brokerage prices -do they really mean it?

[Steveu]

Hello everyone
I'm not really a motor boater yet but I hope to be soon. I've had a 6.5m RIB for several years now and had some great times with it but now that I have a young family I need something with a little more comfort. Naturally that means something a lot more expensive. As a regular reader of this forum I've formed the impression that boats are easy to buy but hard to sell and you never buy the right boat first time. It follows that I'd want to buy a boat I could sell again without too much pain and central to that is paying the right price for it in the first place. My question is: when you see a not-so-old (4-5 years) boat advertised at (say) £70k in the brokerage pages how much is it likely to go for in practice? Any advice or opinions would be helpful......

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[itsonlymoney]

Hello and welcome Steve

I think like anything its a case of how much someone is prepared to pay for it, how quickly the seller requires the money and is also dependent on time of year etc. I think therefore that you have to treat every sale / purchase individually and trust your instincts. I know that this is of little help to you, maybe someone else will be more definitive.

Ian



<hr width=100% size=1>Play the best game you can with the cards you've been dealt ! ! !

 

[tcm]

Re: pontificating

imho, an advertised £70k powerboat will defineitely sell for £58k, but that's for a yank brand, tho still twin diesel. Yeah, nearly 20% off. Prices seem less ambitious and "harder" with the mid-range raggie boats. Midway between the two will be "known" brit powerboats like fairline and princess.

So, my advice is to bear in mind

1. offer 20% under and see what happens ESPECIALLY this side of xmas.

2. it depends what boat yer gonna buy. So, er what are you gonna buy?

3. Consider skipping buying a "first boat" and buy the "second boat" first. That way you might keep it 5 years and save the aggro on trying to swap, cos almost all midrange boats are for sale, either cos they want bigger or cos they don't want it at all. Money is cheap these days. Get some help with the boat and don't try and wing it with a 35 footer on your own - a helpful skipper on a 50 footer for a week or so is miles easier. You can even break into a run along the side decks of bigger boats, so it's quicker to get to the bow and then stern of a 75 footer than it is a 30 footer.

4. lots of 4-5 year old boats are just about coming round to needing some major work on replacing systems.

5. Consdier buying a boat which is v close if not actually directly from a broker in exactly the same marina where you plan to berth it, at least for the first year. Something will definitely go wrong and the broker/dealer can get things done quickly if you are there, or a week next wednesday maybe if you aren't.

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[DavidJ]

Hi Steve and welcome
For easiest buying or selling go for something standard (Bit like car buying really) This way you can compare prices and conditions like by like. Also you would have gleened from the forum that larger boats are easier to handle than small ones so go with the largest you can afford. (better for the wife and kids also)
There has been a lot of discussion about having the first owners bill of sale (showing VAT paid) so if I were in your shoes I wouldn't touch a boat without it.
Always have at least a hull examination.
Ian is right in his comment but I would suggest that in most cases and at this time of year then less 10% may be achievable.
and finally check first if moorings are available.
best of luck
David


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[jfm]

Hmm, yes agree the others. I am in the middle of buying and selling and I would think you would want to be aiming for praps 15% off the headline price of a brokerage boat . That's a very general comment of course, depneds on the case. The market is slow so a seller who wants cash fast might take less. The best sellers are those who want cash, some boats for sale will be underpinned by a trade-in offer so there's a price below which the seller wont go. I would take 15% off the advertised price of ours, frexample (should I have said that, dang?). If buying new you might get 8-10% off list, for cash.

I was a bit wurrid about tcm's point 4, perhaps he is being a bit alarmist. Many 1998/99 boats will be pretty well built and should not require any serious systyems work, if has been looked after and serviced since new. Just like a car, you can ask to see the service history. In fact many boats of that age will be genuinely mint condition and need no work at all, and will have years of decent life in them

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[milltech]

I agree with everyone more or less, a standard boat try 20% off once you know more or less what the prices should be. If however the boat was a one-off, small run, unusual engines, maker out of business, made of wood etc. then go at least 30% off the price. You can always go up later, its not a one shot deal.

<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Agree with tcm's advice but, like jfm, I would take issue with the likelihood of needing major component replacement after 4-5yrs. Maintenance on a larger boat is indeed an ongoing battle but you would have to be very unlucky to experience a major cost like an engine failure on a boat of this age.
For ease of resale, definitely only consider diesel engines and then preferably twin diesels and, again, for ease of resale, it is best to consider a mainstream manufacturer like the UK's big 4 - Fairline, Princess, Sunseeker, Sealine. Also you could consider a well known Scandinavian manufacturer like Windy or Nimbus

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[tcm]

4-5 year systems

Yeah, fair enough. I suppose this a lot more relevant to 4-5 year old charter sailing boats, where then engines have done 5,000+ hours and the running gear is rather knaackered.

Major systems like engines on a 4-5 year old private power boat should have loads of life innem.

But still I suppose there's major money to be spent on things like carpets, tenders, cushions, olde worlde electronics, shagged out teak-faced ply and so on?

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[jfm]

Re: 4-5 year systems

Thank you tcm for correcting that misinformation. You can return to your usual level of candour in your posts once wiggo, Deleted User and I have sold our boats. Git

Seriosly, on 1998 plus boats there is no teakfaced ply, it's all proply veneered cherry maple. And electronics have not moved on much since then, apart from daylight viewable screens. Our simrad stuff is virtually identical with current models. Carpet is easy/cheap to change

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[gjgm]

I m still puzzled by secondhand boat pricing. Say you have a production run model, you want to sell it,and there are several others (if not more than several) for sale. How come they are all at more or less identical prices? Especially if we all expect 10-20pct less anyway? Why doesnt someone say, hell,i ll put it in for 10 grand less. Theres some ,ah, popular french boats at a nearby brokerage, have been for sale for maybe 9 months. Each few months, the price is reduced by 2 grand. Wow, I m going to rush to get my wallet. people seem saavy about buying a boat, but completely incompetent and passive when it comes to selling. If they were this lazy about buying, i m sure they would never have managed to own one!

By the way, good point about check there is a berth available first...

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