Selling a boat

I am selling my boat and it seems like I have a lot of extras that would not generally come with the boat. My question is, if I look on NADA and get values should I stick to that or not? The boat is extra clean, and extremely low hours as most of the time is trolling motor. It books at 7600 for suggested retail, but that’s manufacturer price. The price I come up with is about 6000 and I have it listed over 9. From what I can tell it is very comparable to boats listed for 8-12. What do banks think about this and can my buyer get a loan based on NADA values?

tell us what it is and what extras you have.. maybe we can help ya out.

LONG LONG LONG, but funny, i think…

I can help you as I’ve been rebuilding boats and selling them since ’62.

Boats don’t depreciate as quickly as cars IMHO so i drop about 5% PA from the original actual average market sale price at the time of purchase. I realize that’s about as clear as a mudcat, so let’s do an example.

A boat was $12k new, but you bought it 2 years old for $10k.

Now you use it for two years. The value of the HULL with original sales attachments is actually $9k, not $8k BECAUSE BOATS DON’T DEPRECIATE AS QUICKLY as cars (10%PR)but NOT as good as real estate (2-3%) It all depends on how long the purchase is expected to have market value, so the cost is amortized over THAT period.

(sorry about that being as clear as P$ during a flood, but i tried)

So that the HULL. Let’s work from the $9k figure base.

At Year 1 you decide to add 4 downriggers and get a great price on eBay in february for 4-1yo electric Mag10s from a Long Island investment banker who wants the stuff out of the yard. $100@ ZOWWEEE!!! You PayPal him immediately.

Wait, there must be SOME catch? (paypal money is GONEGONEGONE) These units are $750@ in cabela’s….

“They gotta be gone by tuesday as the court is coming to pick me up to start my sentence, but if all my bling is gone, my atty tells me i’ll be out in 6 months AND keep my license. You get here, they are yours.”

“So you gotta be here by tuesday when my friend is grabbing the ProLine and holding it for me for usage rights. If the riggers are gone, I can tell him they got stolen and it’s his loss and i’ll have some cigarette money while i’m in…Screw him, he can buy some new ones and put them on himself if he wants to use the boat. He knocked my only fish of my last trip off at the boat with his inept netting.”

do i get a receipt??

“of course, I just want some cigarette money for the 6 months.”

it’s thursday nite. BUT, you gotta get to manhattan by tuesday.

Grab the wife’s jeep to save some gas ($45 on the whole trip)

Get there and all goes well and the riggers get loaded into the jeep and hey, what’s that back in the brush there??

Oh, that’s my first big water boat, 15yo 20′ Starcraft with a 115 Merc on it and a BuiltRite roller trailer under it.

What are you going to do with it?

“Oh, it’s going to rot in those bushes I suppose…”

waddayawandforit?

“Oh goll, double my cigarette money”

titles?

“Long gone, just apply for a rebuild title. Here’s your receipt of sale.”

True story. Made it home by driving slowslowslow…

Point of this long story?

I sold all four of those riggers after i used them for one season…

So what were they priced at that sold in 2 days?? $2700 for all four. I’d spent $400 and gas and 3 days driving time and three days lost income from my job to get them. I made about $300 more than if I’d stayed home to work…

So an attachment that’s 2 years old (lowrance units immediately prior to HDS5/8/10s) about 10% off, well, electronics depreciate a bit faster than chargers, VHFs, rod holders, etc.

So add it all up at new, average the big items for depreciation and ADD IT ON. If there is fishing season still left, you’ll probably get it. Wait a little longer than if it was for sale on March 15th to fish redwing, but you’ll probably get it. Boats retain value well…

Unless you are going to the pen for stock fraud and can’t use your toys….

Now, that’s a true story and the guy was actually a nice guy who got swept up in the greed. Invited me for a three day on the water tuna fishing trip 45 miles out, sleep on the boat.

I think I’ll go… Wife left, may as well go fishing…

So Stu if I understand you drift you lose 5% per year on your hull value and then add any new updated electronics
(trolling motor-depth finders) to that value. The electronics are brand new at this point. Try to make your mud look clean.

I’d Throw NADA right out the window. My suggestion is that you take the time to find comparables. Boats that are like yours and what the asking price is on those units. Then take the value of your add ons and add on from there. Buffer your price to get what you think it’s worth. Good luck!

Thanks guys, Stu, nice read! I did find comparables, the guy was worried about getting a loan and the bank using nada. Any suggestions on that front?

1. Search for boats similar to yours on any number of online sites that sell boats.

2. Arrive at what you believe you need to ask for your boat.

3. Tell anyone that thinks they’ll have trouble securing a loan that you are satisfied with your asking price, good luck securing the loan, and hopefully the boat will still be available when they come back with the money.

4. Continue to advertise your boat and consider other offers.

5. Early bird gets the worm, uh, I mean boat!

6. Above all, do not get tangled up in other peoples financial affairs. The right buyer with no strings attached will come along if you are patient.

Quote:

---

Thanks guys, Stu, nice read! I did find comparables, the guy was worried about getting a loan and the bank using nada. Any suggestions on that front?

---

It has been my experience that boats are like motorcycles when buying/selling used in the fact that the NADA gets thrown out. They might charge a different interest rate, but I have never had an issue getting a loan for a recreational vehicle that was 50% over NADA suggested value.
Some banks will require that they get to inspect the vehicle first, but usually this is more of the case from the insurance agent when dealing with motorcycles.

I recently bought a new boat, and sold an old boat. Neither was valued anywhere near NADA. These values are not realistic.

I had done a lot of research on the new boat and I was comfortable with where the cost was. I had a conversation with my banker when purchasing and he asked if it was a good value for what I was getting. I knew it was and told him so. He said he was comfortable with that, but I may be asked to submit a couple comparable boats/costs for reference if it was flagged. It never happened. I/We have great credit as well as a good relationship with my banker from other things so this may have factored in.

When I sold my other boat, I did a craigslist search for boats of the same year. These costs ranged about $2,000 on a $5,000 boat. I had an idea of what I wanted and it fell within that range, and I priced it fair so it would sell. I sold it in about 3 weeks for what I was asking.

I would say take a craigslist search for similar year boats. You may have to sort a little based on size of motor, but this will get you a fair starting point. Remember that accessories will not be worth what you have in them in most instances, but figure a fair used price and you should not have any problems.

Good luck

Do not worry about the NADA values. Look at Craig’s list, find what you have and see what others are asking. Do not worry about credit. I just sold a boat asking for $19,000 and had multiple buyers with cash on hand. It can be dificult to price a boat especially when it is not a common model. Hard to be sure until you have listed it. If the phone rings off the hook it was underpriced. If you still have it 2 weeks later it was overpriced.