Would You Walk Away From a USD15,000 Deposit on a Boat Purchase, 2 Days Before Settlement?

Today’s quick story is about a boat buyer we dealt with recently that had me completely perplexed and who taught me something important… and what you can learn from it. It had been a busy week at BASCO Boating and was Wednesday evening. A new enquiry had just come in on a boat we’d been marketing for sale for about 6-months. We had received huge interest in this boat so we knew it would sell soon.

No faster had the enquiry arrived in the inbox and the guy was on the phone to my hubby William.

He said he’d been looking for a boat exactly like this for more than 2-years. He was gob-smacked (aka totally surprised) as he’d been searching high and low for a long time and hadn’t seen this beautiful, perfect-for-him 60-plus foot boat, the entire time. The problem was, he had already paid a deposit on another boat. The settlement was supposed to 2-days later, on Friday and he would lose his deposit. Either way, he needed to decide fast. The next day he flew in to view the boat. He made an offer by the end of the day, subject to sea trial and a few minor things. The offer was accepted by the owner and the sea trial was 3-days later with settlement 10-days after that. It had me completely perplexed, even more than him. How could this be he asked, that I haven’t seen this boat? He said, “I stumbled across it only on Wednesday”. We were surprised too, to be fair. We had spent USD3k on paid ads for this boat and in addition to listing it on 5 global boat listing websites, it was posted widely across the digital platforms, groups, free classified sites, and social media as well. Frustratingly too, he said that he’d been in the marina, having coffee with a boat broker only 1 month beforehand! The broker hadn’t mentioned that his dreamboat, the perfect boat for him, was for sale and it was even visible from the restaurant where they had coffee. The broker didn’t have it listed for sale. Sometimes boat brokers don’t offer other boats for sale and they make more commission if they can sell them a boat, they have listed themselves.

Related: Everything You Need to Know About Boat Broker Fees

The thing I really want you to take away from this is, if you’re a boat buyer, it can be difficult to find the boat that you are looking for at the price you’re willing to pay. So, what this means to you in your boating life is you can end up buying the wrong boat, something that may not be right for you, or buying a lemon. All in all, it is sadly, very easy to make a costly boat buying mistake or worse, disappoint yourself and your family as the boating dream gets tarnished or lost. This guy lost USD15,000 from the get-go. But even worse than the money, is if the family no longer wants to go boating with you. This is one of the worst outcomes we see and this can happen for several reasons you’d want to avoid.

So, here’s your next step as it relates to what you and I just shared

Consider The BASCO With You Platinum Access to Boating Program.  The 3-Stage Blueprint for Exclusive Boating Access, Experience and Knowledge, for first-time boaters and new to Asia boaters.  It’s a clear step-by-step program to access the right experience, right boat and the right price.  Oh, and what did I learn? That our valuable program can definitely save money, heartache and time, so I’d better let more boat buyers know about it, so write a message, now!