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Need advice on buying and shipping


Cbmoggia

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Has anyone bought a boat from out of state and shipped it to themselves? I am curious how it was done. How did you get the boat shipped? How did you pay for it? Are there third party companies that hold the money until delivery or how Di you get the pink slip? Just looking for answers to details before I attempt it. Curious what other crew members have done.

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I sold a boat to a guy in Canada last year which was way more complicated than state to state. He came to my place and inspected the boat in January and paid a small deposit for me to hold until transport. He took a bill of sale and COPIES of the titles when he left. I had the boat shrink wrapped for the long journey north. He sent a wire transfer for the remaining funds about a week before transport and I over-nighted both signed titles to him the same day. He arranged transport and I just had to meet the guy at my office with the boat ready to go.

The key to all of this was constant communication. He and I both agreed it went seamlessly but we were in constant contact. If the seller you plan to deal with is slow to respond, then I wouldn't be comfortable dealing with them. I think him taking the time and spending the money to come see the boat first also helped as we spent the day together and you can learn a lot about a person in that time. As the seller I definitely had less to lose as he was the one sending money before transportation.

I have sold both my last boats online and this one went to the great white north and the first one went to Michigan. Both went great.

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Has anyone bought a boat from out of state and shipped it to themselves? I am curious how it was done. How did you get the boat shipped? How did you pay for it? Are there third party companies that hold the money until delivery or how Di you get the pink slip? Just looking for answers to details before I attempt it. Curious what other crew members have done.

I don't know all the answers to this question, but I have done it twice, and this has always been the procedure I followed:

1) I got lots of pictures and asked a lot of questions to seller and became familiar with them. Once we were both comfortable, we agreed on a price (contingent on things being just as expected!!) They agreed to hold the boat for me for ~2 weeks. I did not put down a down-payment

2) I had them bring the boat to a local Malibu mechanic to do a full inspection ASAP (Luckily they were always able to get it done within 2 days) Regardless of the outcome, I was paying for this inspection and waited for the report. If anything was out of place, price would be adjusted as to what I would be paying

3) I booked a flight down ASAP to see it in person AND book my driver through U-ship so that the driver would pick up the boat while I was there. Driver would meet me while I was down there and pick it up from dealership or that person's house. The dealer and sellers have always been ok with holding it an extra day if necessary.

4) On purchasing day, I check out the boat in person, we agree to making the purchase final and I pay via wire transfer with them listening on speaker phone with my bank (or more recently online via Schwab) They call their bank - confirm that the transaction has happened. We sign the paperwork and make copies, etc.

5) Shipper comes later that day and meets me there. I get it ready for the long trip home (one time I had to buy new tires for the trailer on the spot.) Shipper picks it up and starts driving back to Minneapolis. I go out for a beer with the guy that just sold me the boat.

6) I fly back home and meet the shipper at my house. First time he needed 3 days and stopped at his place on the way and took a lot of $$ off the shipping fee for giving him extra time. Second time, the guy had it to my place the following day.

Tips: U-ship always recommends you put out such a higher bid than necessary. I was able to ship from Tampa --> Minneapolis and Houston --> Minneapolis for ~900 including all UShip fees for VERY specific timelines. They recommended something like $2,000 for a bid. You could probably do $600 if you were somewhat flexible.

Wire transfers are my preferred way to do huge transactions like this or property. (Charles Schwab does 3 free wire transfers a year I believe)

Both were pretty stressful, but were totally worth it. Planning is definitely key... everything needs a backup plan!

Something I thought was cool and not important at all to what you need to know: The day I was purchasing the VLX from Tampa, it was the seller's birthday AND he was getting a brand new Mastercraft X2 delivered that day. After my shipper left for Minneapolis with my boat, we took out his new X2 and went boarding / surfing / skiing all day and went out that night (drinking - not boating). Due to my business traveling, I continued to board with him every few weeks all spring and summer. It was pretty awesome!

*Edit formatting

**Edit 2 - I booked the flights AND driver for the same time, so that I could send the boat off with the driver while I was there. I said this incorrectly before - UShip drivers need to be booked in advance (the farther the better, but you do need to put down a deposit or something similar for the driver)

Edited by jonredcorn
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