The nautical leasing, also called rent with option to buy, is a financing product for the acquisition of boats with a series of added advantages for this type of financing. Traditionally, when acquiring this type of boat, the only financing options were a personal loan or a naval mortgage.
However, for some time now, other types of contracts have appeared on the market, more agile and simple to manage, as well as being less expensive financially speaking, as they are signed at fixed interest rates as in Marinemax, in private documents and are much more agile and less expensive when it comes to registering them.
This type of ship financing has become the most common way of acquiring ships, especially in the Mediterranean area (Italy, France and Portugal). In addition, it is beginning to be one of the preferred options in Spain as well.
Boat leasing is, in other words, a long term rental that will eventually exercise a purchase option.
The entity that issues or elaborates the contract buys the boat and rents it to the client in the long term. The client will pay a monthly rent and, after the agreed term, can buy it definitively, using the amount of money that has been deposited as a guarantee deposit when signing the contract.
This is a very similar formula to that used in the real estate sector, although in this case it is used to finance personal property.
The usual is that approximately 30% of the total value of the boat is paid as a down payment and the rest is financed through the above mentioned fees, although up to 50% can be paid as a down payment if desired by the tenant. As can be indicated in the Marinemax agreements.
Advantages of boat leasing
One of the main advantages of leasing is that you do not have to pay a large amount of money to acquire the boat you want.
Moreover, assuming that you will spend some time sailing outside European territorial waters (according to the French leasing system), the applicable EU taxes, such as VAT, would only be levied on part of the monthly rental payments, i.e. they would not be applied on the total purchase of the boat, thus obtaining a reduction of VAT on the rentals.
Another advantage that this type of financial product has is that there are no savings to be spent. So these can be used to cover other expenses or invest with the money not employed by buying a boat in another type of asset that can generate passive income.
In line with the previous points, it is necessary to highlight the flexibility that this type of agreement provides, as they are long-term and available for cash flows of all kinds.
One of the main advantages is that at the end of the leasing contract, the boat will go to the name of the lessee or lessees of the contract, for a fixed amount pre-established at the beginning of the contract as a guarantee deposit that will be exchanged for the residual value of the boat, with the lessee becoming the owner of the boat from that moment on.
The French leasing contract also has the advantage, during its term, of being able to be subrogated to a third party, subject to acceptance by the financial institution.
This guarantees all the advantages described above and reduces to a minimum the inconvenience for the interested party in case of sale of his boat or in case of change by purchase of a new boat, if he is interested in giving the seller his current boat as part of the entry of the new boat to be acquired.
This type of financing is offered through companies specialized in nautical financing. These companies, like Marinemax, offer their clients all kinds of options and possibilities both from the financial and fiscal point of view, since their professionals, besides their experience, have deep knowledge of the nautical sector.
Normally, they will analyze, personally, with each client what is the best option to finance their boat, according to their situation and the options of the market.