UK-EU USED BOAT SALES CHANGES YOU NEED TO KNOW

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did it. He was as good as his word and eventually ‘got Brexit done.’ News bulletins report daily the effects Brexit is having on GDP at large; on Northern Ireland; and occasionally on market sectors such as fishing. But what about pleasure boats? In this article we will explore two frequent questions:

Have the UK’s boat builders been affected by Brexit? And has Brexit changed the rules for buying and selling used boats across the Channel? If you don’t have time to read this article, my short answers are, ‘Not really’ and ‘Oh my, yes!’

THE BREXIT EFFECT ON UK BOAT BUILDERS

We’ll start with the UK boatbuilders who woke up on 1 January 2021 in a Third Country, the EU’s term for all non-member nations. Selling a boat to Europe had suddenly rendered them an exporter, whether they liked it or not. This brings VAT implications (which I’m not going to discuss as this fiercely complicated topic deserves its own article), and new paperwork demands. Unlike fish, however, boats are not perishable goods and so there is plenty of time for