[Matt]

Hello everyone,

I’m considering buying a boat in Turkey to bring it back to France.

Has anyone done this before? Are there any administrative pitfalls or risks to be aware of?

For that, I’d like to have it inspected: does anyone know a reliable expert near Marmaris?

How did you bring the boat back to France? If you hired a skipper, how much did it cost you? I’m thinking of possibly bringing it back in stages: where could I leave it for a few weeks at a lower cost in Spain or Portugal? Also, I’m considering the Canal du Midi route—any advice on that?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Mann]

To give useful information, I would need more details. For example, what type of boat is it? Sailboat, motor yacht, gület, or another type? What is its size? Is it a production boat or custom-built? How old is it? Is it registered under a European flag? Is it being sold through an agency, and if so, which one?

The only question I can answer at the moment is that I have never bought a boat in Turkey, but I know several people who have done so (or sold theirs there). The only one to have had some administrative issues is a French woman who was selling a boat in Marmaris that she had inherited from her deceased father. It was a bit complicated, but it eventually went through. Another friend of mine bought a 47′ sailboat there about 8 or 9 years ago from a French charter company in judicial liquidation. No survey, a not very honest deal from the base manager (French, whom I also knew well), and he ended up with his sabbatical ruined, the boat on the hard for major structural repairs (broken and poorly fixed frames), and 30,000 Euros worth of repairs at his own expense. For everyone else, no problem.

 

[Matt]

OK, thanks for the warning. Have there been any sales that went well?

It’s a 35-foot production sailboat from 1990, flying the UK flag, which was used for chartering until 2004, when it was bought by its current owner. It’s with a broker in Marmaris.

What I was thinking is to accept the boat conditionally based on the survey, such that if the surveyor determines repairs exceeding 10% of the value, the sale will be void. I won’t pay a deposit until I’ve received the survey report.

What do you think?

[Mann]

I know almost all the brokers in Marmaris. There are some very reputable agencies, and others less so… If it’s Gino (for example), everything should be fine. As for the survey, I’m not too up-to-date on who does what in Marmaris. It might be best to contact Nokta Yachting (a French agency helping boaters based in Marmaris) to get the contact details for the best surveyors there and, perhaps, to oversee the survey.

Finally, I think any good survey assumes the boat is out of the water. If not, it’s better to drop the idea right away.

[WPI]

For my part, I bought a boat in Istanbul, an 8-meter catamaran registered in France as a foreign boat. I had to pay VAT upon arrival in France, but for the signing of the sales contract, which had to be done at the French consulate, the fees were around 400€ (the seller covered these costs). The return was done by truck under customs, as the catamaran was dismantlable.

[Author]

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