Purchase contract with spelling mistakes

[KetoNomad]

About to sign a purchase contract for an Albin Vega and the broker typed it in as "Albin Vega" also no HIN given is hull number the same on vegas as the actual build number?

Should I be worried about the misspelling? I asked her to change it and she said she did but no edited version was emailed. I'm buying it sight unseen in England so am a bit freaked out about this.

Last boat I just gave the seller a wad of cash so this is all new.

[KetoNomad]

And just like that I received an edited version haha.

[sailorboy1]

You must have decided who you should have really asked

[chile1]

I'm buying it sight unseen in England so am a bit freaked out about this.

You have every right to be freaked out. Lawyer?

[valhalla360]

Snip: an Albin Vega and the broker typed it in as "Albin Vega"

I'm confused. Where is the spelling error?

While getting a clean copy is best, you can always cross out the mis-spelling and write in the correct information and initial it. There is nothing magical about contract forms. If they have an issue with the correction of a spelling error, they have the problem, not you.

I would want the hull number identified but not really critical assuming you get a title/documentation showing the hull number.

[KetoNomad]

Sorry, it was spelled "Albin Vegy" originally. Hahaha how embarrassing!

It's all good now though

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by KetoNomad

Sorry, it was spelled "Albin Vegy" originally. Hahaha how embarrassing!

It's all good now though

Though I thought those voices in my head had started typing for me.

Reality is if it ever came to a legal issue, the courts will usually take spelling errors for what they are if they are obvious. Unless you show up to collect your new boat and there is an "Albin Vegy" in the slip, it really won't have any impact on if you own it. About the only issue I could see is if the govt decided the bill of sale isn't good when you go to register it.

Now if you were were buying a Ferrari and the bill of sale said Fiero, I might get worried.

[Adelie]

Depending on the year there may be no HIN which started in the US about 1973. In Europe I don't know when they started embossing them into the hull.

[taxwizz]

Follow the lead of President Trump and call it....
"Alternative Spelling".

[Stumble]

Typically for a purchase agreement (at least the ones I draft) there are multiple independent identifications of the boat. Even if one of them were to be mistaken, particularly by a spelling mistake or transposition of numbers it would have close to be effect.

Generally the boat will be identified by as many of the following as reasonable:

1) name
2) manufacturer
3) model (including length)
4) current owner
5) HIN
6) Registration number
7) current berth
8) Sail number
9) Year of manufacture
10) type of rig

The actual sentence would look something like:

SELLER herby conveys to BUYER for the sum of $xx, the sailing vessel NAME, a 19xx Albion Vega 32' SLOOP. HIN # that is currently berthed at YY marina slip number ZZ. NAME is currently registered/documented under the number AA with BB authority and carries sail number 12345.

Let's assume for a second that any one piece of that was wrong, will it really impact the ability of someone to identify the vessel that I simply being described? If not then it isn't a problem, if so then the contract would at worst be undone and nullified. The longer after the sale the issue arises the less likely it is a court would undo the sale by the way. Under the assumption that if there was a problem the parties would have brought suit to nullify the contract immediately upon notice of the defect.

[bobnlesley]

We used to own a 1973 Vega which had a bronze plate mounted in the cockpit, just below the companionway showing its sail/build number and that's all we ever used; I never saw a number etched into the hull anywhere.

[barnakiel]

Insist on correct spelling. There is also an Albin Viggen around (a different boat from the Vega). Vega, or Viggen, but never Vegy.

I do not know HIN but old Scandinavian boats did not have hull numbers. UK built ones did though.

Cheers,
b.

[Sailorbob8599]

Spelling mistakes are a sign of the times. We all use PC's, I-phones, whatever, and rely too much on 'auto-correct' which does not always work well. I do take time to review my posts prior to posting & edit my mistakes. Even at that, the occasional blip slips by me.
Looking at many posts on this forum, I don't think everyone checks theirs as well as they should. On the other hand, maybe people today are more tolerant & accepting of mistakes than my educators were.
There again, even I admit to not being "100% perfect" . . . I recall telling my wife I made a mistake . . . "once!" . . . she has yet to ask for an explanation.

[PHR]

I'm a tax lawyer, so maybe I don't know much about lawyers views in purchase contracts, but if it was me, I would insist on the corrections being made before buying a boat away from where you are. It is one thing is if the item is on-hand, where you can point at the item and agree you are buying "that," but quite different in my view to buy something away from where you are. And if the seller is sincere, then it should be a small thing. You've agreed on the price and all other terms of transfer, so this seems a small thing to just make sure the proper identifiers are in place. Good question, and I hope this helps.

[buzzstar]

I would worry less about the spelling error (although pleased that it has been corrected) and more about the lack of identification of a specific vessel. I suspect you do not intend to purchase a generic Albin Vega, but have a particular one in mind. Probably all OK, but troubling.