If you dream of skimming across the water in a beautiful boat, the time has never been better to buy. With the weakness in the economy, there are hundreds of boat auctions around the country each month. You can now buy boats as low at 90% off retail value.
I constantly review the top internet sites that collect information on so-called “secret auctions” – auctions run by banks and government agencies that the average person doesn’t know how to find.
You’ll find my ratings below, as well as my current recommendation for the best site for your goals, and links to sites.
Boat Auctions at Car-Auctions.com
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Car-Auctions.com is a little known treasure chest for people wanting to buy boats. It’s the number 1 site for seized vehicle auctions on the internet. If you’re looking specifically for boat (including pontoon boats, sail boats, motor boats, and yachts), you’ll find your search easy on Car-Auctions.com.
Most sites focus on automobiles, the largest segment of the market. That means there’s less thought to people like you searching for boats. In fact, the search boxes on many sites don’t include the top manufacturers of boats such as Chris Craft or Sea Ray.
Special Boat Search. Car-Auctions.com has a subsite set up for people searching for boats of all kinds. You’ll find boats of all makes & models on their site, including: Sea Ray, Cobalt, Chris Craft, Bayliner and others. Car-Auction.com gives you access to auctions for surplus, seized, and repossessed boats at significant discounts. Bids start as low as $100.
They serve a broad geographic region including the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. And they offer a 60-day money-back guarantee for their memberships. Memberships start as low as $29 if you click on the link below.
You’ll also have access to auctions for jewelry and real estate if you choose.
The verdict: If you’re in the market for a boat at a steep discount, I strongly recommend this site. Follow these 3 steps to get a 50% discount:
- Click this link to Car-Auction.com’s Boat Search Site
- Fill in the city, state, zip, and country where you’d like to search. Also choose the brand (Sea Ray, Chris Craft) or type (pontoon, row boat) of boat you’re looking for. If you don’t see it listed, just choose a brand and you’ll find yours inside the site.
- Choose the discount package (50% off as of the date of this post).
GovernmentAuctions.org
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GovernmentAuctions.org is the granddaddy of government auction sites. They are very experienced, very well-organized, and very thorough. When you’ve seen stories CNBC or CBS News about government auctions and the money you can save, these are the folks they’re talking to. Here’s what you get with your membership:
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A very sophisticated database of government auctions in your area. Updated quite frequently.
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Dates, locations, descriptions, contacts, links, item lists, etc.
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You can put in your zip code and search within a radius of where you live
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They cover the waterfront on auctions: They include about a dozen and half different kinds of auctions.
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They include tutorials on government auctions, foreclosures, and tax sales
- Finally, they’ve just introduced a FREE TRIAL. I don’t know how long that will last.
The verdict: This is a great deal. You have three days to get on the system, try it out, and find out what kind of boats are available in your area for free. While you’re at it, you can see if their extensive list of other auctions are attractive to you. Here’s all you do to get your free trial:
- Click the link to go to GovernmentAuctions.org
- Fill in the information
- Click the green “Activate My Free Trial” button
Gov-Auctions.org
Gov-Auctions is a very reputable source for government auctions of all kinds. They are probably the hottest auction site on the net right now. They don’t focus on boat auctions but they do give you immediate access to 4,000+ updated auctions nationwide with guaranteed listings in every state. And many of the of the auction sites they list sell seized and repossesed boats. Gov-Auctions.org memberships include a wide-range of benefits, including:
- Access to 10,000s of Government pre-owned quality vehicles at very low resell prices. With thousands new listed each week.
- Access to 1000s of live auto auctions of Government pre-owned, seized and repossessed cars, trucks, SUVs, motorcycles, and boats to bid on, often starting at $100 to $500.
- Online Police and Federal auctions in your local area and throughout the USA, where you can bid online so you will always get the best deals.
- Direct links to other relevant auctions sites online.
- Contact information such as contact names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and websites for easy reference and immediate use.
- Google Maps showing you exact location of auctions.
- Full access to Member’s Area, with updated reports on the locations and timing of the best Gov’t auctions registered in your local area as well as your state and across the USA.
- 24-hour 7-day a week access to all databases in the Member’s Area.
- Instant access. In other words, there’s nothing to download, nothing to wait for in the mail.
- Full and continued to a step-by-step 5-day auto auction tutorial. This isn’t a compilation of internet research. It’s advice based on the staff’s own experience with government auctions. It has the potential to save you thousands of dollars.
- A comprehensive expert-level guide to all Federal Government property sales programs and auctions.
The verdict: Gov-Auctions is quite a good site, even if less focused on the boater. If you’re excited about the idea taking advantage of great deals you can currently get on surplus, government used, repossessed, and seized property of all kinds, this is a good place to find it. The process of getting started is bit more complex. Here’s what you should do.
- Click over to Gov-Auctions.org
- Click the big red button that says “Up to 95% off Begin Search Here”
- Click the blue “Go” button in the red Search Here box
- Scroll down and click the red box that says “Step Two Access All Auctions Here”
- If you want to know how many auctions are currently available in your state, hover your cursor over your state
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the “Step 4 Yes! I want Unlimited Access Click Here to Join
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click your package to join.
Filed under Buying a used Boat, Repo Auctions by Josh



