Boat depreciation value

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GinjaNinja

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Hi All,

Looking through the ads on various sites, and I see so many boats around 198x/199x's and their pricing.

If you bought a new boat today, what would the depreciation value be over 5/10/15/20 years if it was 200k today.

Do older boats of say 15 years, really start going down hill price wise rapidly, ot do they stabilise after a certain age?

Thanks

Tim
 
Assuming that new boat prices stayed completely steady with no variations for exchange rates and inflation a boat will very roughly depreciate as follows:

Year 1 20% (maybe just over)
Year 2 another 5% to 10%
Year 3 another 5% to 7%
And then about 5% year on year.

BUT that is a tremenduos generalisation as it also depends on the boats desirability whether it is diesel or petrol, twin engines or singles, specification, brand name... etc.
Next, new boat prices never do stay steady and are generally on an ever increasing upward slant and so whilst the first few years depreciation will typically follow a trend not far off the above after about five years some more desireable boats may actually level out in price and some may even appreciate very slightly (don't take that as the rule though!).
This tends to happen over again with certain boats at about 12 to 15 years.

You may find that very occasionally a boat actually resells somewhere down the line for more than it was originally purchased.

The next spanner to throw into the works on the above is that this tends to happen with mid priced weekenders rather than pure day boats or much larger cruisers.

Never buy thinking you are getting an asset, but 'cos you love messing about on the water.
 
Thanks for the info.

I asked the question, as when we go to buy a boat in the years to come, it gives me an idea on what may be available in the price range. I agree, in that, like with cars, the more desirable will lose less over time, but your figures seem a good 'rule of thumb' to go by.

It makes looking at FL Targa's (3's) around 2000 likely to be in my range ;-)

Thanks again

Tim
 
Depreciation, FL Targa's ?

I would't take much notice when talking FL Targa's, the price will be rock steady, only variation will be condition and service history.
I would look more towards the time, perhaps focus on what you can get at the time, speculating what will be available now in three years, well for a guess the FL targa's will be around the same value as today!, so if you can afford one now then go for it.
 
GinjaNinja said:
Hi All,

Looking through the ads on various sites, and I see so many boats around 198x/199x's and their pricing.

If you bought a new boat today, what would the depreciation value be over 5/10/15/20 years if it was 200k today.

Do older boats of say 15 years, really start going down hill price wise rapidly, ot do they stabilise after a certain age?

Thanks

Tim
Click to expand...
Mentally write off a huge amount each year. Then when you come to sell it you wont be quite so suicidal.
No one has mentioned fuel prices. While fuel on £1/2mio new boat probably isnt a concern to the new owner, the prices of a larger,older guzzler costing £75k may get whacked if/when fuel soars again. I also think that as engine models get superceded, the older models loose attraction.
 
A few years ago, I looked at used sports boats - mostly American ones - and their depreciation over time.

Taking hundreds of samples from across the US and Europe, I plotted asking price versus year for a range of models. I then calculated the average annual depreciation between years 1 and 10.

I found that, on average, they lost around 10% of their remaining value each year.

I repeated the process a year or so later, with the same result.
 
EugeneR said:
A few years ago, I looked at used sports boats - mostly American ones - and their depreciation over time.

Taking hundreds of samples from across the US and Europe, I plotted asking price versus year for a range of models. I then calculated the average annual depreciation between years 1 and 10.

I found that, on average, they lost around 10% of their remaining value each year.

I repeated the process a year or so later, with the same result.
Click to expand...

Hi All, I'm new around here, this thread caught my attention as this is the type of boat I'm looking for....

May I ask if the depreciation was the same across all manufacturers? I've actually been advised to keep away from Bayliner as I'm told they have a very high rate of depreciation.

In fact any advice on the desirability and value of the various makes would be appreciated.

Lee B
 
Nautibusiness said:
Assuming that new boat prices stayed completely steady with no variations for exchange rates and inflation a boat will very roughly depreciate as follows:

Year 1 20% (maybe just over)
Year 2 another 5% to 10%
Year 3 another 5% to 7%
And then about 5% year on year.

BUT that is a tremenduos generalisation as it also depends on the boats desirability whether it is diesel or petrol, twin engines or singles, specification, brand name... etc.
Next, new boat prices never do stay steady and are generally on an ever increasing upward slant and so whilst the first few years depreciation will typically follow a trend not far off the above after about five years some more desireable boats may actually level out in price and some may even appreciate very slightly (don't take that as the rule though!).
This tends to happen over again with certain boats at about 12 to 15 years.

You may find that very occasionally a boat actually resells somewhere down the line for more than it was originally purchased.

The next spanner to throw into the works on the above is that this tends to happen with mid priced weekenders rather than pure day boats or much larger cruisers.

Never buy thinking you are getting an asset, but 'cos you love messing about on the water.
Click to expand...

I've wondered about the seemingly high first year depreciation that is often mentioned. If one uses the asking price of a one year old boat and compares that to the list price of a new boat, this probably is the case. However, I've heard of numerous occasions where substantial discounts have been given on new boats. This alters the picture regarding the price development.

AFAIK Fairline was mentioned giving heavy discounts on some earlier thread.
 
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I think that the value of boats depends much more on the economy, than anything else.

Fuel costs have also hit the market hard.

I have records that show, my boat went up in price for ten years. But it's dropped like a stone the last. the last two years.

My last boat, I sold it for 8 grand more than I bought it for, some years later.

I joined this forum some fifteen?? years ago, but surprisingly, it was far busier then than now


I cant see any alternative to boat prices going down.

Lets face it, at arond £6 to the mile, no ones playing.
 
We buy commercial windfarm vessels and have always thought about this.

Your question depends on two main factors; how affordable the product you are talking about is (i.e. a small dinghy has much less variation in price than a 45ft Boat), and how old the product is (in fact what's the lifetime?).

Some economist colleagues do not like my approach when I decide between a one year old vessel and say a 5 year old one but I tend to come up with this conclusion:

1. Any used product with limited availability after generally 10 years will stay at a steady price. Forget about when it is sold as vintage!

2. First Year is not all about a product used only for one year. The price of any product is still high for many after it is just one year old. BUT those who can afford it at that price (first class buyers=> a marine mortgage company) can generally stretch their budget to get a brand new one(sometimes they HAVE TO)! That's why 20% of even more price drop in the first year happens. A one year old product has its own buyers (can we call them 2nd class buyers?!)

3. After say 3-4 years, the buyers (3rd class buyers) are generally those who have always wanted it, but no way they can afford it brand new or even a year old. This group generally wants to treat whatever they buy as an valuable asset (can be cashed quickly). This group in my opinion are the most clever group, they won't lose too much, whilst they enjoy a farily good product.

4. And really once a product has half of its lifetime it will remain at that price and less than 5% drop is seen year by year. (The 4th Class buyers) The buyers are generally crazy, as the products reliability is now at a low level, so whilst the actual asset is cheap, its maintenance is going to make it quite expensive. But what everyone thinks first is that "I am Buying this at £x, so £x is cheaper than £2x! but he ends up paying another £x more after just say a year or two!

As for leisure products (a boat!) the more money you spend when buying it, the easier the life! forget about my buyer classes! :p
 
Depreciation

I have owned two boats from new, both Bayliners, a 1998 2855 which cost £43k and a 2001 3055 at £83k. The 3055 was (imho) much nicer but now their value - if the adverts are to be believed - are around £30k and £40k, thats 30% depreciation against 53%.
So thats about <3% and >5% a year, which is hard for me to reconcile and before you say that the 3055 has two engines, it uses little more petrol as the engines are less stressed. But anyway, compared to my car - £10k for driving it the first mile....

Often owners claim that their boat is worth more than they paid for it, but unless inflation is factored in, this is meaningless (you could have bought the famous HMS Dreadnought for little over £20k in the twenties, I wish I had a time machine...).

Also to be considered is the actual price of new boats. MBM does address this in it's tests but it is difficult to justify to a purchaser a price that takes into account the hidden - can't have it without - extras.

Perhaps the answer is to look at far from new boats, but don't forget the mooring (if it's big) and maintainance costs. In the event of it requiring new engines it could be worthless.
 
Many thanks for the PMs on this thread folks, all very helpful, I clearly have a fair bit more research to do - I wonder if I should be suspicious of a boat that (by its asking price) has lost almost 70% of its original price in 6 years.....

Lee B
 
Thanks for all the replies. It is interesting to see peoples views on this. certainly has given me something to think about. ;-)

Tim
 
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