registering exUS yacht to avoid Cat1

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by sailr69

I have no idea what all you folks are talking about, looks like having a yacht in New Zeeland is a pain in the you know what! SSP , cat1, SSR, USSR, NKR, egads. feel for you guys. In the US, we buy a boat, pay a sales tax, user's fee yearly, then go sailing with the required safety equiptment. US documentation is a freebee, if you want it.

In the UK we buy a boat, pay no sales tax (if a s/h boat), no user's fee yearly, then go sailing with no required safety equipment (just what the Skipper considers prudent). UK documentation is not required.......the requirement for boat documentation (registration) only comes when we venture towards foreign shores - Johnny Foreigners not so comfortable with the concept of folks not requiring government approval or control......it's a Monarchy thing - you guys wouldn't understand .


But to be fair to the New Zealanders - who can really say that 4 buckets onboard is a bad thing..............

Cruisers & Sailing Forums - The International Bucketeer Squadron!

Now with 34 Members!

[hellosailor]

Steve-
"How does one check on the registration, existence of or expiry of, of a yacht that has been US (Alaska) registered? "
If it was ALASKA REGISTERED you would check with the State of Alaska, probably the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) unless they are one of the few states that has a separate department handling boats.
If it was US DOCUMENTED, you would check with the Federal Vessel Documentation Center who maintain an online database for this.
This is why we in the States never ever say "US REGISTERED". It is either US DOCUMENTED or STATE REGISTERED.

Sailr69?
Documentation is free? What, did they drop the documenation fee on January 1st this year and forget to send out the memo?

[Kettlewell]

USCG documentation costs you a one-time fee up front, but then yearly renewal is free. By the way, my renewal document hasn't arrived yet and it is overdue. Has anyone else experienced a delay recently? I sent an email to the address listed and no response after a week.

[gull]

great! thanks again all,Yes I'm a kiwi. I'll definitely explore that avenue.Had a look at the online SSR registration.Just a couple quick questions for anyone who can help....
A previous poster mentioned not using an NZ credit card to pay the registration, can they really tell where a credit card number is issued? How would one pay then?
Finally - they need the HIN number. My yacht was built a bit before the HIN hull numbers came out. Any idea what one does in this case?
Thanks for the replies, appreciate it. This is not something widely known here in NZ. --

[hellosailor]

The first four digits on a credit card, at least in the US, are specific to one issuing bank as far as I know. So yes, someone who is familiar with these things could probably tell from just the card number. But when someone puts the charge through for verification, there should be ways to verify all sorts of things and I'd expect the issuing bank is one of them.

If there is no HIN, the agency you are registering the yacht with will have their own terms for dealing with it. They may waive it, or ask you to have one assigned. You'll have to pick an agency and ask directly.

[gull]

Awesome, thanks again for the help.
Gull

[Kettlewell]

Over here in the USA many gas stations require you to input your zip code (like a postal code) in order to confirm the person using the credit card is really the person who gets the bills for the card, so yes they have an instant way of knowing exactly who the card is tied to and what the address on the card is.

[Dsanduril]

When a vendor (in this case the government agency) submits a charge through Visa/MC etc., they can request the billing address for the card from the system. This is quite common, and is frequently used by vendors who process orders without a card-swipe (online, phone orders, etc.). Some vendors will only ship product to the billing address, you provide that to them, they verify that it matches what they receive from the CC company, and only then will they ship. Got to imagine it is even easier for a government agency.

[Uricanejack]

I have just bought my second boat in the US. No problem.
You cannot register an American Vessel unless you are a US citizen or Resident Alien(area 51)
You can register the vessel in the state and transfere title.
You cannot insure vessel in US unless you have a US mailing address.
A non resident Alien can insure a vessel which is kept in the US and use the location as a mailing address.
If you do not keep your vessel in US. You can fudge address until your claim is denied. #rd party would still be covered.
You can insure a US state registered vessel outside US. I have to pay a one time charge for cover until I leave US with boat.
Depending upon state you May or may not be required to pay sales tax. if you are required to pay you may have a time limit to take vessel out of state and pay no state tax.
Rules for importing into NZ would be up to NZ.
I imported into Canada. declare at time of first entry and pay up. registration made no differance.
No expert just the problems and solutions I have run into.
Crossing back into US on a US state registered Vessel as non resident and Citizen of an other country leads to lots of questions.
Like why do you own an American Vessel.
Why have you not changed the registry.
Dont say I just haven't bothered yet.
That leads to more questions.
Changing the name and registry is bad luck. went over much better. even though he thought I was nuts.