Euro specifications

The price of the MacGregor 26 offered by ourselves and all other European dealers may seem high compared to the price in the USA. There are a multitude of reasons for this:

The first reason is that The boat offered in Italy (and in other European countries) must be significantly changed to comply with both the local and European standards. Boats purchased in the U.S. are not modified to comply with the Recreational Craft Directive.

All boats (new and used) imported into the European Community from June 1998 are required to comply with the RCD and be marked accordingly. The changes needed include complete rewiring of the boat, moving the battery, labelling the boat, adding bilge pumps, pushpits, handrails and additional latches and providing an EC owner's manual.

The boat must meet EC approval and the CE marking can legally only be obtained on boats acquired through authorized European dealers. Boats not CE marked are illegal for use in Europe, and could be subject to impound upon importation. This is true of both new and used boats regardless of their age.

A boat purchase includes the cost of freight. There are many hidden costs associated with the import of a boat such as drayage and container handling in California, documentation, insurance and export fees, handling charges payable at the destination port, charges for loading and unloading the boat into the container etc. Since only one boat fits into a 40' HQ container this cost is considerable. In addition to all of these expenses, the dealers pay duty and VAT on the total invoiced amount of the boat, trailer, and freight.

The U.S. trailer is used as a shipping cradle. It is not certified for use on European roads and therefore is not road legal. The customer can use the US trailer off road, to launch, recover and store their boat. Alternatively a EU-manufactured trailer can be purchased to enable the boat to be towed legally.