It's up to you but if it were me I wouldn't meet unless 1) I could test drive/ride the vehicles myself, and 2) he has the titles in hand at the time of the meet.

Unless of course he's willing to wait for payment until you have the titles. After all, he'll have a copy of the bill of sale - suggest that and see how it sits with him and let us know.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I’m all set, but they guy has the titles at his other house in Naples.

He wants to give me a bill of sale and mail the titles to me.

This is a no go, correct?

It would be for me.

They say the jet-ski season in Florida is fairly long. I don't think you'd miss much of it, waiting till the seller has his ducks in line before finalizing the deal.

Could have been (and probably was) an honest mistake, mis-remembering where the title is. But if you put cash on the barrelhead before you have that in hand, then that risk becomes yours.

The season is year round here, but I’ll be taking them to MI in a few weeks. I’m at the point where I’m tired of dragging things back and forth, so leaving a pair up there and a pair down here is the plan.

He sent me pictures of the hull identification numbers and the registrations. The FL DMV says no liens. The name on and address on the registration matches his home in Naples and the hull and title numbers from the registrations match the title information from the Florida DMV.

I’m going to making up the bill of sale and will print it when I get home. I’m at Firestone getting the tires from Simple Tire installed on my truck. They’ve been at it for 2 hours now. Seriously, they started my truck at 8:40 and it’s now 10:40.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
...
I’ve asked if there’s any liens and if he is the sole owner, but he has yet to respond. We’ve been texting the whole time. ...

I don't know man... Red flags.

Tell him you'll meet and exchange cash for titles and take ownership on that day, that you're going to MI and are going to take them with you.

FLDMV says you have to have the title to register them per the link I provided,

Used Vessels in FL with a Title, buyer MUST present the properly filled out transferred title to the DMV office, bill of sale won't do you have to have the titles, so he can go to Naples this weekend get the titles and meet you for the cash.

I wouldn’t buy used without a title in hand. A lot do people out there are trustworthy but I don’t know em personally so that would be a no go for me.

He's got 2, buy one, take it for a test drive before buying the other one.

No title is worrisome...

No title is a red flag in my mind. I’d ask him to get the titles and we’ll talk.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Very true. One picture shows them on a trailer in a nice garage. Nice because the floor is checker board epoxy. Another picture shows them on a lift in a covered boathouse.

That’s how I bought our 26’ Formula. Ten years old, 46 hours, and immaculate. The owners were a working couple from near Detroit and had weekend home on Lake Huron "up North”. Their kids were grown and had moved to other parts of the country, so the boat didn’t get used. I was basing my decision on who they seemed to be as much as the boat itself. He also had a really nice deuce and a half in his garage.

I’m guessing once we meet in person, he’ll ok the test ride.

Thread drift.
1. How the hell do you find these unbelievable deals???
2. I have had two garages done with polyasperic epoxy, how do they do checkerboard? Can you share the pic of the garage?

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
He says he has the physical titles, they’re just at his house in Naples. I think with a HIN (hull identification number) I can verify the titles online. So maybe a bill of sale will be good enough?

I’ve asked if there’s any liens and if he is the sole owner, but he has yet to respond. We’ve been texting the whole time.

I’ll check that with my SeaDoo when I get home. I offered waiting until he has them in hand as well.

Like I tell my Millennial kids, pick up the damn phone and have a conversation with the guy. You will get a much better feal for the situation. Not foolproof but better that a bunch of texts or emails.

I am surprised he hasn't just sold the skis to someone else by now. Around here good condition used skis like those at the beginning of the season would be gone in a flash assuming they are priced decently.

I've sold 2 motorcycles without having the title in hand. The buyer and I went to my local back with the paperwork for the sale and had the bank officer notarize everything and deposit the funds. Once the money was deposited, I did the payoff and sent the buyer the title a few weeks later. Easy transaction.

quote:

This is a no go, correct? I can verfy the titles online, but there’s no way I should paying for them with out getting the titles at the same time, correct?

Correct. Go with your gut.

Time to walk away

IMO there are more red flags here than a Chinese Communist parade.

quote:

We’ve been texting the whole time.

quote:

Like I tell my Millennial kids, pick up the damn phone and have a conversation with the guy. You will get a much better feal for the situation. Not foolproof but better that a bunch of texts or emails.

Yep... just talk to the man. Text only makes it more complicated.
Arrange to meet him after he gets the titles from his house in Naples.

How many used jet skis are there on the market?

My experience is that whenever a transaction becomes complicated or causes anxiety, it is time to walk away. There will always be another opportunity.

The worst case if you walk away is the deal you finally do make turns out to be not quite as good as this deal might have been. So you might spend a little bit more money on the next deal, or you might have to wait to find the next deal.

I would walk away from this one. Though I don't have any experience with the used jet ski scene in Florida, it seems this deal has multiple red flags and is causing anxiety.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
How many used jet skis are there on the market?

I don't know about down there, but, you see them for sale around here, in SE Michigan, all the time.

I've thought about buying one from time-to-time, but, like a 4-wheeler, I simply wouldn't get that much use out of one.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
My experience is that whenever a transaction becomes complicated or causes anxiety, it is time to walk away. There will always be another opportunity.

This ^^^^^

Doesn't want to allow sea trials. Doesn't have the titles on-hand. I dunno...

When my wife and I were looking for a small powerboat we found a really nice Glastron from back when Glastron was making really good boats. Boat was clean from stem to stern. Looked really good. Seemed perfect for our needs. Owner (right on a lake, btw) didn't want to do a sea trial. We insisted. He finally, reluctantly, complied.

It's a damn good thing we did, too. The steering on that boat was definitely not right. Really had to rag on the wheel to get 'er to turn. Cockpit was way too cramped for my 6'4" frame. (Felt fine just sitting in it, but, under way? Nope.)

He was really pissed when, after that, we declined. I dunno what he thought the point of a sea trial was

No title, no buy.

For better or for worse, they are in my driveway:



Here they are in the guy’s lift on Lake Francis:



When I got there, he told me he had no worries about me taking them out by myself. Both ran perfectly and holy cow the GP1800R SVHO is quick. Both are super clean. The engines and jet drives were sprayed with fluid film and corrosion free. He also had the Yamaha covers for both which he used when they were stored on the lift and in his garage. He also had these Yamaha storage compartment bag things that attach behind the seats on the swim platform for each and one of the coolers that fits inside.

He signed the bill of sale I made up which said he would mail me the titles within a week. I looked at his driver’s license and it matched the addresses on the registrations. The hull numbers and title numbers on the registrations matched the Florida DMV records. I took the risk, but I got no weird vibes while I was there. He and his wife have new dogs, so they want a boat to take the dogs with them. Cute little dogs.

Thank you guys, I really appreciate everyone’s advice. I should have talked to him on the phone much sooner. Texting sucks.

There’s not a lot of used ones out there. I looked at a 2022 with 57 hours in Fort Myers on Wednesday. They wanted $250 less than its new list price, but they said I wouldn’t have to pay the $2,000 of fees they tack on to a new one.

I found these on Craigslist and they were the only reasonably priced ones from from Orlando to the Keys. I think two things worked against him. One, they were in the middle of the state, an hour or more from the population centers on each coast. Two, he wouldn’t separate the package. He said he got a lot of calls asking to do so, or low ball offers.

I did get a new one as well plus separately a new trailer. It’s a 2022 for $10,700 out the door. Riva in Miami said $13,600 was they best they could do, so I figured my local dealer wasn’t screwing me too badly.

Congratulations.