How to vet a boat removal company in Florida

Boat removal is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase for most people, which makes it an easy market to work if you are not serious. There is a large network of near-identical single-city removal websites operating in Florida right now — one template, one phone number, a different town name and a different domain for each city. The checks below separate an operator with a yard and a crane from a lead-generation page.

1. Check that the phone area code matches the city

There is a large network of single-city boat removal websites operating in Florida - one template, one phone number, a different city name and a different domain for each town. The tell is simple: a site claiming to be a Clearwater company with an Orlando area code on it is not a Clearwater company. Call the number and ask where their yard is.

2. Ask where they are based - and whether they will tell you

Plenty of legitimate marine removal companies are mobile service-area businesses that do not publish a street address, and Google explicitly supports that model. We are one of them. The distinction that matters is not published versus hidden - it is whether the company has a verifiable base at all. A real operator will tell you where they are dispatched from, name the yard your hull is going to, and put an address on the contract and the invoice. Ask the question directly. A lead-generation page that only ever says 'Clearwater, FL 33755' and cannot answer where its crew actually starts the day is selling your phone call to whoever bids highest.

3. Ask for the credentials that can be independently verified

An address on a website proves nothing - anyone can type one. A USDOT number, a state registration and a named insurance carrier can all be checked against public records in a few minutes, and none of them can be invented. Ask any company for all three, in writing, before work starts. It is a far stronger test than an address, and it is the one the fake single-city sites fail immediately.

4. Ask for the certificate of insurance before anyone mobilises

You want general liability, marine general liability, pollution liability and workers' compensation. If a crane drops your neighbour's boat, or a lifting strop parts and a worker is injured on your property, uninsured is your problem. Any legitimate company will send the certificate on request. Ask for your marina or HOA to be named as additional insured. Apply this to us as readily as to anyone else.

5. Ask which yard the hull is going to and which landfill takes the waste

A company that actually does this work can name the facility. One that subcontracts everything and has never seen a hull cut up will be vague. You want a disposal manifest at the end - it is your evidence that the vessel was legally destroyed, and it matters if the previous owner or a lienholder surfaces later.

6. Be suspicious of a single flat per-foot price for every size

'$100 per foot for 30+ ft' is the most common figure on cheap boat removal sites, and one number cannot be right for a 32-foot powerboat and a 60-foot motoryacht at the same time. A real rate card is banded by length, because cost per foot rises steeply with displacement. Ask three questions of any published price: which length bands does it have, what is charged extra, and is there a surcharge for a full-keel sailboat. If the answer to all three is vague, the real number arrives after the site visit and it will be much larger than the advertised one.

7. Ask what the quoted rate does not include

This is where a low headline number gets made back. Towing an afloat vessel to the haul-out, raising a sunken one, refloating a grounding, over-dimensional road permits, crane hire where no travel lift can reach, yard lay days and title work are all real costs. A company that publishes its add-on rates alongside its per-foot rate is telling you what the job costs. One that publishes only the per-foot figure is telling you what it takes to get you on the phone.

8. Ask how they handle the fuel

A 50ft motoryacht can hold over a thousand gallons of diesel. That has to be pumped, manifested and disposed of through a licensed handler. If the answer is vague, walk away - illegal disposal is traced back to the vessel's registered owner, which is you.

9. Ask what happens if the hull fails during the lift

On a vessel that has been sitting neglected for years, this is a real possibility, not a hypothetical. A company that has done this work will have an answer, and it will be in the contract. One that has not will be surprised by the question.

10. Check that they will tell you when not to hire them

If your vessel qualifies for Florida's Vessel Turn-In Program, or if it has enough resale value to be worth selling instead, the honest answer costs the company the job. A firm that never mentions either option is optimising for its own revenue, not yours.