Buying in Croatia?

[hoppy]

I have noticed that there seems to be a good number of relatively new (2000+) Benejeanavia's at the low end of the market price compared with Greece. In both countries most of the boats don't have the VAT paid and probably are ex-charter. Croatian brokers seem to price in euro.

Is it a case of supply and demand currently making Croatia a good place to buy or is there a catch?

I did find one comment through google refering to the EU builders being able to sell the boats cheaper there without the CE paperwork but I don't know if this is just someones wild speculation. I can imagine that locally built boats (SAS?) are not CE compliant but I don't understand Benejeanavia's being cheaper unless CE certification adds cost per boat?

If there is no "catch" then Croatia looks like an attractive place to buy and even keep the boat.

From what I have read on a brokers site there is no limit to how long an EU flagged boat can stay in Croatia and they are not liable to Croatian VAT. Whether or not I can avoid Swedish an Croatian VAT if I register it in Sweden but keep it in Croatia is another matter. I would not be upset if I could delay paying Sweden 25% until I decide to bring the boat to the EU.

Anybody got any info about this?

Cheers
Stephen

[MacG]

The problems coming with the CE paperwork depend on the quality and cooperation of the company that had bought the license to issue CE docujments.
In case you are buying a production boat fromthe shelf, the paperwork migt be easy looking at the outside.

There are, however, snags.

The CE documentation is primarily a political issue. It is a kind of EU market protection tool and designed as such.
Generally speaking, if you are able to provide all the required documents, it will still cost you around Euro 4500,-- to get the proper documents.
Without, you cannot (re)sell the boat without this issue as an obstacle.

I should contact in the first place the agency in your country that has got the license of issuing the required documents.
Pay attention to the fact that there are many go-betweeners who do not belong to the registered licencees. In most EU countries there are two or three official agents.

A second snag but an important one is that most shelf boats do not comply to the EU or CE ruling.
This is not a problemfor the manufactureres since their own declaration of compliancce will suffice.
So not for the out-EU registered boats, even if theyh are of same brand and model. There the agency might insist on full CE compliance which often means a very costly number of adaptions.
Of course the CE-registrars are quite willing to execute all the docs and adaptions for you. At a price.

This is one of the main reasons that boats outside the EU are less expensive. Few buyers are looking for complicated paperwork and therefore stay within the EU when they want to buy a boat.
And that is exactly the purpose of the CE-ruling.

[hoppy]

Thanks, I thought it was all too good to be true

Originally Posted by MacG

Few buyers are looking for complicated paperwork and therefore stay within the EU when they want to buy a boat.
And that is exactly the purpose of the CE-ruling.

This about sums me up. It will be complex enough buying in another country and registering here, so worrying about CE is something I will be happy to do without.

[MacG]

Ok, I need to explain some details:

The brand you mentioned (Benejeanhanvaria) are precisely the brands that generally do not comply to CE-ruling, although the manufacturer stated so.
The boat gets her compliance automatically without any check-up when leaving the factoryshed.

Officially a boat should be basically equipped with: gas- and vapour tight machineroom; smokedetectors in all cabins; double clamps on all tubes/connections; separate gasbottle bun; the rubber hose to the gasbottle may not exceed 1 metre, rest must be copper or the like with proper valves;
Full set of drawings; stability calculation checked by a physical examination and so on. The list is long. This is just the top of the iceberg.
It is difficult to extract full sets of drawings from the factories beforementioned. They might be willing to issue a GAP (General Arrangement Plan) but I wonder if they are prepared to go any further and give a full set of frames, lines and construction.
Electricity is another subject. You need to produce a wiringplan too.
That might or might not be available.
Even for a secondhand boat of recent year of manufacture, I doubt you will find all the ites required very easy.
Add to this costs of travelling and inspection and all you gain buying outside the EU will be easily lost.

Buying a boat from inside EU is different cook. There, Sweden should comply to EU ruling. No specific barriers should occur.

[hoppy]

I thought I would dig this thread back up as my mind is wandering back to Croatia as the early September weather in Stockholm is struggling to get above single figures.

My eventual plan or at least desire is to buy a boat I can take back to Australia in one or two years time.

I see that I can buy an un-taxed boat in Croatia and register it in Australia and not be liable to Croatian taxes. I also think there is no limit to how long I can keep it there.

If I understand it correctly, as an EU resident/citizen I can take the boat into the EU as long as it is exported within 30 days, so I could perhaps island hop through Greece on the way to Turkey or to drop it in at a Greek port for it to be shipped to Aus?

The Croatian season is much longer than here and there are direct flights which make long weekend sailing trips reasonably viable. I'm sure I could survive a summer or two restricted to Croatian waters and the Croatian prices make the exporting to Australia look a viable proposition. The costs of flying down a few times to inspect boats is no big deal as any break from Stockholm will be appreciated.

So it feels like buying in Croatia is not such a bad idea and not so complex if I never want to import it into the EU.

or am I missing something?

[MacG]

I reply again as far as my knowledge reaches:

Once, I imported a boat from St Petersburg and was faced with customs however: as a EU citizen you can play around a bit stating that you will leave shortly for Australia. That the boat in fact will not imported. I could, at that time keep the Russian boat about six months before the issue of import came up. Ruling might have changed a bit as they do continuously in the EU.
It depends a little bit on the flexibility of the customs in particular the ones you have to deal with.
If you buy a boat in Croatia, make a deal with the particular seller - if he has a berth available.
About taxes in Croatia I do not know.

[Plumb118]

Be careful when buying in Croatia and when using certain brokers. They do not provide the suitable documentation when you go to register the boat in your own name at the harbourmasters office.
Companies like Etema yacht brokers are not suitable as they do not understand Croatian law

[xjussix]

Apologies for hijacking this old thread.

I am looking at buying a second hand sailboat in the Mediterranean and one object we are interested in is located in Croatia. It is boat that hasn't been chartered and the VAT has been paid. I am a EU citizen and the boat is a relatively modern Beneteau.
Being Scandinavian we would like to keep the boat in the Med to begin with and test cruising in the more pleasant climate. We are newbies when it comes to sailing outside Scandinavia so

Some questions:
- Do I still need to get the CE documentation or whatever it is called?
- Besides the VAT documentation, is there any other kind of paper work we need to make sure to receive?
- What is the deregistration process like in Croatia?
- Anything else that makes buying in Croatia a bad idea?
- Is it possible to keep the boat in Croatia as a foreigner and for how long? Croatia is a member of the EU after all..
- Is it a better idea to transfer the boat to some other nearby country, say Greece or Italy? Where do I find affordable marinas that could work in that case? We won't be living in the boat, most likely we'd be sailing for 5-6 weeks each summer plus some longer weekends here and there.

Oh and nice forum you got going on here, I'm sure I won't be a stranger in the future!

[Xlantic]

The CE certificate can be important in order to re-register the boat in an EU country.

In addition to documentation proving VAT has been paid you would want a bill-of-sale and the de-registration document. It would also be good to have a copy of the original invoice and any intermediate bills-of-sale.

You can certainly keep the boat in Croatia but will need to register with the local port authority and pay a fee. It is probably cheaper to keep the boat in Greece, on the hard in Preveza for example, but as it is currently in Croatia you should take advantage of that and enjoy cruising there for a season or two.

Enjoy your boat!

[sailormed]

The link below information was supplied by the Crotian administration when Croatia joined the EU in 2013. At that time vessels could be imported/registered in Croatia withe a VAT rate of only 5%. But VAT paid is VAT paid whatever the rate. So I do not see a problem transferring a Croatian VAT paid boat to another EU country.


http://www.mppi.hr/UserDocsImages/le...a-EN-TISAK.pdf

[MaxwellIns]

Croatia is a boaters paradise.....Hundreds of islands, and a cruising friendly culture.

A friend of mine is in the process of shipping his boat back from Dubrovnik to California. As you can imagine, he has encountered more than a few surprises during the process.