Buying a boat in Caribbean (or the windward) Islands and bringing back to states.

[Hammer]

Has anyone ever purchased a boat in the windward islands or caribbean and brought it back to the united states.

A Florida broker told me that the price of boat is greatly discounted in the islands. For example, a boat valued at $150k in the states could be purchased for up to 33 percent less in the islands due to challenges, from shopping to purchasing to the trip home expense.

The florida broker said no bank will finance a boat outside the states, and it may be hard to find an AMS surveyor accepted by a US insurance company. So the purchase has to be cash wired to a bank account and perhaps a premium on insurance. Add in the cost of viewing the boat and the preparation for the trip, plus the trip back north ... and it gets expensive.

Has anyone ever purchased a trawler in the islands and brought it back. Did you save money? What were the steps involved? Would love to hear the experiences.

 

[Euphoria]

Distant purchases

Hey Hammer,
We purchased our sailboat in Antigua back in 2008 so things might be different now. The price was not discounted because we had to get to the boat and home again, the price was still based on the market value. As far as a surveyor we found a great one that lived on St Lucia and had to fly him into Antigua. We had rented a condo on the canal and had an extra room so he stayed with us.
Our broker from Washington State and a Documentation company from Anacortes handled all the paperwork and money transfers so that was easy peasy. Didn’t have the time for the canal so we sailed her to Galveston Texas and then trucked her to Anacortes.
Hope this helps. Don’t be afraid of distance buying if it’s the right boat. We just purchased a trawler in the Mediterranean and are just finishing things up and are heading to the Caribbean.