Buying a charter or tour company in South Florida

• Strong reviews and listings that bring direct bookings without heavy commissions.
• A dock or base with a long lease in a busy visitor area, since good slips and dock space are hard to find.
• Boats or vehicles in good condition, with maintenance logs and inspection records.
• Licensed captains or drivers besides the owner, who come back season after season.
• Repeat business from companies, hotels or cruise passengers that fills slow periods.
• A clean safety record and insurance at a reasonable cost.
• Revenue spread across the year, or costs that shrink in the slow season.
• A booking system that takes deposits and handles weather cancellations clearly, so refunds don't become disputes.

• For each boat or vehicle: its age, marine survey or inspection, maintenance logs and what's still owed on it.
• The dock or base lease: term, renewal, and any rules from the marina, city or park.
• Bookings by month for several years, and by source (direct, booking sites, hotels), with the commissions paid.
• Insurance cost and claims, including passenger injuries, and a quote for you as the new owner.
• Captain and driver credentials, drug testing records, and who will stay after the sale.
• Hurricane plans: where the boats or vehicles go, and how many days are lost to weather each year.
• For contract routes, the term, who can cancel, and whether the contract can be assigned to you.
• Permits or agreements to operate in parks, preserves or city waterfronts, and whether they transfer.

• Who captains or drives each trip, and will they stay?
• How do customers find you, and what do the booking sites charge?
• What were your best and worst months last year?
• How old are the boats or vehicles, and what major repairs are coming up?
• Has anyone been hurt on a trip, and how did you handle it?
• How long is the dock or yard lease, and can it be transferred to me?
• How does hurricane season affect the business?

South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.

Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.

Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.

Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.