Should I sell my boat through a dealer?
Parting with a boat is never easy, even less so if you're unsure how to go about selling it. Boat owners looking to sell will inevitably stumble across the question, 'should I sell my boat privately or through a dealer?'
For many people, selling a boat is a complicated and time-consuming process, but they may be wary of dealers.
When deciding whether or not to sell your boat through a dealer, there are certain factors you need to consider - here are a few of them.
Selling your boat through a dealer has the major benefit of being convenient.
Ease
Selling your boat through a dealer has the major benefit of being convenient. You don't need to familiarise yourself with regulations, go through the trouble of placing advertisements, or prepare your boat for sale.
Hunts Marine take all the difficulty out of selling. When selling your boat through us, you never even have to take it out of your driveway. Once you've made the decision to sell your boat, we can come to you free of charge. We'll be able to figure out an estimated value and offer you a fair price. Once a settlement has been decided, we can pick up your boat and transport it away - again, at no cost to you.
We pride ourselves on our customer service and this extends to buying used boats. As such, we endeavour to make the whole process as seamless and hassle-free as possible.
Speed
Selling a boat privately can take up a lot of your time. As well as putting in the hours to make your boat presentable for sale and then advertising it, you have to arrange viewings, have people come to your house to look at the boat and field questions from potential buyers. A buyer may request a sea trial or the services of a marine surveyor. As the seller, you will have to set aside the time and money to cover these things, with no guaranteed sale at the end of it.
Even once you have successfully found a buyer, there is the paperwork to put in order and you may be required to transport the vessel to its new owners.
The selling process can take months, which is frustrating considering once you have made the decision to sell you usually want the sale to go through as quickly as possible.
We recognise that your time is valuable. That's why at Hunts Marine, all settlements are made within 24 hours, which means that spot on your driveway could be freed up for a new boat in less than two days.
You want the selling process to be as fast as your boat! Value
Many boat owners believe they can get more money by selling their boat privately, rather than through a dealer. This is not necessarily the case, however. Putting a price on a boat can be the hardest part about selling independently and there is plenty of room to get it wrong.
For private sellers, trying to gauge the price of your boat can be tricky. You want a fair price, but not so high you won't draw any interest from buyers. You also don't want to undervalue your boat, letting it go for much less than it's worth.
This balancing act is hard to navigate when you don't have experience in pricing boats. Liaising with Hunts Marine is one of the easiest ways to get an accurate valuation of your vessel.
In the end, we could save you money. When you add up the advertising costs of an independent sale, fixing up all the minor issues your boat is suffering from to get it up to scratch, the hours spent preparing for and seeing through the sale, plus any transport costs, you could end up netting significantly less than what your boat was worth.
Clearly, one of the major benefits of selling your boat through a dealer is getting the right price. Not only are dealers are practised in valuing boats, but there aren't any extra costs that you have to factor in.
At Hunts Marine we have decades of boating experience behind us, which means we will offer a fair, competitive price reached through expert consultation. Because we come to you, you don't even have to worry about fuel costs to move your boat - which means more money to go towards your new model!
Know-how
The process of selling a boat can have more bumps than a rough sea. Private sellers might struggle with the preparation, negotiating the sale itself, and the paperwork that follows a sales agreement. Enlisting the help of a dealer means tapping into their extensive knowledge, making selling your boat faster and easier.
Hunts Marine have the expertise to sell your boat quickly and for a generous price. We take the hassle out of selling your old boat, so you can focus on the exciting business of looking ahead to a new one. To find out more about how we can help you sell your boat, get in touch with our sales team today.
