If you're part of the speedboating family, then you've at least heard of Wozencraft Insurance. In fact, the Santa Ana, CA-based firm may even insure your boat. But did you know that Wozencraft also finances boats? As part of its Wozencraft Finance division, the firm also lends money to customers who are interested in purchasing a boat. Company founder Devin Wozencraft has hired Ry Bassett, formerly of San Antonio, TX, as its latest full-time representative. She'll be laser-focused on helping customers in Wozencraft's financing efforts and putting boaters back on the water.

"I'm very blessed and feel fortunate that we do have a good, reputable name on the insurance side," Wozencraft told Speedboat. "But for the last two years, I've been building this new financing division, doing boat loans. Bringing Ry on board has been the next step for us to put ourselves on stage as a premier boat lender."

A mother of three boys, Bassett is based in Huntington Beach and works out of Wozencraft's Santa Ana office. "I'm very excited to be part of the Wozencraft family," she says. "It's been a lot of fun so far. I've gotten to know a lot of people very fast. My first real hands-on experience was at the Lake Havasu Boat Show. Now that I've familiarized myself with the insurance side of things, I've begun focusing on the finance side of the company."

While they've been successful in harvesting finance business through its existing insurance customer base, many still don't know about the financing branch. Wozencraft, Bassett and the entire team will be bringing that message as they tour the country's various poker runs and boat shows. "Ry will be going with me to the Orange Beach Poker Run in Alabama next week," Wozencraft says. "It's one of the Florida Powerboat Club events run by Stu Jones. Ry will also be attending the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in October." You can also meet the Wozencraft team at Missouri's epic Lake of the Ozarks Poker Run & Shootout in August.

"We are planning a special customer appreciation barbecue at my agent Scott Kottmann's house at LOTO," Wozencraft says. "He has a house right on the water, with dock space, so we'll set it up for any of our clients and their friends who want to stop by. We'll have barbecue and drinks on Thursday after the Street Party on Aug. 23."

Wozencraft is working hard to get the message out about his company's boat financing opportunities and brand awareness in general, and Bassett will be playing a key role in those efforts. "I'm just excited to have her on board, because now we have a full-time person who is solely specializing on marine finance," he says. "Even though interest rates have gone up, people who may have uncertainties about the future still need to borrow money. And we don't want to be known merely as high-performance finance lenders—we are able to lend to anybody in the marine industry, so we'll be reaching out to future owners of yachts, sailboats, runabouts, the whole spectrum."

Learn more about Wozencraft Finance by clicking here.

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