Blue book, or, used boat prices

[Brian D]

There is one site that I can remember and go there often. That is nada. They do not list all the boats and start with 1975 to present. I do recall another site that has Blue Book like listings for used boats, but for the sake of me cannot remember what it is called.

Now, there are some other great sites that can help in finding the national average of boat prices. Some being Yachtworld.com, Sailing Texas, and Boats.com.

Do you have a favorite site for research when looking at getting your "new-to-you" boat? List them here so future SBO members can find as much info as possible to make an informed decision.

 

[Tim R.]

You are probably thinking of BucValue. http://www.bucvalu.com/

I use soldboats.com. It shows what boats on YW actually sell for(most of the time). YW will only show you asking price. Remember that a boat is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. brokers will use comparables on soldboats to advise clients on fair asking prices. Stated condition of the boat can be misleading so I take a sample and average them to find a good starting point. You then have to decide if the boat in question is above or below average. If you use this method then you are more likely to make an offer that a seller might accept.

Unfortunately soldboats.com is not open to the public. But a good broker should give you the information you need from it.

 

[MSter]

nada vs soldboats.com

Tim,
Any idea how close the values that nada publish are to the actuals reported by soldboats.com ?

 

[KD3PC]

nada and buc are both OK for small trailer boats..but they bear no resemblance to soldboats or YW figures which are more real world, but only available to subscribers/brokers.

Boat US has a valuation service for it's members but I find it very conservative on all fronts.

i.e. stay from buc and nada (both automobile companies) for anything above 24 feet ...they just don't apply...

dave

 

[Tim R.]

nada vs soldboats.com

Tim,
Any idea how close the values that nada publish are to the actuals reported by soldboats.com ?

That is hard to say. You can get a value from soldboats.com but unless you inspect the boat you have no idea of it's condition. I would say that if you average 10 boats over a similar economic time period you should get a good idea of an average selling price. No idea how that compares to Nada or Buc.

Unfortunately there is no resource for privately sold boats. All of the boats I have sold have been private and sold for more than the average at the time. It was also higher than what was listed on Nada and Bucvaule for the condition of these boats.

Again, a boat is really only worth what someone is willing to pay at that particular time. I know that is difficult to determine when making an offer but it is really all we have other than comparables.

12 1980 Catalina 30s that sold within the last year have an average selling price of $12,445. YW is down right now but average all the 1980 Catalina 30s for sale now and you will see a difference between asking and selling. Also compare this to NADAs and BUCs average value.

 

[Brian D]

Thanks, Tim. Yeah, it was BUC. But sure would love to gain access to soldboats to see what the trend is. I was looking at a H36C. The owner wants $45900 for it. An '82 but I am sure it is way too much. Knowing the average would put the buyer at a huge advantage. Oh well...

Thanks again