Best State to buy a boat in?

leviwynnyk · Posted: Mar 24, 2007 10:32 pm Post subject: Best State to buy a boat in?

I live in Canada and the prices of used boats here are just rediculous, and there is kind of a limited selection of tournament boats for good prices. I am thinking of coming down to the good o'l USA to pick up a ride and I was wondering if there would be certain states that would be better then others to focus on when looking? I am in Alberta, so I am above Montana if that helps. I am thinking in terms of selection, distance, price and taxes. I am looking to spend between $20 and $30k. I was thinking about Moombas. Anyways, any advice would be great!

Shawn Madison · Posted: Mar 25, 2007 5:03 am Post subject:

Tennessee ofcourse! Wink

You will typically see about $10k off similiar boats in other states.

Check flipsell and search some of the marina's websites.

TP83 · Addict Joined: 31 May 2006 Posts: 739 City: Woodside

thats gonna be a long drive to pick up a boat but maybe some states like tennesse or around there may be cheap but im thinking Nevada or Oregon.

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

leviwynnyk, just check boattrader and find what you want. If you're spending that much money on a boat, what's a day or two extra to get it if you're saving thousands $$$. I picked mine up from Atlanta back to Toronto, 2.5 days round trip.

Shawn Madison · Posted: Mar 25, 2007 5:47 pm Post subject:

TP83, Sold my last two Malibu's to customers from Canada. One guy had it shipped and the other drove down to pick it up.

My neighbor sold his boat to a guy in Minnesota.

He said it costs the guy about $1,500 to get it shipped.

Canucked · Addict Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 873 City: Edmonton

leviwynnyk,

I drove from Edmonton to the Portland area to buy my boat last fall. If you need any advice or have question let me know.

Its a heck of a lot easier than it seems at first. The only roadblock i had is it is tough to get the money down instantly. It usually takes a few days for a wire to go through. Luckily I had someone who made it happen for me in about 24 hours.

Plus it was a fun trip

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

Canucked, that's an issue I ran into as well, so I wired a deposit and then brought a cheque with me.

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

leviwynnyk, refer to ontrider here. He did this same thing last year. Scoured the US for boats and finally found one.

Canucked · Addict Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 873 City: Edmonton

The bank required a pre-signature for the wire so I signed it before I left. The bank in the US said that an international draft would be fine and the money would go through right away. When I got there they said it would take a week for the draft to clear.

So I used the wire. The only bad thing was when I got home and changed the internation draft back to CDN dollars the exchange rates differed and I lost about $800

ontrider, what kind of cheque did you bring?

This was a private sale, I would imagine it would be much easier at a dealer.

It is worth the hassle though I saved A LOT of money

hugo_salcedo · Newbie Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 27 City: guadalajara

and what about the states around mexico!.... i´m looking for a boat but, around CA, NM, TX, AZ!... jejejej.

which of those states do you recomended me?.

thank you

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

Canucked, I brought a certified cheque from a major bank made out in US dollars. I gave the guy the # before I came down and sent him a pic of the cheque just to put his mind at ease. He seemed pretty cool with everything after that. This was also a private sale and I saved a lot of money too! There are even less good ski boats around here I think than in the BC area. I would imagine it's tough to get em in AB/SAS/MAN!

abrider · Criminal Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 98

I also bought my boat from the US and then drove down picked it up and drove back. 3 days round trip for a savings (after gas etc) of about 14000.

I had no trouble with payment. It was arranged more than a week ahead. Delivery of money order should have cost me a few bucks but DHL courier could not make the delivery in the promised 24 hours, and so it was free.

My biggest trouble was coming across the border. I had a true receipt, but they did not believe that I paid so little. The Canadian guards wanted their GST on a much higher sell price. In the end they could not prove that I paid more, so had to accept my certified receipt as actual selling price. When leaving the border, the guard promised me he would try to find some documentation and go after me with a crime of fraud. He said that about 2/3 of boats coming into Canada involve fraudulent receipts. Of course nothing came of it, as I was telling the truth.

My advice is to have as much docs as possible: canceled cheques, receipts and anyhtign else to show that this is what you actually paid.

Canucked · Addict Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 873 City: Edmonton

abrider,

The boarder patrol also tried to give me the scare about price. he said 9 out of 10 people "undervalue" their bills to save on GST. He also said almost all of them get caught (not sure how true this is). They can track the money transactions across the boarder so unless you carry cash across I guess it would be possible to get caught.

One pointer he gave was to have the classified ad handy to put the guards mind at ease. I was also honest with him so I didn't have to worry.

ontrider, There are plenty of newer ski/wake boats around here and in BC (less than 3 years old) but the price premium makes it worthwhile to go south. Of course you don't get the dealer interaction or service but I bought a 5 year old boat so no warranty anyways.

I have a fairly good relationship with one of the shops in town and would have loved to buy a boat locally but I simply couldn't afford the local price tags.

TP83 · Addict Joined: 31 May 2006 Posts: 739 City: Woodside

hugo_salcedo, dont buy a boat in california if you can help it IMO just because of the taxes that other states dont have.

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

Canucked, agreed on the new boats. There's lots here too, but I don't have 70K to drop on a boat that will be worth 40 in a few years either.

I had a bill of sale and a copy of the cheque with me, so I didn't run into any problems at the border. The boat was also in excellent condition for the age, so the price was closer to the guide values (still lower though) so I didn't really get any hassles. One of the Canadian border guys actually came over to talk to me because he wanted to check out the boat. Laughing

leviwynnyk · Posted: Mar 28, 2007 9:50 pm Post subject:

Thanks for all the advice you guys! I know it's something I am going to do but we were planning to do it in summer. When would be the best time to do something? With a $25k limit, what kind of boats are in my price range (that would be a good deal)?

Shawn Madison · Posted: Mar 29, 2007 2:01 am Post subject:

Look for a Malibu sunsetter late 90s or an MasterCraft 205V

Canucked · Addict Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 873 City: Edmonton

Sport/Air Nautique is worth a look as well

leviwynnyk · Posted: Mar 31, 2007 9:45 am Post subject:

I didn't really want to look at too old of boats (Ie 99), I was hoping to get something 4 or 5 years old with perfect pass, ballast,etc.... am I dreaming for that price?

jgates · Outlaw Joined: 14 Mar 2004 Posts: 158 City: Rome, NY

Heard Flipsell in no longer. Bummer