MarineTitle.com
This website has everything you could possibly need to TITLE your boat all in one crazy package. It is primarily an information source as it has everything you need to know about boat titles and documentation, databases, etc... for federal, state and foreign boats. The amount of useful and relevant information for TITLES contained on this website could occupy days. Additionally, they have an affiliate section in the middle of the page which adds to the busyness of the site. If you find something you like on this site, make sure you save it as a favorite b/c you may never find it again amongst all the other useful articles. However, that leaves very little room for an emphasis on history.
GETTING STARTED
In the center of the page you have several options to choose from- if you can find the one that says "BoatScope" - pick that one. You can also select "Boat History Search" which will take you to the BoatScope page. Seeing as though it is hidden within so many title topics, it makes it difficult to locate. Once you click on it, it gives you a summary of what your money will buy with many additional links that you can click on for information and then finally allows you to select from 3 options in terms of length of membership, before sending you to the checkout page.
CHECK OUT PAGE
A very simple, very clean page that has you enter credit card information and that's it. Once you process payment, it generates a "Key Code" in lieu of a username and password. This is your login information for the duration of your membership. You cannot access reports with out this confusing combination.
PRICE POINT
It claims to be the most affordable of the similar sites at $29.95 for one month membership, $149.95 for 6 months membership, and $269.95 for 1 year membership. This price includes unlimited HIN searches as well as handy boat buying information.
ACCOUNT PAGE
There is no real account page with this site. Once you enter your key code, you are directed to the search page which allows many options for searching- i.e. Official Documentation Number, HIN, State Registration Number, or any boat specific information such as owners name, location, boat name etc...
REPORTS
Once you enter your HIN, USCG Documentation number or state registration number, you then have to select the correct option: Status Report. If you simply select "Search Databases" it will take you to a page that lists each of the individual databases that it searches. However, the Status Report is a complete report. The information provided is very comprehensive and provides a lot of detail, even listing death on some occasions. However, the damage total dollar amount did not show up and the environmental lien was missed entirely. Also, VERY IMPORTANT- the second accident on the Bertram did not have the HIN listed within the accident report, and therefore did not show up when I search via HIN. If I added the USCG Documentation Number to my search, it did show the second accident, but you would have to be smart enough to know to enter multiple identifiers to ensure a complete report. I will say that initially, I felt like I really got my moneys worth from this report; however, it's largely because it takes an entire paragraph each time to tell me that it can't actually check for a specific event. Thus, all of the actual information can be summed into one small page. I expect a little fluff and appreciate the explanation of the data field, but I don't need that much of an explanation if you aren't able to check for the data at all.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This site is loaded with so much information and additional links, it is almost hard to use. However, if you can search, the amount of good information is overwhelming, as it pertains to titling. It does give an extensive list of additional sites you can personally review and search through to gather any additional information on your boat as well as giving you an option to pay additional money for them to do some of it for you.
MARINE TITLE REVIEW SUMMARY
If you are only looking for information on how to document and title your boat, you will not find a better website. As mentioned already, the information available to you- if you have the time and patience, is extensive. However, with a focus on titles, it makes the history portion of this site much more difficult to use in a comprehensive sense. It does offer the most convenient search method as you can search by basically any piece of information you have. However, accidents that showed up in other sites, did not show up in this database rendering it not as effective as a "boat history" source. Additionally, the only Coast Guard Data it provides is the current or most recently registered year. It does not give you any back data, which would be useful in determining fresh and salt water usage and number of owners. Since there is not an actual account page, you also do not have a list of the HINs you have run, which means you must keep a list yourself. Lastly, by using a keycode that means nothing to you, it makes it difficult to log in without having that series of numbers and letters readily available or memorized. Overall, some really great information for titling, and a hefty report, but not as genuinely complete as I hoped for.
