On Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:48:59 -0700 (PDT), Pat wrote:

Anybody ever bought a brokered boat and refused to sign an arbitration
agreement in the sales contract?
Some if not all seem to put it into their contracts. With it, you give
away your right to seek recourse in court--though your're making a
very substantial purchase. Instead you have to agree to arbitration by
the American Arbitration Association, a company that the broker
contracts with to settle disputes--and who's apparently been in some
trouble recently over alleged bias.
I don't mean to be asking for legal advice here, but do others share
my misgivings about this? Or am I worring too much about a
technicality? Anybody ever refuse to sign that part of a purchase
agreement?

The sales agreement can say anything that all parties to the agreement
are OK with. I almost always make changes of some sort and have
sometimes rewritten the entire agreement.