mind that both websites are offering large boats, and finding small boats on them would not be easy. If you’re looking for a small sail or power, try other websites.
Note: there’s alway a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy, right? So, add some local research and talking to nearby sailors in hope to find the boat you’ve always wanted. (Don’t just rely on websites).
Reference(s):
1. Lochhaas Tom | 2018 | Buying a Used Boat Online | ThoughtCo | thoughtco
2. Watson Ericka | 2018 | The Best Time to Buy a Boat | ThoughtCo | thoughtco
3. Watson Ericka | 2017 | Buying a Boat at a Boat Show vs. a Dealer | ThoughtCo | thoughtco
