Traveling to buy a boat

[getfished]

When I lived in Florida I bought my Champ in Milwaukee. I did all my homework before I left. Seller was very cooperative. I had insurance arranged before I left Florida. Got there, looked the boat over, went for a test run and then to his bank where I paid off his note and gave him the balance in cash. Everything worked flawlessly. I went to the hotel with the boat. Next day I had already scheduled with a service center to have my tranny serviced and the wheel bearings on the trailer serviced. By noon that day I was on the road to Aurora Canvas to get a custom cover. After that back to Florida. No problems .

Make sure you cover all your bases before you leave home.

[John Br.]

I would suggest a walk around non-stopping video of the boat

[Cattail22]

While I agree it is a good idea, I'm curious to how everyone suggesting to bring the boat into a mechanic plans on getting in on such short notice. Everywhere around me is 4-8 weeks out. Just doesn't seem possible right now.

[218_fishing]

No crap. Good luck getting it brought into a dealer.


So if your buying it from a dealer would you trust them to do a engine look over?

[Cerus]

If you rent a full size Suv it will have a hitch. I pulled one with a rented Navigator. My son flew from TX to North Carolina to buy a Wakeboard boat and rented a Tahoe one way to pull it home.
My current boat was in Marathon Key when I bought it. I flew round trip to buy it. then drove down the next week and stayed a week fishing before bringing it home.

A lot of that depends on the location and getting lucky. Most places remove the hitch since they don’t allow towing. None of the SUVs or even Trucks around here have hitches. Can’t say how lucky you’d be if you got into an accident while towing with a rented vehicle that prohibits towing.

Enterprise Truck Rental rents trucks specifically for towing but locations are limited and it’ll cost several hundred in mileage to drive 1200 miles or so. Probably still cheaper than shipping though.

[captainrab]

Here’s what I did. I met the seller half way. Scheduled an appointment with a reputable dealer near a lake. Ran the boat before the dealer opened then dropped it off and waited. They checked everything. Compression, leak down lower unit etc. Clean bill of health then I Pulled it back. With a leaking seal on one if the wheels. :( That was the risky part. Another piece of advise. Research taxes and registration before you buy. I financed only because they provided. Title transfers as part of the deal. After that I paid it off so it saved me a lot of time and angst. Good luck

[jbassman87]

Was looking at a boat in CA when I bought one. Checked on renting a vehicle to tow it with and that was super expensive. Didn't buy the boat, but would have drove the 20 hours if I had. Ended up driving 9.5 hours to TX instead.

[smalljawguy]

Please have that boat checked real good. Long way to drive to have a bad ending.

+1. Had that happen to me but fortunately it was only a 3 hour drive to look at a "great condition" boat. Get there to find several gouges down into the glass, several spots where the clearcoat had delaminated and other "minor" issues. Needless to say, I walked away.

[Roddy]

A lot of that depends on the location and getting lucky. Most places remove the hitch since they don’t allow towing. None of the SUVs or even Trucks around here have hitches. Can’t say how lucky you’d be if you got into an accident while towing with a rented vehicle that prohibits towing.

Enterprise Truck Rental rents trucks specifically for towing but locations are limited and it’ll cost several hundred in mileage to drive 1200 miles or so. Probably still cheaper than shipping though.

I am going to have to disagree.

The large SUV's have the hitch hidden behind a some plastic on the bumper so you don't know they are there. They are not going to spend the time and money to remove something you can't see, so they never remove them. I have rented over 100 from Enterprise in the last 5 years. Tahoes, Suburbans, Navigators and Escalades will all have the hitches.

[barbarian]

I have driven 12-15 hours to buy 3-4 boats and have sold 3 to buyers that drove 20+. We all spent enough time in conversation to be comfortable that the seller was being honest and looked at multiple pictures and videos. All of my trips where I was the buyer and the 3 I sold, we drove and booked a hotel either in that town or on the way back. Just pulled the boat home and made it a 2-3 day round trip.

[BeeNix]

I had a guy from Los Angeles come get his Nordic, he left LA on a Thursday morning, arrived here Sat. morning, and got back to LA Monday morning. According Google Maps it was 32+ hours just driving, over 65 hours round trip not counting getting gas and taking cat naps. Another guy drove from Laredo, TX to pick up a 32' cruiser, another guy was a yacht broker from Miami Beach. He flew into Lexington and rented a car, then drove here to look at a '73 model boat he was planning on hanging in his garage but it was pristine and he was afraid he'd be tempted to take it out. I've sent boats to Baltimore, San Diego, the UP MI, Detroit, and several more than went long distances, I guess the longest went to Alberta, Canada. I've sold boats to Russians twice and a Japanese business man which went on cargo ships. Uship has been spotty, mostly good experiences though. Lots of folks don't mind a several hour trip, a guy from Cape Girardeau. MO came over 2 weeks ago to see a boat in person. He told me before he came that he was just looking, trying to find THAT boat. That's about a 12 hour round trip...

[Meadows]

When my truck was in the shop my insurance company paid for my rental and it was a F250 Diesel and I towed my boat twice with it. That's the route I would go if I were you. And as mentioned above, if you're willing to put in that kind of distance to buy a boat, I'd be contacting a third party mechanic to look it over prior to traveling, as well as checking the trailer/bearings/brakes.

Furthest I've ever traveled was 6.5 hours one way and that's the last time I'll do it lol.

[Bama.Bassmaster]

Uship.com will get you reasonable quotes to have someone else tow it back for you. I've gone this route a couple times.

[Cerus]

I am going to have to disagree.

The large SUV's have the hitch hidden behind a some plastic on the bumper so you don't know they are there. They are not going to spend the time and money to remove something you can't see, so they never remove them. I have rented over 100 from Enterprise in the last 5 years. Tahoes, Suburbans, Navigators and Escalades will all have the hitches.

Like I said. Depends on the location. Not all those will come with a hitch - depends on the year and trim level. These places buy cars at big auctions from all over. Towing is expressly forbidden in their contracts so you’re taking a chance regardless.

Ain’t worth the risk to wreck their car and whatever you’re towing and have to pay for it out of pocket.

[Nowater2shallow]

i did a 12 hr trip one way from OH to AL to get a boat, i had owner take it to a dealer and i talked to the dealer on the phone about motor and trailer condition and his thoughts, then contacted OH title department to see what i would need as far as paper work from seller and state of AL. then let the seller know what i would need. called bank and got a certified check and made sure there would be no issues with his bank. before i left i gathered up all the tools i might need to work on barings or brakes should i have an issue then made the trip, i spent about 8 hours over all on the phone with the owner asking questions and getting to know him and how he fished so i knew how the boat was used. i spend over an hour looking over the boat and even crawed under it on a piece of cardboard checking trailer and hull, we then spent an two hours on the water running it and playing with everything, i was lucky and had enough time after to go to the bank with him and pay it off and have them noterize the bill of sell. i talked to the insurance guy about buying and insurance and he was easy to work with and put insurance in the boat as soon as i bought it in case something would happen on the way home. You need to be ready to get there and walk away if its not what you want

[Highcentered]

Like I said. Depends on the location. Not all those will come with a hitch - depends on the year and trim level. These places buy cars at big auctions from all over. Towing is expressly forbidden in their contracts so you’re taking a chance regardless.

Ain’t worth the risk to wreck their car and whatever you’re towing and have to pay for it out of pocket.

Friend of mine put a bumper ball on a truck from Enterprise one time and it destroyed the part just behind where the ball sits where the trailer tongue rubbed. His insurance fixed it. Few years ago I had to go over 2 months without using my boat because my truck had been rear ended and wasn't fit to tow with. Was a perfect storm of delays between insurance company disputes, parts on back order, etc. They offered to put me in a full size truck and I told them NO put me in a compact suv so I wouldn't be tempted to put a ball on it and pull my boat with it. They offered to get me in something they allowed towing with but knew insurance wouldn't be on board with that.

[The Bass Junkie]

Fly round trip and ship it back.

This...im sure a company like OUTLAW Boat Transport would be cheaper than what you are talking about once you take into account the value of your time etc.

[MidwestBoater]

My only advice is to get as much information from the seller as possible including pictures and videos beforehand. A few years ago I went with a friend to inspect a "mint" Mariah Shabah z222 with a 454. We live near STL Missouri, the boat was in Colorado.. He rented a 3/4 truck from Enterprise and gave the guy a $500 deposit to hold the boat..we drove straight there after work on a friday, arrived early in the morning, the boat was a total basket case.. Rotten floor, rotten vinyl interior, rotten transom (silicone around the outdrive), rotten stringers to the point that one engine mount had crushed the fiberglass because the wood inside the stringer was mush. The guy said he'd reverse the wire transfer that my friend gave for the deposit and we turned arounda nd drove the 10 hours back home with our tails between our legs.. The guy never did reverse the wire transfer, he kept the $500 and my friend was also out the $800 for the rental truck and fuel. A $1,300 mistake, but at least he didn't buy a $20k rotten boat.

[Roddy]

Like I said. Depends on the location. Not all those will come with a hitch - depends on the year and trim level. These places buy cars at big auctions from all over. Towing is expressly forbidden in their contracts so you’re taking a chance regardless.

Ain’t worth the risk to wreck their car and whatever you’re towing and have to pay for it out of pocket.

The big company's don't buy at auctions all over. They buy new from the manufacturer. I WOULD ALMOST BET YIU CANT FIND AN Enterprise Suburban without a hitch. All of 50.or.more I have driven all.over the US have had them. Their forbidding towing might nullify insurance bought through them, but not your personal auto insurance and maybe not insurance offered by your credit card.

[Aggie]

no boats but been burned traveling to but a motorcycle or a truck. now 100 miles 1 way is my limit, always not what was told or shown. so many scams now days I just limit my travel.