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I've been keeping my eye out for a new, bigger boat (arent we all?) and I've done a couple of BoatUS's free value checks. One came back in line with the low end of current asking prices for the model, and the other was far below any current pricing. (and full 50% less than some of the boats listed)
I know that estimating a used boat is a shot in the dark, but how much do you think I can rely on these numbers as I try to value any given boat?
For referance, we're talking about 33'-36' mid-80's production boats, listed in the $40-60k range.
One of the reasons that surveyors are such an important tool - is not just the fact you get your boat checked out and have the "repair items" as a negotiating tool. The other aspect is the surveyor has access to tools that can determine the going market prices.
For instance my boat listed for 70K. Once the surveyor completed everything I asked him to check the value as I wanted to make sure I was getting a fair price (in terms of my accepted offer that was 52K). He came back and stated that on the East Coast it would garner 40K as a "sold price". He also explained that it is typical for a one-off design (which my Barberis is considering only two in the US and the other is in CT) to have a price difference and it would be higher buyer cost on the West coast.
The BoatUS evaluation reflected the same and I imagine it is based off the same tools surveyors use to some degree. While not a absolute "value" guarantee as the marine side of buying and selling is dictated more on what a buyer is willing to pay - it is a useful tool to evaluate whether or not you are paying to much or too little..which can indicate certain flaws in either the boat or one's own inflated value of just wanting a particular boat.
I disagree. You can look at BoatUS value check, BUC book Values and the NADA guide for the very same boat and get wildly different values. Condition is everything and with a small number of sales and different reporting vehicles for actual price sold and WILDLY varying conditions of the same boat...the prices are a distortion. In my view for POPULAR boat, the best source is a broker who has access to yachtworld.com soldboats and can give you a printout of every boat sold and what it (supposedly) sold for. This allows you to see both the top of the market and the bottom of the market (project boats) and make a reasonable guess as to where the boat you are looing at falls in the continuum.
If I make 200K and you make 20K...our average salary is 110k which tells you nothing about what each of us is worth. Same with a limited number of boats sold.
Obviously I agree with the need for a REAL surveyor to tell you the ACTUAL condition of a boat and to share their knowledge about market values based on their experience.
I'll side with Boat US.
When I was shopping earlier this year, BUC & NADA were lower than Boat US. BUC & NADA use the averaging over a long period of time. Boat US uses the same boats-sold database the brokers use, plus their large pool of insureds. And they are honest. I had brokers delete some boats from the boats sold database to skew the picture to me.
Also consider this...no matter what the brokers, the owners or anybody else thinks; the insurance companies & the finance companies use BUC for their valuations. They used to be pretty leinient but with the current situation, have tightened up; especially the finance companies.
You can actually talk to a human being at the Boat US valuation service and get some insight as to why that one boat is coming out so low. Maybe they made a mistake; they are real humans.
Their valuation of the boat I bought came out exactly where the surveyor valued it to be. Of course, I paid less!!!
I was wondering the same thing, knew of the BUC, not NADA. I didnt put too much faith in the BUC as i have seem prices vary wildly.
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