Vessel Documentation Portal vs direct renewal with USCG NVDC

hynespa

hynespa

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2010
317
Marina Del Rey, CA
Boat Info
2005 420 Sundancer
Engines
T-VD-8.1 S HO MerCruiser (T-420 hp)
I get so annoyed every year when I receive one of these in the mail (see pic below). My wife doesn't realize it's a solicitation and so promptly puts it in the same stack as the bills / vehicle registration renewals. For those of you that haven't gotten one of these / doesn't know what I am ranting about:
  • This entity has no actual affiliation with the Coast Guard.
  • They charge you $75.00 to renew which is well above and beyond what you would otherwise pay directly (only $26.00) to the USCG NVDC (National Vessel Documentation Center) to renew.
  • Renewal of your vessel documentation with the Coast Guard is very straight forward and doesn't require use of a for profit / private company to renew.
  • In my opinion, they are misleading in their use of headers / seals / etc and likely "fool" many people in to thinking you are renewing with a government agency (unless you closely read the fine print - which many people don't bother).

IMG_8558.jpeg
 
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Yes, that is quite a racket! Isn't their "service fee" something like three times the renewal/app fee?

Not only is it more expensive but it introduces another layer of complexity.

When I bought my current boat last fall, the dealer offered to submit the USCG reg paperwork for me. That was October and it's still not back yet. For a while the dealer was saying these delays are normal right now due to COVID, but eventually their paperwork person left. When I tracked down the new person, and kept on them, they finally revealed that the USCG "lost" the app, and this is the fifth such case for their office alone. I had to do another application to "expedite" it since they lost it :mad: I wish I had done it myself.
 
LOL... Yes wifey give that crap to me every year. Just renewed mine and took 2 weeks and I had it in the mail. Never even saw a Covid slow down from them last March when I bought this boat, only took 3 weeks then.
 
Our deal almost went south because the previous owner used one of those services. He submitted it in March ‘20 and still hadn't received it in July. Turns out the company was sitting on the doc and never bothered to file it at all.
 
Since I typically get the mail, I just throw it away without even opening it but some times I do a double take since the logo does look awfully close to teh USCG.
 
I had an interesting thing happen this year. Our Certificate of Documentation expires at the end of December every year. The renewal from the NVDC comes in Oct/Nov, and I renew online and it is VERY EASY. Well, I put the new COD away somewhere and couldn't find it when we were bringing things down to the boat for Spring Commissioning. I called and the nice lady said that to replace a lost or damaged COD is $50. A renewal fee is $26. You do the math. So now, my renewal date is the end of March. Oh well.....

And yes, I did find the original COD after the renewal was submitted!

Jaybeaux
 
I had an interesting thing happen this year. Our Certificate of Documentation expires at the end of December every year. The renewal from the NVDC comes in Oct/Nov, and I renew online and it is VERY EASY. Well, I put the new COD away somewhere and couldn't find it when we were bringing things down to the boat for Spring Commissioning. I called and the nice lady said that to replace a lost or damaged COD is $50. A renewal fee is $26. You do the math. So now, my renewal date is the end of March. Oh well.....

And yes, I did find the original COD after the renewal was submitted!

Jaybeaux
 
I had an interesting thing happen this year. Our Certificate of Documentation expires at the end of December every year. The renewal from the NVDC comes in Oct/Nov, and I renew online and it is VERY EASY. Well, I put the new COD away somewhere and couldn't find it when we were bringing things down to the boat for Spring Commissioning. I called and the nice lady said that to replace a lost or damaged COD is $50. A renewal fee is $26. You do the math. So now, my renewal date is the end of March. Oh well.....

And yes, I did find the original COD after the renewal was submitted!

Jaybeaux
 
Jaybeaux said:
I had an interesting thing happen this year. Our Certificate of Documentation expires at the end of December every year. The renewal from the NVDC comes in Oct/Nov, and I renew online and it is VERY EASY. Well, I put the new COD away somewhere and couldn't find it when we were bringing things down to the boat for Spring Commissioning. I called and the nice lady said that to replace a lost or damaged COD is $50. A renewal fee is $26. You do the math. So now, my renewal date is the end of March. Oh well.....

And yes, I did find the original COD after the renewal was submitted!

Jaybeaux
Click to expand...
FFE34259-17AA-4882-AFE4-87EF21070032_1_201_a.jpeg

You could keep it by your computer. That way you will always have three copies. :)
 
I had a digital copy of it. I asked the lady at the NVDC if that would suffice if we were boarded by authorities. After checking, she said "No".
 
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