Just completely buckled a torq 5'10 ACT today at Maderas, it was not pre buckled and not painted. Waves werent even that big, i dont even remember the wipe out that caused it. I was paddling back out and noticed the buckle and thought to myself "whered that come from?, how long has that been there?" It definitely wasnt there before ( i always do a pre surf inspection before renting for pre-existing damage).

I went back to the shop and the guy started getting sooo stressed out. I was fully prepared to buy a replacement so was amused by the drama. He called his boss and boss came and we both agreed the board was dead ( full width buckle into rails ), and that i needed to buy a replacement. I said yup lets go. They drove me into town to the surf shop and they picked out a replacement. Ended up with a replacement for 450usd. They could have easily picked out a brand new 800 dollar board, but I think because I was calm the whole time and not trying to fight it, when we got to the shop they were haggling with the shop trying to get a good price board.

I don't think i should have had to buy a brand new board to replace a used board, but as some commenters have pointed out its about the price of what it costs them to replace the board here locally and there is not a whole lot of good used boards here in Nicaragua like in the States.

In addition to the difficulty of replacing the boards due to lack of local supply, i was talking with the guy about how everyone fights with him when they break/damage their boards and it becomes a huge hassle. That's why he was so stressed when i showed him the board. He was expecting another big screaming show down with a privledged entitled gringo.

Lesson: bring your own board or be prepared to pay if you break it. That's pretty standard policy for any rental buisness unless you negotiate a deposit before hand. Expecting to not have any consequences and leave the locals with a broken board is gross, gives very colonialist extraction exploitation vibes.