used boat prices

Where’s the best place on line to view used boat prices for free?

craigslist

Walleye Central

Find exact boat model with accessories, exact motor, and trailer. You need to price each individually and then add together to find used value as per NADA. If looking for a loan, this is what your bank will look at.

Ebay Boats!

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Walleye Central

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X2

x3 Walleye Central

BassBoatCentral if you want a real boat. Walleye central if you want a shiney tugboat.

I searched long and hard, my best advice is to not buy on impulse! Take your time, do your homework…

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Find exact boat model with accessories, exact motor, and trailer. You need to price each individually and then add together to find used value as per NADA. If looking for a loan, this is what your bank will look at.

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X2 usually use average retail to get a good base line.

Good advice if you want to save your money…but possibly end up with no boat. If you’re looking for a good used boat at this time of year, possibly the most competitive time of year, then you have to know what you’re looking for, pound the classifieds, and when you see the right one pounce. Or someone else will. If you’re needing to finance have you’re pre approval limit set, have some glue in you’re pocket, have the truck gassed up ‘and go see it as soon as possible. I’m not saying be stupid, just know what you want and check it out. I acted too slow on a coulpe creampuffs this spring and ended buying more boat than anticipated, but it was at the right price. And this boat was getting hit on left and right. Had I waited a couple days to “be sure” I’m sure it would’nt have been there. But then again, this is advice from a guy who’s been married / divorced twice, heh, heh, heh.

You can view used boat prices at Craigslist.

The problem with most of the classifieds sites is that they will only tell you the ASKING PRICE. That has nothing to do with the SELLING price, which is the real value.

As I’ve often pointed out, because it costs little or nothing to run a for sale ad these days, sellers have become wildly optimistic and they have forgotten this difference. Just because you found someone on the internet trying to sell something for $10,000 doesn’t mean it’s worth $10,000.

In my opinion NADA is worthless when it comes to establishing a price for a buyer. If I’d have paid NADA value for my last 3 boats, I’d have overpaid and screwed myself out of tens of thousands of dollars. The average is the number that’s always wrong.

Yeah, banks use it, but then again they have to use something, don’t they? These are the same banks that were accepting wildly inflated housing appraisals back in 2007 weren’t they? NADA is just there to make sure if there’s a default the bank doesn’t get burned too badly.

Using Craigslist and classifieds CAN be a guide, but you have to engage in a little social engineering by calling sellers and talking to them. Then watch the ads and see if they disappear and then call the seller back and see if they’ll give you any info on demand, selling price, etc. You’d be surprised what a little conversation will reveal.

I watch CL and print the ads so I can go back and see how long they linger. If an ad is up for a long time or keeps getting reposted the seller is overpriced. If an ad goes up and comes down the same day, he was either right on or underpriced.

It’s also good to talk to people who own similar boats. You can pretty quickly establish a ballpark range based on what a category of boats is bringing.

Grouse

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The problem with most of the classifieds sites is that they will only tell you the ASKING PRICE. That has nothing to do with the SELLING price, which is the real value.

As I’ve often pointed out, because it costs little or nothing to run a for sale ad these days, sellers have become wildly optimistic and they have forgotten this difference. Just because you found someone on the internet trying to sell something for $10,000 doesn’t mean it’s worth $10,000.

In my opinion NADA is worthless when it comes to establishing a price for a buyer. If I’d have paid NADA value for my last 3 boats, I’d have overpaid and screwed myself out of tens of thousands of dollars. The average is the number that’s always wrong.

Yeah, banks use it, but then again they have to use something, don’t they? These are the same banks that were accepting wildly inflated housing appraisals back in 2007 weren’t they? NADA is just there to make sure if there’s a default the bank doesn’t get burned too badly.

Using Craigslist and classifieds CAN be a guide, but you have to engage in a little social engineering by calling sellers and talking to them. Then watch the ads and see if they disappear and then call the seller back and see if they’ll give you any info on demand, selling price, etc. You’d be surprised what a little conversation will reveal.

I watch CL and print the ads so I can go back and see how long they linger. If an ad is up for a long time or keeps getting reposted the seller is overpriced. If an ad goes up and comes down the same day, he was either right on or underpriced.

It’s also good to talk to people who own similar boats. You can pretty quickly establish a ballpark range based on what a category of boats is bringing.

Grouse

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Great post.

The over priced rigs usually aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. The right priced ones are hard to find and gone quick. If it’s under priced be cautious.

No boat is perfect. They all are going to have motors that need maintenance and repairs at some point. Floors will need to be replaced. Carpet and vynil wares out. Live well and bilige pumps run their course. Transoms rot. Trailer bearings need to be packed. Lights and wiring get old and corrode over time no matter how well cared for. Gauges stop working. Electronics get outdated quicker than most can figure them out completely. Trolling motors drain batteries, have mother board problems and have terrible timing for go out. Bunks lose their carpet and the wood rots. Vynil and plastic gets scuffed and dirty. Seats rip at the seems. Battery and oil reserve compartments get greasy and grimey. Tires on trailers dry rot before the tread wares out. Trailer brakes shoes and wheel cylinders go bad. Couplers and safety chains eventually need to be replaced. Axles get bent and need to be fixed. Rollers go. Fenders get bent and twisted if you have a tire tread peel off on the road at freeway speeds. Etc.

Bought a new boat after getting sick of used junk. Had similar problems with new. If you fish a boat it will have issues. Just cause it’s shinny when you buy it doesn’t mean it will stay that way without a lot of elbow grease, time and cabbage.

Excellent advice for someone who wants to become an expert at used boat prices, but at the end of the day has no boat, or worse bought a POS that is way too much at any price. Best bet is if you are that causious and conservative there are three things you can do, one is live your fishing experiences through to internet, or two get your jollies watching fishing shows on TV, or hire a guild with a nice boat and let him pay for the upkeep, repairs and purchase. Say a new boat is $30,000, at $300 bucks a trip that’s 100 trips. Makes me wonder why any one would buy a boat, just pay someone else to use theirs.

I’m not following your math. The guy who buys a boat still has a $25k boat after his 100 trips. The guy who hires a guide 100 times has nothing of value after his trips.

If you saying $300 is good value I agree but beyond that I think you have an apples and oranges thing going on.

That’s what I’m getting at. The original question was where can I get used boat prices. Some of the advice is so cautious that the guy will never buy a boat, or if he decides on one but takes too long it’s gone. Maybe what I said does’nt make sence and maybe that’s the intention. New boats and higher end used boats are not cheap, maybe if one has to ask he should’nt own one. I’ll be the first to admit this thread has evolved into silliness half perpetuated by me. Its just my way of dealing with this never ending winter, and have just bought a used boat in the mid-teen K range. It was a big investment with no wattanty or gauranty, but sometimes you need the balls to go after your passion. If you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand.