Log XI - Artemis 1 (Pre-Purchase Part 1)

Once the price is accepted by both you and the seller, you will have to put a deposit to show that you are really serious.

For my case, the deposit was 10% of the selling price. You can either use internet banking (if you are transferring to a bank that is in your bank's list) or you can use telegraphic transfer (if the bank is not in your bank's list). Both services will incur a transfer fee from your side and there will be another transaction/ conversion fee from the receiving bank. So you will have to factor these 2 bank charges in when you do the transfer so that the receiving party can get the full payment. Most of the time, you will not know what are the charges from the receiving bank, you may have to ask the agent or in my case, I just put in an additional USD$25. You can request the agent to cover for the rest if the fee is exceeded.

After the agent receives the deposit, you can request for an inspection and sea trial. Since you are not physically there, you can appoint a third party inspection company to do all these for you. Try to find a company that is near to the boat's location or they may charge extra for the longer journey.

I will strongly recommend that you engage the inspection service before finalization of the purchase. If the inspection turns out to be perfect (which is highly unlikely), you will have a peace of mind. But if the inspection is not so satisfactory, you can either use the inspection report and request for more discount or just drop the deal entirely. My inspection included the engine oil analysis with a sea trial and it cost about USD$1,500. There were some defects found which were not reflected in the boat description put up by the agent. So I managed to get another USD$4,000 off the previously agreed price due to the newfound defects.

Basically it is a win-win situation for you to do the inspection. If the report is satisfactory, you know you are getting a good deal. If the report is unsatisfactory, you can use it to further lower the selling price, which in most cases, the discount will be more than the cost for the inspection.

On top of that, you will be more aware of the defects of the boat and you can decide whether you want them to be fixed over there or do it when your boat reaches your country. Since boating is very common in USA, generally the repair costs are cheaper as compared to Singapore - where most of the services related to marine are very expensive.

Just bear one thing in mind. Boats are not like cars, especially cabin cruisers. There are much more equipment and stuff to maintain, so it is very difficult to find a used boat that is in turnkey condition. There are bound to have some parts due for servicing. With this expectation in mind, you will not feel so frustrated about the defects and will enjoy the buying cum learning experience more.

In my next post, you will know what are the things to look out for to service before shipping your boat across the globe.