Seller disclosure on a boat purchase

[Jennifer.west]

I recently purchased a boat that I found on Facebook. I only saw pictures of the boat before purchasing it. It was a very dumb decision but based on what I saw in the pics and what the seller said, I wanted the boat. The seller still owed money on the boat at a bank. I got a loan for the boat and my finance company sent his bank a check for the payoff of the boat. This was the only way my finance company (usaa) would do the loan. Later that same day, the seller met me at a gas station where I took possession of the boat. We live 4 hours away from each other so we met. It was dark, about 9:00 pm when we finally met. I could see some of the boat but still not a whole lot because it was dark. (Again I know this was a very bad choice) the seller gave me the registration on the boat and a bill of sale for the trailer. It is a 2011 veranda 22 foot tritoon. I drove home and the entire way I was already regretting the purchase because I saw a few things on the boat that I did not like. When I got home I looked at the registration more closely and it is for a 2011 war eagle 20 foot boat. I messaged the seller and asked why and he said he didn't know it was always like that. When I met the seller, I also met his wife. She told me that she works at the revenue office in their town. Her name was on the registration as the revenue office employee who issued the registration to her husband. This is a huge red flag to me because the registration was issued that very same day. Also, you would think that if you are registering your own boat that you would make sure it is correct and states the correct boat. I should have done this before the purchase but I didn't, but I did a boat report check online and it states that there has been a total loss reported on this veranda tritoon that I purchased. The seller did not tell me this. The next morning I examined the boat and it has been completely stripped of all the original furniture and everything that was in it, including the steering wheel. Everything is not the original pieces of the boat except for the floor and toons. I have tried contacting the seller and of course he won't answer me. In the sale ad for the boat, the pictures showed all the stuff that looked good and none of the stuff that looks awful. I know this was a bad decision on my part but does the seller have an obligation to inform me of the total loss reported on the boat? Do I have a case at all legally to return the boat and cancel my loan?

 

[justalayman]

Simply put, based on what you have said;


Enjoy your new boat.


There's an old joke about boat ownership. The two happiest days in a boat owners life are the day he purchases it and the day he sells it.

Btw; you did not provide your state. Laws are state specific so if you want anything more it would be a good idea to provide it.

 

[Jennifer.west]

Arkansas

Simply put, based on what you have said;


Enjoy your new boat.


There's an old joke about boat ownership. The two happiest days in a boat owners life are the day he purchases it and the day he sells it.

Btw; you did not provide your state. Laws are state specific so if you want anything more it would be a good idea to provide it.

The state is Arkansas.

 

[justalayman]

The state is Arkansas.

Did he misrepresent the boat in any way?

And yes, you messed up big time by not inspecting the boat.

This is from the state DFA

Boat registrations may be applied for at any state revenue office. The requirements are:

Proof of ownership – current registration or bill of sale. A bill of sale must contain a description of the boat including the hull identification number, year, make and horsepower, the amount of sale, be dated and signed by the buyer and seller. If a trailer is included it must be itemized on the bill of sale for sales tax purposes or be on a separate bill of sale


Does the bill of sale include everything specified in the list?

Does the hull number match the boat listed on the registration?

 

[Jennifer.west]

Did he misrepresent the boat in any way?

And yes, you messed up big time by not inspecting the boat.

This is from the state DFA

Boat registrations may be applied for at any state revenue office. The requirements are:

Proof of ownership – current registration or bill of sale. A bill of sale must contain a description of the boat including the hull identification number, year, make and horsepower, the amount of sale, be dated and signed by the buyer and seller. If a trailer is included it must be itemized on the bill of sale for sales tax purposes or be on a separate bill of sale


Does the bill of sale include everything specified in the list?

Does the hull number match the boat listed on the registration?

The seller did not exactly misrepresent the boat, he sent pictures of the parts of the boat that look good but not 1 picture of the bad parts. There is a hole in the floor and nothing in the boat is what came in it by the factory. Looking at the boat in person it is obvious that everything has been replaced but it was not obvious by the pictures.
The bill of sale was already written out when I got there and it only has the trailer on it. No information about the boat what so ever. It is signed by the seller but not dated. The amount he put on the registration for the trailer is $3000 and I purchased the boat and trailer and motor for a total of $12500. The finance company told me I would receive paperwork in the mail that I take to the revenue office to register the boat in about 2 weeks.
All the seller gave me was the bill of sale for the trailer and registration that he said goes with the boat. But on the registration it says it is for a different boat. The hull id number that is on the registration is the same number that is actually on the boat itself. I have been researching hull id numbers and I am suspicious of the hull id number that is on the boat because of the way it looks. Some letters are bigger than others, some are filled in solid black and others are engraved in. However, when I did a search on the history of the boat, I used the hull id number and it pulls up the correct boat, the one I purchased. My question is how can the registration list the hull id number and say it is for a 20 foot war eagle boat when that is not what I purchased at all? Not even close.

 

[justalayman]

If the hull id on the registerarion matches the boat and the boat does not fit the description on the registration there is a huge problem.

I would make a call to the police about the discrepancy. They may not be interested but then again they might be. It is obvious there is some hanky panky going on.

If the police don't care I would start with making a demand to the seller he rescind the sale. If he refuses I would consider suing to rescind the sale due to the issues with the hull number. Given the amount I doubt it would fit in small claims court (haven't checked but most are not that high), you likely will need the services of a lawyer.

 

[Jennifer.west]

If the hull id on the registerarion matches the boat and the boat does not fit the description on the registration there is a huge problem.

I would make a call to the police about the discrepancy. They may not be interested but then again they might be. It is obvious there is some hanky panky going on.

If the police don't care I would start with making a demand to the seller he rescind the sale. If he refuses I would consider suing to rescind the sale due to the issues with the hull number. Given the amount I doubt it would fit in small claims court (haven't checked but most are not that high), you likely will need the services of a lawyer.

Thank you for the advice.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

The most interesting about Arkansas is the many homes with tarps over leaky roofs and a new fishing boat in the front yard. When not buying a new boat, it is up to you to inspect the boat yourself or hire a professional inspector. You accepted delivery without all these items in the boat, that is called acquiescence, IE acceptance. That was your chance to back out and you chose not to do so. Hopefully the motor runs as you did not do due diligence to discover the the title issues.

 

[Jennifer.west]

The most interesting about Arkansas is the many homes with tarps over leaky roofs and a new fishing boat in the front yard. When not buying a new boat, it is up to you to inspect the boat yourself or hire a professional inspector. You accepted delivery without all these items in the boat, that is called acquiescence, IE acceptance. That was your chance to back out and you chose not to do so. Hopefully the motor runs as you did not do due diligence to discover the the title issues.

I know I made a bad decision not looking at the boat before the purchase. However, if the seller is clearly not honest and gives me a registration to a boat that does not match the boat I purchased, do I not have any protection from this at all? He obviously has done something wrong. What if I can not ever register this boat and therefore the insurance company won't cover the boat? I did not purchase a 20 foot war eagle boat, nothing like it. I can assure you there is no tarp over my roof and I did not purchase a fishing boat.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Titles can be changed by sellers assertions and clerks mistakes over the years. does the VIN match, that is your issue. If you knowingly purchased a boat with a suspicious history, the time to deal with it was before the sale. As you noted, you saw plenty of pictures. You accepted delivery.

 

[Jennifer.west]

Titles can be changed by sellers assertions and clerks mistakes over the years. does the VIN match, that is your issue. If you knowingly purchased a boat with a suspicious history, the time to deal with it was before the sale. As you noted, you saw plenty of pictures. You accepted delivery.

Apparently you did not read my post very well. I did see a lot of pictures, just not pictures of all of the bad stuff. And I was not suspicious about the boat history until after the sale when I got home. Is it not odd that the person that issued the registration on their own boat somehow made a typo on the entire description on the boat? I mean the registration was issued the day of the sale, the revenue office employee who issued the registration is also the boat owners wife. I don't buy the "oh it's a typo" story.

 

[Zigner]

Simply put, based on what you have said;


Enjoy your new boat.


There's an old joke about boat ownership. The two happiest days in a boat owners life are the day he purchases it and the day he sells it.

Btw; you did not provide your state. Laws are state specific so if you want anything more it would be a good idea to provide it.

I'm with you on this one.