Buying through The Multihull Company, good or bad

[AussieWayne]

Don't know if this is helpful or not but I have a Belize 43 Maestro for sale in the Med.
Aussie registered and flagged and ready to cruise the Med before crossing the Atlantic if desired.
Details can be seen right here
https://www.theyachtmarket.com/boats_for_sale/1235585/

AussieWayne

[manawatuman]

Thanks Aussiewayne.
Lovely boat but a bit out of my budget. I will start looking around the med, looks like some good deals there

[Mr B]

I didnt use a Broker at all,
I scoured the internet till I found the boats I wanted, Boat Hub was one,
Just look up Boats for sale on Google, They are all on there,
Makes it easier if you know what boat you want to start off with,

Same boats same gear, One in Fiji and one in San Diago, USA,
San Diago was a bit far for my first ocean crossing so I settled on the one in Fiji,
I had it hauled out and Inspected by the surveyor I chose at my own expense,
Knowing I was going to sail to Australia, He did a good job,
There is no Duty in OZ with US boats only GST,
Add 25 % to the USD. currently as the exchange rate is 75 cents AUD in the dollar,

[mark_morwood]

Originally Posted by Mr B

There is no Duty in OZ with US boats only GST,

Just a clarification - that applies for boats built in the US - not for boats flagged in the US. (Duty = 5%, GST = 10%)

[manawatuman]

Roger that

[Factor]

Originally Posted by Mr B

I didnt use a Broker at all,
I scoured the internet till I found the boats I wanted, Boat Hub was one,
Just look up Boats for sale on Google, They are all on there,
Makes it easier if you know what boat you want to start off with,

Same boats same gear, One in Fiji and one in San Diago, USA,
San Diago was a bit far for my first ocean crossing so I settled on the one in Fiji,
I had it hauled out and Inspected by the surveyor I chose at my own expense,
Knowing I was going to sail to Australia, He did a good job,
There is no Duty in OZ with US boats only GST,
Add 25 % to the USD. currently as the exchange rate is 75 cents AUD in the dollar,

When the AU dollar is 75 cents to 1 US dollar, then any US dollar is worth 1.31 AU. Short story is you add roughly a third not 25 % i.e. if the boat is advertised in US dollars for $200,000 then its 262,000. On the issue of duty also be aware that it doesn't matter where you buy the boat it matters where it was built originally, if you buy a French Boat for example in the US then you will be paying duty when it arrives here and then GST and that it is on the price plus delivery costs from the last port. , so $200,000 US is $262K, and lets say Customs will accept $3K delivery costs (and they won't) but lets say they do, then the boat is 265K plus GST of 10% for a total of $286500 (if there is no duty payable) If duty is payable then its 265K plus 5 % then 10 % on the total after duty, for a total of $306K.

The point of doing that is to illustrate that a $200k US boat turns into a $300K AU boat and that is without any other costs - eg changing AC power - getting gas compliance etc etc.

Similar story in Euro, Waynes boat would be $450k AU converted dollars and GST and Duty not including any shipping costs. (Unless the taxes have already been paid)

OF course if you never bring the boat into Australia you can avoid the GST and Duty.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by mark_morwood

Just a clarification - that applies for boats built in the US - not for boats flagged in the US. (Duty = 5%, GST = 10%)

And boats built in NZ, Vietnam and a few other countries with whom we have a Free Trade agreement

[Mr B]

Sorry, Not enough info, Boats manufactured in the US dont attract duty,
Free trade agreement,
It was just a roughy, 75 cents in the dollar is 3/4 of a dollar, leaving 25 % extra to pay, But what the exchange rate is at the time, Who knows,
The exchange rate when I bought my boat was 107 AUD cents to the US dollar,
Instead of paying $150,000-00 USD, it actually cost me $140,000-00 AUD,
The GST was the same, It went from $15,000-00 down to $14,200-00 AUD,

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Sorry, Not enough info, Boats manufactured in the US dont attract duty,
Free trade agreement,
It was just a roughy, 75 cents in the dollar is 3/4 of a dollar, leaving 25 % extra to pay, But what the exchange rate is at the time, Who knows,
The exchange rate when I bought my boat was 107 AUD cents to the US dollar,
Instead of paying $150,000-00 USD, it actually cost me $140,000-00 AUD,
The GST was the same, It went from $15,000-00 down to $14,200-00 AUD,

Free trade agreement is not yet in place - just foreshadowed.

[manawatuman]

TwoCanSail brokers still haven't got back to me, its been nearly 2 weeks . Im not calling them again its starting to smell...

[14murs14]

I've had two experiences with them, the first they couldn't be bother to show up at the boat at the arranged time, after I flew a long distance just to see a boat. We were told to just let ourselves in. Clearly didn't give a crap about selling the boat, it's still for sale a year later.
More recently, sent two different emails over several weeks finally followed up by a phone call. Broker said he recognized me from the emails, which again couldn't be bothered to respond to, but was waiting to hear from the owner. Emailed me the next day saying the boat was sold! WTF, a broker doesn't even know when a boat under their listing has been sold? Clearly he had nothing to do with it!
I won't ever work with them again as a buyer, and if you're a seller then you're actually worse off with them than you'd be with no-one since they're actively working to piss buyers off. It baffles me how these kind of companies stay in business.

[leftbrainstuff]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Sorry, Not enough info, Boats manufactured in the US dont attract duty,
Free trade agreement,
It was just a roughy, 75 cents in the dollar is 3/4 of a dollar, leaving 25 % extra to pay, But what the exchange rate is at the time, Who knows,
The exchange rate when I bought my boat was 107 AUD cents to the US dollar,
Instead of paying $150,000-00 USD, it actually cost me $140,000-00 AUD,
The GST was the same, It went from $15,000-00 down to $14,200-00 AUD,

US built boats imported to Oz are subject to 5% duty thanks to the existing trade agreement. (Free trade is an oxymoron)

All others 10% + all the other import costs Oz customs like to impose.

We too bought a US boat when the Aussie dollar was worth $1.08 US.

[amiller]

I'll second the thumbs down.
They were recommended by someone on this website, but I have sent multiple emails and gotten no more than 1 sentence in reply. Even when I made it clear that I'm a motivated buyer with cash in hand.

Their website appears to list some boats that are reprints of boats for sale with other brokers.

With that said, I've had the same experience with other websites, and the same challenge with other brokers finding time to call me back. Perhaps the opportunity for commission is better on the selling side than on the buying side?

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by leftbrainstuff

US built boats imported to Oz are subject to 5% duty thanks to the existing trade agreement. (Free trade is an oxymoron)

All others 10% + all the other import costs Oz customs like to impose.

We too bought a US boat when the Aussie dollar was worth $1.08 US.

I bought an American made 34 foot Boat and an American made 36 foot RV,
I paid GST of 10 % on both,
I paid no Duty on either of them,

American made attracts no Duty,

Imported from America, but not made in America, Attracts the
5 % Duty,

[lightguy]

So far I've had good and bad experiences with them.
The owner does seem to be a little condescending after talking to him several times on the phone. I made the mistake of underdressing for the Annapolis boat show and he wouldn't even look at me.
On the other hand while in Thailand I wanted to look at one of their listings.
The agent picked me in a taxi up took a two hour drive to see it, even bought me a couple of beers while we waited for a taxi back. All on the house.