How to vet a marine pro

How verification works

No website is required. A person on our team reviews every submission by hand. Nothing is published until the review passes. Two things prove a listing is yours:

1. Your phone. We only use a phone number you give us. If we send a code, it goes to a number you gave us — never to a number we found on our own. If the number you give matches the number on the listing, the phone check passes. If it does not match, your claim gets a closer look first: we check your business record and your insurance, and we call the business. A new number shows on your listing only after that check passes.

2. One anchor. Any one of these: your state business registry record (in Florida, Sunbiz — we look it up), FMCSA USDOT/MC authority if you haul boats for hire, or an insurance certificate you upload.

Nothing to anchor with yet? Your claim waits in the queue — it is not rejected. And your profile only ever shows what was actually checked, field by field, with the check date. There is no badge for anything unverified.

The Florida facts

Florida has no state license category for boat mechanics. When a Florida mechanic says “licensed and insured,” the honest version is: a registered business with insurance — there is no mechanic’s license for them to hold. Florida’s written-estimate law covers car repair. It does not cover boats. No law makes a shop give you a written boat estimate, or stops a bill from growing past one. That protection exists only if you set it up yourself, before work starts.

What actually protects you

· Get the estimate in writing before anyone turns a wrench.
· Agree the overrun rule in writing: a call for your OK before any work past the estimate.
· Ask for the insurance certificate, and check the date on it.
· Never pay in full up front, and be careful with parts deposits to a business you cannot verify.
· Ask when the labor clock starts — some shops bill from when the tech leaves, not from when they reach your boat.
· Make sure the name on your invoice is the business you hired.

The anti-shell rule

We list the business that shows up and does the work, and its name is the name on the bill. If a listing is a front — a call center or a lead broker behind a local-sounding name — it does not stay listed. When you call a number from this site, the business that answers should be the business on the profile.

Two states do have boat repair laws — California and New Jersey. Their state pages print the law when those states open. See boater resources and how listings are checked.