I almost purchased a Tayana 37 last year in Mazatlan before ill health forced me to return to Oz. I found the marine facilities first rate.
On your specific questions
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Originally Posted by Duckwheat
Questions
1. How much less do you feel you paid by going to Mexico? 10% 20%?
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This is a difficult question and depends more on how willing the owner is to negotiate. The yacht I was looking at had been on the market a long time (3-5 years?) so the owner was definitely realistic. However some yachts I have seen were more expensive in Mexico than in the US. You will problably get less competition from other buyers because it is harder to do, which results in a cheaper boat. Then the labour cost is cheaper, however equipment costs are more expensive. Compared to purchasing in Oz it was a no brainer; 50-70% cheaper.
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2. How did you get the boat to where you needed it? Sail it, Hire a crew, Ferry it, Truck it?
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Was planning to sail the yacht back Oz via the Pacific "milk run". In fact this was one of the prime motivations for the whole exercise, getting a nice yacht for a cheap price AND spending six-nine months sailing through the Pacific.
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3. Did the purchase price offset the cost to ship?
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Yes, however like I mentioned above sailing the boat back to Oz was a big motivation as well.
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4. Were you able to find a competent surveyor locally, or take one with?
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There are marine surveyors available which were American citizens living in Mexico. No problems at all, did a very competent job
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5. Any governmental hassle getting the boat out of Mexico?
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Never got to this stage, however I understand that it is not a big issue. There are US citizens living in Mexico that will assist for a small fee.
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6. Buying a foreign owned boat (non USA) present any obstacles?DW
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Not sure, the yacht I was purchasing was US registered.
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7. Anything I was too stupid to think of that any idiot should have thought of to ask?
DW
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Probably the trickiest item would of been importing equipment not available locally, ie solar panels, electronics, etc. Can be done however the import taxes sounded fairly complicated. Not insurmountable, just a hassle.
One issue I origanally hit was that I was dealing with a broker who did'nt actually have the listing for the yacht. I eventually had to ring the owner and ask him who he was listed with. Once that was sorted out there was no problems. The deposit was held by A US based company, so there was no problems when the deal did not go ahead and I got back my deposit less costs.
Marine repair facilities were also good. Many appeared to be owned by Americans employing locals at a lower cost than in US.
Feel free to ask any other questions.
Ilenart
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