you find out your boats stolen, what would you do

[Oceandonkey]

I feel so sorry for this guy. Just had a client call up, he is a broker and advise that he sold a vessel for $60,000 quite a number of months ago to this young guy.

The police knocked on the new owners door a week or so ago to say sorry bud but the boat you bought was stolen, were here to take it from you. Too bad about the $60,000 you paid.

So I ask anyone if they know how this works, will the police just keep his boat or will they return it to him. They caught the guy who stole it from another state, apparently he has done this 10 times.

Steals boat -> replates it etc -> gives to a boat retailer to sell -> pockets cash.

The boat was sold some months ago, the original owner will have made an insurance claim and by now have been paid in full providing he had comp insurance (I don’t think you would leave a $60,000 boat uninsured) so they cant give it back to the original owner. The insurance company may however request to take ownership of the vessel as recovery.

I dont fancy his chances of taking legal action against the thief to get his $60,000 back but it appears to be his only means of recovery.

poor guy

OD

[Funfisher]

Wouldnt his insurence cover it being taken back if it was purchased from a dealer?

[faulked]

oooh thats harsh 71000 for a boat you dont own

60g for boat

1000 in lost insurance etc

10g to get the bastard killed who stole it

[Confused]

also the dealer has a duty of care and must take full responsibility for the sale so he would eaisly be able to fight them in court and he may even end up with the whole yard!!

[bootyinblue]

Yea tricky one here without knowing all the details.

What we do know is the guy that sold the boat to the broker is in the deep end.

The 'broker' if he is a registered dealer, I think its the same as car yards in that the title of the vehicle (vessel) is guarenteed and any hiccups like this then the dealer has to refund to the buyer.

If the boat is worth $1,000,000,000 and the 'broker' is more of a go between and sold it to the buyer for $60,000 then the 'broker' and buyer can be done for strading and possessing suspected stolen property, along the lines of 'if its too good to be true, it probably is'

In any count the insurance company who paid out on the insurance, assuming it was is now the legal ownwer of the vessel and it will reappear in an auction yard at some stage.

[boofa]

yer mate ask me dad his a lawyer and yer he said its the brokers prolblem and they refund...

but when you buy a used always do ya homework before doin so...

like to police checks and background checks...

better be safe then sorry..

cheers

:woohoo: boofa

[Feral]

Yeah - basically the bloke is stuffed. He has lost the boat and his money.

I dont think they have a guaranteed title search for boats like they do cars, but to be honest, you would have to have pretty bad luck for them to find the boat was stolen, boats have very very poor ID and traceability compared to cars. I'd say the police probably traced the sale from the crook dealer / seller to the new owner.

[werewolf]

mmmm so what about his insurance? His insurer would still cover him right, even it if was stolen?

[Feral]

No, your insurance does not guarantee you title. Someone else legally owns the boat.

[Oceandonkey]

As feral said you dont get a form of revs check for boats, so it would be hard to prove negligence on the brokers behalf.

Boat was worth $60,000 booty so nothing shady there.

Will bump this thread when i know the outcome (my guestimate is 2010 lol)

[bootyinblue]

Says he sold the vessel for $60,000 and the buyer paid $60,000. If for example the boat was worth $2.2mil then there is plenty shady there....LOL

Insurance would not pay out and at best you may get a partial refund, less 'administration costs' once you cancel the policy as you no longer have the boat.