"Blue Book" Value of a Boat

[otter]

My family is in the process of settling our estate and have been asked by our lawyers to provide a "value" on our Boston Whaler sailboat. Is there any such thing as a "blue book" for boats and if so, where do we get this information?

[c25]

There is at least one ''blue book'' that brokers have access to. The surveyor I recently hired also checked a site online for recent settled prices of sold boats (may be the same book/reference as the brokers use). Find a local yacht broker or surveyor, tell the circumstances, & they will probably help you out without charge. Another option is to go to the BoatUS site and locate their link for a "value check". They''ll get back to you in a couple days with a fair market value. I can''t remember if you need to be a BoatUS member for this service...I don''t think so, but that turns out to be the case email me or post the baots details (year, model, power condition...) and I can send in a value check.

[hamiam]

its the BUC Book; www.bucvalu.com / Good luck

[c25]

BUC isn''t it...they use a standard depreciation formula(as does NADA) that in many cases (depends on the boat) is useless.

ABOS is what I was thinking of. If remember correctly they at least base their estimates on data (asking prices around the country minus 10-20%). I think there is another reference that uses actual settled/selling prices (reported into some central database) of boats sold....but I can''t remember the name.

[sailingfool]

These boats are so rare and low in value I would be surprised if any sources would track them.

Check:
http://www.knottysailor.com/cgi-bin/hforsale.pl
to see what comparable boats are selling for, take a fraction, say 80% of the average askinfg price. $2-3,000 shouldn''t be too controversal in an estate...

Hope someone keeps it, these are very nice daysailers.

Good luck.

[ronbuckles]

Try this link:

http://www2.nadaguides.com

Click on the ''boats'' tab.

Ron

[Billpjr]

I know this is late but I don''t come to this web site often. Just to clarify how NADA sets values here is a message from them to me in response to asking if they set values from straight depreciation...(in short they don''t do it that way).
============================

Bill,

I am in receipt of your email regarding our valuations, thank you. I completely understand your question, even employees of NADA run into this statement from time to time. For example we hear that the values are not market reflective or we develop them with a dart board.

With that said, we collect, review and editorialize used sales reports from our advisory board members in the marine industry to develop valuations. Our advisory board is comprised of over 350 marine dealers and brokers across the United States. The area though where we might run into a bit of trouble is with exotic or limited production boats. For example, a 2002 90'' Hatteras may not change hands for a few years, "Due to limited resale activity", we are unable to establish a used value. Our values are based on a national average but clearly there are products in great condition in the marketplace worth considerably more and conversely in bad condition worth considerably less.

This might also be the case with a Corsair Trimaran, we recognize and list them, but because there are not as many sold as say Bayliner it makes our job a bit harder. Although we do our best and please know if you run into any difficulties or would like us to review the marketplace and values we will more than happy to assist you if we can.

As a side note, we ship over 350,000 publications a month and very rarely hear of problems.

Please keep in mind that this is a National Average and the valuations might need to be adjusted for your marketplace and are intended to be used as a guideline. Also, you are looking at the consumer website which does not show the high values which could be as much as 15% higher.

Sincerely,
Troy D. Heidemann
Assistant Editor/Marine Division
N.A.D.A. Appraisal Guides
(714) 556-8511, ext. 261
theidemann@NADAguides.com

[thorJ30]

check on the NADA site. gives value of my boat ( J 30 ) pretty spot on. add a trailer and umpteen sailes and stuff and thats what she would sell for ... of course she aint for sale..lol

Thorsten