How to Prepare to Sell Your Boat
Selling your boat can be a bit difficult. There’s a lot to do, and if you’re inexperienced, you might accidentally skip an important step. We here at Nisswa Marine want to make reselling your boat a breeze! We’ve compiled some helpful tips for reselling your boat, but we encourage you to also check out our trade value tool here. If you’re interested in selling your boat to us, feel free to stop by our dealership in Nisswa, Minnesota, and speak with a staff member.
Visit a Mechanic
The value of your boat will decrease significantly if it has any major mechanical issues. Before selling your vessel, we advise visiting a mechanic and making sure your ship is in tip-top shape. If you’re really worried about unused or worn equipment you might consult a marine technician, or even hire a marine surveyor. Be sure to keep all receipts and records of mechanical work, including the survey you would receive from your surveyor.
Organize Documents
You’ll need to gather a number of documents to sell your boat, the most important being your boat title and registration. However, you’ll also want to compile any and all mechanic records and receipts. Proving that you’ve maintained your ship regularly and had all of its problems repaired will increase its buying price tremendously. If you have a marine survey or recorded accident history be sure to also include those reports. Lastly, if your vessel came with any certifications or warranties than can be transferred, you’ll want to grab those as well.
Revamp Your Boat
Take a step back and view your ship as if you were a buyer. Does it have rust stains? Loose railings? You’ll need to fix all of these cosmetic issues before trying to sell your boat. Even if the machinery is good, an unappealing appearance will often chase away potential buyers. Thankfully, cosmetic issues are often easily fixed with a few tools and some cleaning products. After these repairs are complete, you’ll want to work on decluttering your vessel. This means removing any and all personal items, as well as trash and debris.
Deep Clean Your Boat
Deep cleaning a boat is probably the most lengthy process of those we’ve listed so far. If you don’t feel up to the challenge you might check if your local dealership or service shop offers detailing. If you’re cleaning the ship yourself you’ll want to make a list of all the chores that need to be done, as there will be quite a few. First, you’ll want to wash, polish, and wax your hull as well as scrub and clean your deck. All of your ship's implements also need to be cleaned, polished, and shined. If you have a cabin be sure to vacuum carpets and apply stain remover to old soiled spots.
We hope that these instructions have been helpful in preparing you to sell your boat! We hope that as you begin this process you’ll come to Nisswa Marine for all of your detailing or boating equipment needs. We proudly serve the cities of Minneapolis and St. Cloud, Minnesota, and offer great trade-in rates.