I purchased a boat from an individual that advertised the hours as "110 Actual hours!"... hour meter read 110.4 HRS. The boat looks great, the engine runs great; I put the boat in the water and... no reverse. I took the boat out into the bay and attempted to engage reverse... no reverse. Thinking it may be as simple as a linkage adjustment I took the boat to a local Marina. They pulled the outdrive to inspect clutch dogs and gears... toast. Replaced with complete new outdrive. The cost of repairing the outdrive including new shift cable was $2588; a complete new outdrive was $3544.44, I chose the new outdrive. I contacted the seller and asked for a reimbursement of $1294, half the cost of the repair quote. I have no answer as of yet. I logged the repair into the service journal and went out to the boat to check the hours so I would have an accurate account for the new outdrive, shift cable and trim sender and much to my surprise, the hour meter read... 110.4 hours; it hadn't moved, not one tenth of a click; it doesn't work. I then examined the service journal and discovered that statements the seller made conflicted with the journal entries. Do I have a case; or does the "As Is" form protect them from misrepresentation?

You didn't actually state in the first part of your post you bought AS IS. If you did actually buy it that way (the ad actually stating that) then, yes, you have no recourse unless seller feels extremely guilty.

I searched a little to see if I could find any references to any state laws setting forth any requirements for boat meters similar to the laws governing motor vehicle odometers.
This is the only one I found so far (but I didn't look further than this one) :

Chapter 100. Marketing; trade practices. 100.48 Hour meter tampering. :: 2011 Wisconsin Code :: Wisconsin Code :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia

Maybe your state motor vehicle dept. could suggest something but proving anything might be difficult. Also saw while searching boat refs that some boats have a black box type recorder that might shed some info.
Good luck.

If you can prove the owner knew of the problems you MIGHT win in court. But normally AS-IS means AS-IS

I'm wondering why they didn't have this checked out by a boat mechanic before purchace... like you should do with any used car or motorcycle. At least some of these problems would have likely been discovered then.

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Originally Posted by smearcase

I searched a little to see if i could find any references to any state laws setting forth any requirements for boat meters similar to the laws governing motor vehicle odometers.
This is the only one I found so far (but I didn't look further than this one) :

Chapter 100. Marketing; trade practices. 100.48 Hour meter tampering. :: 2011 Wisconsin Code :: Wisconsin Code :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia

Maybe your state motor vehicle dept. could suggest something but proving anything might be difficult. Also saw while searching boat refs that some boats have a black box type recorder that might shed some info.
Good luck.

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I appreciate the information. I have been in contact with the State Marine DMV and all they could tell me is that hours are not recorded when a title is transferred. Thanks for the effort...

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

If you can prove the owner knew of the problems you MIGHT win in court. But normally AS-IS means AS-IS

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I agree that the As-Is will protect them from mechanical flaws. The gray area is their written statement claiming "110 Actual Hours". I'm not certain you can make a false statement to influence the buyers decision, and then tell a judge, the As-Is absolves you from any misrepresentation when value is affected by your statement. The value of a boat with 110 actual hours and a boat with "unknown" hours can be significantly different. Small claims it is... thanks.

Hello AK:

Sue him in small claims court.. It's cheaper than getting an opinion from a lawyer.. It's cheaper than spending hours of the phone with the DMV (who can't do anything about it anyway). It's cheaper than just about everything you can do..

What you GET for your $25 - $50 fee is a opinion from a lawyer (the judge), who has the authority to enforce his opinion. That's a very good deal.

excon

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Originally Posted by AK49

I agree that the As-Is will protect them from mechanical flaws. The gray area is their written statement claiming "110 Actual Hours". I'm not certain you can make a false statement to influence the buyers decision, and then tell a judge, the As-Is absolves you from any misrepresentation when value is affected by your statement. The value of a boat with 110 actual hours and a boat with "unknown" hours can be significantly different. Small claims it is.....thanks.

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I totally agree with you. AS-IS does not protect a seller from fraud. The question will be whether a judge recognizes it as fraud.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

I don't see that you stated how much the boat cost you. Did the seller's price reflect a lesser amount than what the boat would have been worth in good condition? If so, then maybe you broke even and it wasn't such a good deal after-all, but still a good deal or a good lesson. I agree with others about having a mechanic check it out, which it is realized a fee to check it out would be required. So if you took a shortcut and didn't want to pay a mechanic to check it out…still I do not understand why you didn't at least take it for a test run BEFORE you bought the boat and not after the fact when then it appears too late for your protection, unless he knew and failed to state mechanical failures. I guess you can't judge a boat by the sound only, eh? Bottom-line, “Buyer Beware.” and as someone suggested maybe the seller's conscious will get to him to be fair to you when it wasn't in the first place. I suppose there is no 'lemon law' for boats unless perhaps you depend on it to go from shore to shore to commute to work, your livelihood. Like excon wrote, I think taking it to smalls claim court is your best recourse and least out of pocket expense to you, even if no win. Also, I was wondering if the seller was a private person or a dealer selling boats, you wrote individual so I assume a private person.. Good luck.

You know if this was me, I would sue them in small claims court anyway, You used the meter, that the owner obviously knew was a fraud, So even if you did a "as is" there is an assumption of condition with that few hours.

The worst thing that could happen you would lose, it would be worth a day in court to me.