[Part 1] The 4 Key Questions Before You Buy a Boat
In 2020, the NMMA report shows that there were nearly 320,000 retail unit sales of new boats, up 13% from the previous year.
The boat sales are increasing year by year.
What is it that attracts so many people to boats?
A boat is a freedom…
For some, it’s the simple desire for exploration on their own terms with everything they could possibly need at their fingertips.
It's an adventure…
For others, it’s the whole idea of a family adventure out on the water when space and resources are limited at home.
An opportunity for a fresh start… Agree?
Buying a boat is an exciting experience, but it’s also a big decision.
In this 4-part blog post, we’re going to go through the 4 key questions before you buy a boat. Each day we’ll post the next question in the journey to buying a boat. Here’s William on buying a boat…
“In my 30 years of working with boat owners and clients, it’s always been critical to making sure our boat buying clients are crystal clear on 4 key questions. These questions are not rocket science and are really quite common sense, yet it has always concerned me how often these key questions were overlooked or not thought about in enough detail before some people went ahead and bought a boat."
It is critically important, as you don’t want to be sold into something just because it’s a boat dealer's inventory and the salesperson needs to sell it, or it’s the boat they have the biggest commission in.
By answering these 4 key questions you’ll be more solid in your boat search which will save you time, energy, and money. You’ll be less likely to make a costly boat buying mistake.
Over the next 4 blog posts, we’ll cover the 4 questions to answer before you set out on your boat buying journey.
Of course, your mind might change along the journey to boat ownership, but each time changes occur, remember to come back and visit these four key questions again.
Here’s the first question:
What are you going to use the boat for?
Knowing what you’re going to use the boat for will help determine whether you should buy a boat or not. Also, This is important to identify as it helps to narrow down the types of boats that will be suitable for your main use.
First, identify what's your role as a boat owner?
Are you with your family?
Are you a captain?
A solo sailor?
Are you a fisherman?
A weekend sailor?
The boat you buy should match your plan and role. Let’s now run through 6 key types of boat use. As you go through these, answer yes or no to each one in your mind and it doesn’t matter if you answer yes to multiple uses.
Here are the 6 key types of boat uses: What are you going to use your boat for?
Business entertaining (yes or no?)
Family fun times (yes or no?)
Mates or spending time with friends (yes or no?)
Sports, such as wakeboarding, skiing, or fishing (yes or no?)
Parties and events (yes or no?)
Living aboard, more as a floating apartment than a boat (yes or no?)
Something else, like sailing around the world (yes or no?)
The next step is to put those ‘yes’ areas into the order of priority. What’s most important to you and your family or your current situation? What are you wanting to achieve by buying a boat, first, second and third?
For example, if you said yes to business entertaining, sailing, and family times, then think about what is most important, second and third in the priority order of the usage. This is important because you’ll start to focus on what’s most important. The more focus you have, the less likely you’ll make a costing boat buying mistake.
The more focus you have, the less likely you’ll make a costly boat buying mistake.
So that’s the task for today – identify your boat usage priorities and put them in order.
Remember this; “Buying a boat is an opportunity, not a problem”
So that’s the task for today – identify your boat usage priorities and put them in order.
In Part 2 of the How to Buy a Boat series – “Where will you use your boat“, we clarified what it means and also the important point about boat confidence, check it out here.
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