Buying boat out of state
 

Has anyone bought a used boat from out of state? How did you go about testing the boat, ensuring it's quality, etc. And then how did you get it back home?

I have, about 6 years ago. I just ran the boat on a hose. the boat was late model had 70 hrs on it, and had the guy send me a ton of pictures. You could tell it was babied. It was still under warranty, so as long as it started and ran , I was fine with it. I paid roughly 35k for it. It was a guy on wakeowrld...added a little more credibility to me as well. I drove about 7 hrs each way to pick it up.

Just do all of your due diligence. Have someone look at it (maybe even someone from this site or a local dealer). Get the motor compression tested. Make sure they have the titles or you feel comfortable that you can pay them off at their bank and get the titles (or get them to your bank). My feeling is you can generally (not always) tell from talking to the person on the phone and their responses on how they care for the boat. I have done this many times with cars and boats, so if you have specific questions hit me up on the side and I can help.
Questions we would need to know to help more are:
Doe he have the titles or does his bank?
Are you paying cash/cashiers check or are you financing with your local bank?
Do you have mechanical abilities yourself?
How far a drive are you from the boat?
Have you gotten lots of pics?

i bought one in Florida and live in Pennsylvania. i drove down to water test it and was glad i did. long story that i have told here before but the boat had problems. if you can make the trip and pressure check the engine. i did the one i bought in a auto zone parking lot. if not insist it is checked. good luck

How far are you going?

I sold my malibu to a guy in Wa. and I am in So. Cal. I told him if he wanted to fly down I would hook it up pick him up at the airport and hit the closest lake. We did just that and then I dropped him back at the airport after accepting a deposit and signing a legal agreement. I was heading to nor cal on vacation and towed it up there to finalize the deal. Everything seemed to go smooth and we even spoke some time after it all and he was still happy about it.

I say go see it and touch it if you can a few hundred bucks goes allot farther then getting something your not happy with. On another note I planned on buying my next boat from Az and was gonna leave a Sat. well so cal had storms and rain that moved through and on to Az. The guy called me Fri. night and said a tree fell on the boat and smashed the whole front end (he left it out after detailing it) sent pics and all I thought he sold it to someone else. Offered to sell at a reduced rate after ins. repaired it but from the pics the tree smashed across the bow and broke trailer and gel coat and glass and more so I opted out.

Again I say go see it you never know what is out there if they don't offer to put it in the water for you to test somethings up.

Good Luck

I live in NM and bought our boat from a guy in California. Most of my family lives in California and I was lucky enough to have someone reliable take a look at it and give it a thorough inspection. It was a little sketchy because it was a really good deal and the guy was still getting calls after we agreed on price. I was half expecting to make the 9 hour drive and have him tell me he sold it to someone else. Thankfully it all worked out. Good luck with your purchase.

I had a guy buy my boat from out of state, 11 hours away, I sent LOTS of detailed pictures, talked to him on the phone/email... Told him straight up about any issues/history I knew about. He drove in with a buddy over the night, met in the morning and did a look over/lake test, I called and verified the checks, signed the titles over, and he drove back with it...

I made sure everything was ready to go on the trailer before he got there, torqued the lug nuts, correct tire pressure... We ended up putting saran wrap around the tower, board racks, ... he said the saran wrap didn't make it all the way, but definitely helped...

Worked out really well.

I live in cali and purchased a RZ2 in Missouri. I purchased from a TIGE dealer so i expected honesty. I had looked for about 6 months and that was the only boat that I could find that me and my wife agreed on. I wanted RZ2 and she wanted black. I took off work Thursday and friday and left after work on Wednesday. When I arrived at the dealer it was wrapped and ready to go I just signed some papers hooked on and drove back to cali arriving Sunday morning. Long story short I got tired of looking and decided to buy a boat without a lake test because I thought I could trust a dealer of the same brand I was purchasing and I could not of been more wrong. I had several issues with the boat before even getting it into the lake for the first time. Nothing major but issues that should of been disclosed. And after having my local dealer look at it and get addition information on the boat not only was I not told about some of the issues but I was straight up lied to. Do your homework.

John Adams....which dealer was this? can you Private message in this board? Not sure, only reason I ask is I think I may have contacted that same dealer myself, but need verification as I am out of state too.

Thanks.