Boat Salvage Auctions

BOAT SALVAGE AUCTIONS: HOW, WHEN, & WHERE

If it were easy everyone would buy one..

The truth is to make out on a damaged or salvaged vessel, you'll need to minimize the restoration costs. There are a number of ways to do so either by doing it all yourself if you have the knowledge or know of someone who can cut you some slack on the repair costs such as a friendly boat mechanic or technician.

Any type of salvaged item poses a risk versus reward dilemma. How much time and money is a restoration going to cost and when it's all said and done will it be worth the potential payoff? For the risk-averse there are other alternatives to finding deeply discounted boats that I'll mention later.

A word to the wise is to be on the defensive when entering into the salvage boat auction arena. The glossy images and descriptions aren't always what they seem. I've found this to be especially true when buying a boat on Ebay and even more so on some free boat classified ad sites.

The problem with salvage boats sold at auction is that there are definitely unethical salesmen who simply resell boats after they've only made a few cosmetic improvements. It's not uncommon for dealers to accept a boat on trade yet don't find out until later that they've bought a real piece of work...literally.

In some cases dealers will instead of getting stuck with a money pit, pass the problem on again to someone else without revealing the boat's history.

You can avoid the same mistake by getting a surveyor to inspect it or if that's not possible at least to come along with you to the auction to give you an honest take of the boats condition. Sites like Copart, Certified Sales, Salvage Direct, or Yacht Salvage are good places to start but I've found them to be quiet limited in terms of inventory and pretty expensive to access. Sometimes as much as $450 just to get auction details!

With that said, boat salvage auctions can render an incredible opportunity towards buying a boat, boat parts and equipment at rock bottom prices. If you're not afraid of doing some serious scrubbing and have first hand knowledge as to what the repairs will cost ahead of time you can potentially save or make thousands.

Boat salvage auctions typically popup around the coast line, especially along the coasts of south Florida, the North East coast, as well as along the coast line of California.

You can visit the following free salvage auctions source:
BoatAuctionsInfo.com to find legitimate salvage sales both online and off.

Please note that some boat salvage auctions as with most motor vehicle salvage auctions are limited to licensed vehicle dealers and dismantlers.

A newer resource that aggregates boat auctions listings and a great resource for locating Gov't or bank repo boats is Boat Auctions Direct. It's not free but these guys will
actually help you find the specific repossessed boat you're looking for if you want.