Blue HQ’s Top Five Boat Buying Tips
Buying a new boat is an investment which will change your life and should not be a decision you should rush into or take lightly.
My name is Neil and I am the dealer principal at WA’s largest online boat brokerage Power and Sail. As I buy and sell boats as my job, I am well aware of the considerations which must be made before taking the exciting leap.
There are five key considerations when you are in the process of buying a boat:
– Where are you going to store it?
– How much do you want to spend?
– What are you going to use it for?
– Where to locate a boat?
– What contractual considerations do I need to make?
Storage
With regards to storing the boat, there are many, many different options. You could keep it in a pen, on your driveway at home, or you can keep it in a facility like Blue HQ, where the boat is stored out of the water in a world-class dry boat stack operation.
Unlike housing it at home, Blue HQ’s Fremantle location offers immediate access to the ocean and the Swan River, rather than having to hook the boat up and take it down to a boat ramp.
These are things you need to think about beforehand; do you have the space at home? Do you want to get on the water quite quickly? Are your time poor?
Budget
Obviously the budget is important because you need to know your range, and it’s just like anything else; there’s always a bigger and better boat.
Being sure to set a realistic budget for a particular type of boat is important before you go out looking, otherwise the process will take much longer than expected.
Use Type
Working out what you are going to actually utilise the boat for is probably one of the most important factors in the boat buying process. I tend to find people haven’t through what they actually want to use the boat for, whether it is fishing with mates, sailing up the river with the family towing a donut, or staying overnight at Rottnest. Working out what you want to do with your vessel and how you want to do it is very, very important.
Where to Look
After you have thought about where you’re going to keep it and what you want to spend, you can move onto the fun part: actually looking for and looking at boats.
I personally would jump online and have a look at boatsonline.com see what they’ve actually got, or you could ring certain brokers up.
Alternatively, you can pop down to the Blue HQ yard here and our team could show you a handful of boats to get you thinking about what is right for you.
This is a process that shouldn’t be rushed. Take your time, look at a lot of different boats, see what actually works for you and, like most things, you will get a feel for what will suit your family and lifestyle.
Legal
So once you have found the perfect boat, the last thing to do is check that it is fit for purpose – you don’t want to hand your money over before you know that everything is good with your selected boat.
If you’re working through a Marine broker, someone like myself down at Blue HQ, then basically we would document everything, ensuring you know what you are actually getting.
This safeguards both the buyer and seller – you aren’t going to be left without a boat or money.
But if you are doing it yourself, don’t worry. All you need to do is make sure that you have a number of points covered. Firstly, take it out on a sea trial for a test drive, engage a mechanic to physically check the boat out on your behalf, make sure that the boat is unencumbered – that there is no debt attached to it, so no-one will come knocking on your door – and finally getting the transfer papers in order before you hand over the money.
Blue HQ
Located in Fremantle’s fishing boat harbour, Blue HQ is Western Australia’s premier marina and dry stack facility offering easy access to Perth’s best boating destinations.
Whether it’s an exclusive boat pen in our luxury marina you have your eye on, or a preference for our newly upgraded world class 280 dry boat stack operation, Blue HQ has the right boat storage solution for your needs.
Blue HQ’s core purpose is to deliver high quality, trusted boating services, to ensure your boating experience is as easy and enjoyable as possible.
If you are in the market to purchase a boat, our team is on hand to offer advice or help you to view a number of boat options at our yard to get you on the right track.
Conversely, if you are trying to sell your boat minus the stress, our boat brokerage service is on hand to ease the pressure.
Blue HQ’s boat brokerage team will work hard to promote your boat to the right buyers and get it sold at a great price. Blue HQ are experts when it comes to the local boat market and can provide advice on the best advertising strategies and prices.
For more information about our boat stacking or boat pens, advice on purchasing a boat, or the Blue HQ brokerage service, contact the team on (08) 9468 6651.
Happy Boating!