[ohknow]

I am looking to upgrade in boats and was using nada.com to check on values of boats and outboards. I am confused as to the catagories that value boats as "average retail", "above average retail", etc. I am looking at a very nice boat that is 10 yrs. old. It's in wonderful condition and it's being offered in the newspaper. Should anything in the newspaper be considered retail regardless of condition? Or, is an ad in the paper considered wholesale type prices? In other words, if the nada.com value is 10,000 for "above average retail", is that what I should expect to pay, or should it be significantly less? I'm ready to make an offer on the boat. I'd appreciate any help.

[bruceb58]

Nada is just a guide just like Kelly blue book is for cars. I bought my boat a few years back for less than nada was quoting for any of its categories

A lot depends on the time of year, how that model of boat sells in your geographical location and how motivated the seller is.

Go on www.boattrader.com and get a feel of what other people are asking to see if the one you are looking at is in the ballpark.

Personally, I would wait a few months and wait for the weather to get colder before I would buy. It can save you a lot of money.

Sell your current one now and buy your new one in January.

[KCook]

Frankly my impression is that NADA and BucNet are not very accurate. Doing your own survey of prices in the classifieds, or on BoatTrader, is a good start. Those numbers are typically high, in the "above average" category. Shop more than one boat and you'll get a better feel for your market.

Kelly Cook

[tashasdaddy]

i've bought and sold a lot of boats. i've looked at Nada, but it really comes down to the GUT feeling. does the boat have what you are looking for? are you going to have to do any modifications? condition of hull and power plant. don't look at it as a investment, it isn't. there is an old saying " BreckOpenAnotherThousand"

[bjcsc]

To answer your question, anything (boats or otherwise) sold to the end user is retail. On a new boat floor, used boat dealer, newspaper, FSBO, etc.. Wholesale is what a dealer can expect to pay at an auction. I would not consider a boat to be in "above average retail" condition unless it had all of its service records since new in addition to looking great. bruceb58 makes a great point regarding timing. A lot of people buy boats throughout the year, esp. families, and then don't use them very much. If you wait until either early December or late January there are a lot of good deals as many of them overextend and get crushed by Christmas and they need to sell.