Buying from national yacht liquidators

[Sundancer123]

anyone bought from national yacht liquidators?

i notice a minimum bid price, is that required to submitt an offer?

:smt021

 

[Daniel P Thomas]

To answer your question, no the minimum is not required.
Usually what will happen is National will take the offer to the Bank or Mortgage Holder and they will say yea or nay.



I purchased a 1992 350 EB from National in Aug of 2006.
Bid process was pretty straight forward.
I was able to see the boat 3 weekends in a row because it was not in one of National's Yards or Marinas.

There will probably be a lot of posts following this both pro and con.

Mine is all pro.

National directed me to a lender, Key Bank.
Again you will hear both pro and con about this bank too.

I have had a good relationship with them.

After the bid was accepted I did do an in-water survey as directed here on the site and it should be mandatory. Following that I was going to ship the boat up to Lake Michigan and had an out-of-water inspection done by the same surveyor.
Both passed with near flying colors.
Elbow grease, lots of Starbrite Teflon Polish and some new Electronics and the boat runs great.



As the boat was unsecured and in Missouri and I was dealing with the Ohio office.
I was able to spend 3 full weekends going over the boat structurally, mechanically and the electronics.
I probably knew the systems better than the surveyor did by the time I was done.
Most buyers will not have this type of opportunity, as I literally stayed on the boat for the three weekends and ran the engines and related equipment.

As in any repo boat, there will be items that need to be addressed, but as Frank W always says, 'do your due diligence' prior to purchasing a boat and you will get what you want.

And in my case at a very discounted price.

 

[jpk33]

Did not have a problem. Their staff is very helpful. Keep an eye out for things that you may see on the boat (small items) may "disappear" from the time you look/bid to the time you buy (cords, sun pads, comforters, etc...) Take pictures when you tour, keep notes and be there when you take posession (I had a rep there). We picked up ours out of Ft Lauderdale (seen it in Nov) and started the bid process. They (the bank) didn't like our initial offers, so we waited a few months (we made a list of possible boats to bid on that we actually seen). Started the bid process again and they took our offer (which was LOWER that our initial offer in November). Do your homework - their minimum bid is usually what they feel the bank can get. Get a survey and a sea trial. Also if you need to ship it - look for reputable shipping services. If the boat is local to you - you can spend more time going over it with a fine tooth comb, like Dan did. Good luck! PS Its the only way we were able to afford what we ened up with! - Jeff

 

[fwebster]

Do not assume that all brokers are the same. In this case, National Liquidators is in the business of selling distressed assets for lenders, dealers in trouble and others. Maybe the boat has been neglected, maybe it hasn't. Maybe it is new excess inventory, maybe its a dog. The only way to know is to look at the boat in person to see if it is one you even will consider owning.

Deferred maintenance is a big issue here as well. The only way to know what your true cost is going to be is to do you due diligence .......(is there an echo in here?). Take a look at 2 "Heads Up" threads I did a while ago on Mercruiser issues that will show you how you can buy a pile of hidden expense if you try to forgo a mechanical survey.

I don't know how to access the inventory, but the US Marshalls service owns at least one 390DA Hard Top that was involved in a bankruptcy and is a good boat but needs cosmetics.

 

[tab283]

They were great to me.

 

[plafontaine]

I bought my 2006 Sundancer, It was smooth, fast , and i ended with a good friend there, who went with me to Pensacola, to pick up the boat. After 2 days, cursing south the Keys, we ended on Ft Lauderdale,,, was nice.

About the price, talk to the sales guy, asking about how the bank want, and make an low offer. Take your time, they have a lots of boats, and more to come.

Make a survey. Sometimes, they have a recent survey (from the bank), you can ask , and save some money

good look!!