Buying a new or used boat is likely one of the most fun purchases you will make. We like to keep the focus on the fun and therefore we work hard to ensure that you can get out on the water as quickly, legally and with as little fuss as possible. Throughout the process of helping you acquire a boat, there are many different services that we provide you with. On the office side of things, there are costs associated with licensing your new boat or used boat and/or trailer. For this reason, we charge an administration fee. From time to time we have people question "being charged for them".
This fee has great value for you, and here's why. If you are located in Ontario, you receive your trailer registration and new plate from us. We also transfer the pleasure craft license (the license of the boat, associated with the hull numbers) into your name. The process for this has recently changed (
it was different even a few months ago) and the applications are completed online and take some time to get all the things they ask for in place.
We sit in a unique geographic position at Len's Cove. Being in the middle of Kingston and Ottawa, we are close to Quebec, and the USA. We have to know the differences of our own province of Ontario, vs. the other provinces in Canada, and the US.
If you are a Canadian resident, but live outside of Ontario, we cannot license your trailer for you. This is because the transfer must be completed in the province in which the the new owner resides. What we do for you instead, is purchase a special trip permit for the trailer, so that you can transport the trailer (and boat) without a license plate for 10 days. Therefore the registering of the trailer and application for a new trailer plate is then completed by the purchaser. We are still able and do complete the pleasure craft license transfer for you just the same as we would for an Ontario resident.
If you reside in the US, we also provide you with a special trip permit for your trailer. However, as pleasure craft licenses are not used in the states, we do not transfer the vessel license for you. You will be responsible for registering and receiving a titling document for the boat once brought home. We provide you with all the documents to do so.
With new boat purchases, we also provide the hull identification license numbers and place them on the boat for you. New decal numbers are provided as well for clients out of province that request a renewing of their hull license number to reflect their province of residence (ie ON, QC, AB).
As the requirements for each boat and or trailer differs, so does the fee that we charge for the administrative work. That way, you only have to pay for what you need (not a lump fee hidden in the price of each boat). Regardless of where you live, and what of the above you need, we also do keep all your boat purchase documents on file for 7 years past the point of purchase. These documents can come in very handy and we get calls all the time for certain information that we can easily find and send to you.
Here at Len's Cove, we list the administration fee on our bill of sale separately from the pricing of the boat and/or trailer.
Not all dealers do this, however, we believe it is our obligation to be clear and transparent as possible with you, so you can feel that you received great value for your money. This doesn't mean that other dealers do not charge an admin fee, just because they increase the price of the unit(s) to account for this cost, doesn't mean that it isn't a real expense.