Selling Your Boat
ADVICE We are able to advise you on all aspects of selling your boat based on thorough knowledge of the current market – from what to include in the inventory to her presentation and asking price. We make our sales particulars to stand out in the crowd – they are fully comprehensive with information collated from our listing agreement, photographs of your boat inside and out together with a layout plan, original brochure and magazine reports from our library.
GENERATING THE CUSTOMERS
WEB SITES – www.clarkeandcarter.co.uk Your yacht will be put on our web site immediately and free of charge. In addition to clients accessing your boat information through our own site they can access the information from over 22 other boat sales sites – for example: yachtworld.com, boatshop24.com, rightboat.com, boats.com, eyb.fr, yachtfocus.com, scanboat.com, boatshop24.de, boatnet.de, bootsmeile.de, monbateau.com, nautisme.com, voilenews.fr, lamonde.fr, fondeau.com, mondialbroker.it, and many more! We are generating many thousands of individual boat viewings on our sites every week resulting in a large number of inspections and sales. Indeed 90% of our sales are generated this way. This is the key to selling your boat.
ADVERTISING We advertise nationally to give your yacht the greatest targeted coverage in the major magazines. These include Yachting Monthly, Practical Boat Owner, Sailing Today, Motor Boats Monthly and others. Your yacht will appear as soon as possible in the appropriate publications – please be patient as there is a long lead time for the magazines to print our copy!
MAILING LIST We also have a substantial mailing list on our networked database of clients looking to purchase yachts like yours. The sales particulars of your yacht will be emailed or posted to carefully qualified clients from all our offices as soon possible. We are continually contacting our buyers by email, phone and mailshots to ensure that they receive targeted and relevant information. Selling your boat quickly is possible through our large database of customers already registered with us.
NEGOTIATE We act as the negotiators to arrive at a mutually acceptable deal on the sale of your yacht. This agreement will be secured by a contract fair and binding to all parties. We know the pitfalls and numerous factors that must be properly covered to avoid misunderstandings. We advise buyers to use only qualified and experienced surveyors and will arrange slipping for survey (at the purchaser’s expense), advise you on repair estimates if necessary and renegotiate revised terms where appropriate.
TITLE It is imperative that we are able to prove good title when selling your boat. We will check your title documents, VAT status, RCD Compliance and registration particulars to ensure that the sale progresses without delay. We also deal with all the marine mortgage houses to satisfy their requirements to ensure there are no delays in the final payment due to incorrect documentation.
MONEY Financial security is essential. We act as stakeholders and operate a separate Clients Account for this purpose. When selling your boat we see that all parties fulfill their side of the contract and ensure that full payment is made in exchange for title. We handle all foreign currency transactions and exchange controls, advise on import/export formalities, VAT and duty. Settlements are made to owners by BACS transfer that is quicker than posting a cheque.
LOCATION Location is a most important factor in achieving a swift sale. With a huge choice of boats on the market it is critical that your boat is quick and easy to access at any time. At our offices we operate Sales Area hardstanding (and reduced berth rental at Levington in the winter), subject to availability, which gives you three to six months ashore entirely free of charge (subject to terms) and thereafter at a heavily discounted rate. There is a much higher chance selling your boat quickly and for a good price from one of our locations. Purchasers will travel to our offices to view your boat as they know that if she is not suitable we may well have others that will be.
PRESENTATION When selling your boat, it is vitally important in today’s market that your boat is well presented. A neat, clean and tidy boat will always sell quicker and for more money than a tatty sistership. The impression that a purchaser gets in the first five minutes on board usually decides if he or she is going to make an offer. We are able to advise on how best to present her – what can be done with little expense and effort to improve the achieved end price. We can offer quotations for deck cleaning and interior tidying for the purpose of sale. Give yourself a competitive advantage by presenting your boat properly for sale! There is nothing like a full forepeak or quarter berth to quench any impression of space below.
USED BOAT SHOWS Clarke & Carter holds two annual Yacht and Motorboat Fairs:
Suffolk Yacht Harbour
Our annual Yacht & Motorboat Fair is held at end of October at our Levington Office. It is the largest, longest running and most successful used boat show on the East Coast. We usually have some 110 yachts entered in our show both afloat and ashore. Months worth of purchaser viewings are compressed into four days. We normally achieve a staggering sales rate of some 25% to 30% of boats exhibited. There is no fee to enter your yacht in the show – indeed there is even free berthing or hardstanding for nine days! An important event on the East Coast for selling your boat – it is not to be missed! Media coverage for the Yacht Fair has included BBC Look East and ITV About Anglia, Sky as well as BBC News 24 & BBC Radio Suffolk together with yachting press.
Gillingham Marina
Our annual Boat and Chandlery Fair is held at the beginning of April at our Gillingham Office. It is the only used boat and Chandlery fair on the Medway/Kent Coast. We usually have a large selection of yachts and motorboats entered in our show afloat. Like our show in Levington a months worth of purchaser viewings are compressed into two days. We normally achieve a staggering sales rate of 22% of boats exhibited at last years first show. There is no fee to enter your yacht or powerboat in the show – indeed there is even free berthing for 14 days! An important event on the Kent Coast for selling your boat – it is not to be missed! Media coverage for the Boat & Chandlery Fair has included BBC Radio Kent and KFM Radio together with the yachting press.
PART EXCHANGE We are the East Coast Importers for Jeanneau Sailing Boats. Naturally we offer a full part exchange facility and brokerage service for our new boat customers. Our part exchange prices are usually what we estimate the retail sale price to be for your yacht – we even pay for her to be surveyed! We can conduct trial sails at customer convenience and are pleased to advise on all aspects of purchasing new.
Top ten tips for selling your boat
It is vitally important that in today’s market that your yacht or powerboat is well presented and has all of the appropriate documentation and is easily accessible if you wish to achieve a quick sale. The following is a list of the top ten things to consider when selling your boat.
1. Leave it tidy
A neat, clean and tidy boat will always sell quicker and for more money than a tatty sistership. The impression that a purchaser gets in the first five minutes on board usually decides if he or she is going to make an offer. Therefore, when selling your boat, make sure that you either remove your personal belongings or place them in cupboards. There is nothing like a full forepeak or quarter berth to quench any impression of space below
2. Make it look clean
Make sure that as well as cleaning the exterior of the boat that the interior is clean particularly the fridge and cooker. There is nothing worse than a prospective buyer finding the remains of last weeks supper in the fridge or thick grease in the oven
3. Make it smell good
Make sure that when cleaning the interior of the vessel that you also clean the bilges and the engine bay. There is nothing more off putting, particularly for someone buying a boat for the first time, than to open the hatch of your vessel and be knocked back buy the smell of stale water in the bilges and oil and diesel in the engine bay.
4. Maximise your advertising
There are many different locations to advertise your boat, from the local post office window, local newspapers, yacht clubs, yachting magazines, numerous paid and free web sites or through a professional broker. The cost of advertising varies depending upon the size of your advert and the number of words. Advertising through a professional broker will mean that your boat will normally be seen in the yachting press and through their membership of different agencies on numerous websites both in the UK and abroad. Remember advertising your boat for sale with a broker normally costs nothing until it is sold, when you pay them a commission on the final selling price.
5. Get the sale price right
We all think that our pride and joy is worth more than what it actually is. The key to selling your boat is to make sure that it is priced correctly. An over priced boat will sit on the market for a long period of time and will only cost you money to store. If you are serious about selling your boat make sure that the price is right. A good broker will be able to give you advice on not only what price to advertise your boat at but will be able to tell you what has sold and at what price recently.
6. Check you have proof of ownership
Any buyer will want to make sure that you are the legal owner of the vessel and have the authority to sell the boat. Therefore, before you advertise your boat for sale make sure that you have all of the appropriate title documents available to prove ownership. If they are not available, it can not only hold up completion of the sale but in some cases can cause the sale not to complete. A good broker will always provide advice and guidance on what documentation is required.
7. Do you know the Vat status of your boat
It is important that you know and have proof of the VAT status of your boat. We are seeing an increasing number of buyers coming from Europe to buy boats based in the UK. When they return to there home country they will be required to prove the VAT status of the vessel if it was built post 1985. The best way to show this is to have the original VAT paid invoice. If you are not sure always speak to a professional broker who will be able to give you advice on the documentation require. Remember if you cannot confirm the VAT status of your vessel, it can not only hold up completion of the sale but in some cases can cause the sale not to complete.
8. Engine
Make sure that your engine has recently been serviced and is visually clean. Keep a copy of the service history, record or copies of the relevant invoices onboard the boat for prospective buyers to see. Knowing that the boat has been well maintained and in particular the engine serviced in line with manufacturers recommendations will give the prospective buyer confidence to make an offer.
9. Hull
If you have taken your boat out of the water to sell and will be storing it ashore we would recommend that you invest the time and a small amount of money cleaning the topsides and antifouling the hull. There is nothing worse than seeing a boat with weed and barnacles hanging from it. If the boat is presented in a clean condition and ready to sail away for the start of the season this will make your boat stand out against others and hopefully encourage the prospective buyer to make an increased offer knowing that they can get on the water sooner.
10. Offers
Remember that prospective buyers will always expect to make an offer less than the asking price. Some buyers will start off with a very low offer in the hope to grab a bargain whilst others will make a realistic offer. Therefore, it is worth thinking before you place your boat on the market what monies you really want to achieve from selling your boat. A professional broker will always help in the negations and give advice on what he feels the buyer can afford. In the current market it is worth giving every offer serious consideration.
