Used boat prices -v- area

P

PDF

Active Member
Joined
12 Jul 2019
Messages
51
Visit site
Hello all, my wife and I are planning on buying a boat in the new year. I'm constantly checking boats for sale and researching prices etc.

Or rough criteria is around 25-28ft, camper cover, sleeps four (Me, wife, 8 year old) for the occasional weekend stop over. We will be based in Poole. Budget around £20000 - £25000 and we're happy with petrol.

I've noticed that searching boats for sale in the Southwest is coming up with boats from around 1999 - 2002 all around the higher end of the budget. I've just found a broker's in Birmingham with a fair few boats that meet all our criteria, they are all much newer (2005 - 2010) and are priced a bit lower. Sea ray, Maxum, Regal, Bayliner, Fourwinns etc.

Example.... Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

Aside from transport and difficulty obtaining a sea/river trial, are boats priced that differently due to location in general?
 
You might also try asking on the Motor Boat Forum but if it was same boat same spec in Brum I wouldn't be surprised if it was cheaper in Brum than on the south coast, or anywhere else where it's a very nice area to go boating for that matter. Which Brum probably isn't...
 
It is a simple question of demand, the more people there are using boats, the more demand, so the price is higher. A couple of years ago we sold a newish yacht through a broker, we had to set the asking price low in order to encourage potential customers to come away out here, the demand locally is nothing like as strong as places with more boats and a higher population density, the purchaser came up from the South Coast purchased it and took it down to Salcombe, even factoring in the travel and delivery he had a bargain. Not everyone has the time to search beyond their immediate locality.
 
Have you actually seen any of the boats the Brum broker claims to have? The boat you linked to and others on the same website seem too good to be true. There’s plenty of other warning signs too, I wouldn’t touch them with a barge-pole.

Try asking for guidance on the motorboat section as suggested above. There may be variations in price but there will always be a range, with age, condition, engine size, hours and owner’s optimism all playing a greater role than location, in determining the asking price. You’ve been looking long enough now to know roughly what those prices are.
 
in general, the greater the density of available moorings and the more prosperous the area, the more likely boats will have higher asking prices.
This does not mean they actually achieve/sell at those prices but you will probably get a better choice of boats within a much smaller area.
Those with a tighter budget and prepared to travel, will probably be able to find something more within their price bracket by searching outside the normal honeypots.
The Solent vs the Essex/East coast would be a good comparison for yachts as would the Thames vs "just about anywhere " for Mobos.
You will need to factor in around £1500.00 to get your new boat back home.
 
Thanks for all your replies. I have contacted the broker and asked a few questions. I appreciate that the midlands boat prices would be a bit cheaper than the South Coast but as Baddox suggested, the prices on all those boats seem too good to be true.
 
I've no idea of what constitutes reasonable prices for various mobos, but out of interest I've just clicked on 3 offerings from the Brum. broker. All 3 are petrol, which must be a very big factor in low asking prices.
 
When we moved our boat from Wales to the S Coast ten years ago we thought that boats were about 25% cheaper up there than the general S Coast and the Solent another 10%? A lot of welsh boaters are from the Midlands.
 
My Bowman 26 came from Aberdovey, mid Wales. She was for sale quite a while and dropped in price a couple of times, she's extremely well equipped for a wee auld boat & I'm sure would have been snapped up pretty quickly were she in a more accessible location. Most of the guys in the super friendly boatyard that I spent 3 weekends at were from the Midlands...
 
PDF said:
Thanks for all your replies. I have contacted the broker and asked a few questions. I appreciate that the midlands boat prices would be a bit cheaper than the South Coast but as Baddox suggested, the prices on all those boats seem too good to be true.
Click to expand...



Yes, I think there was a thread in the Motor Boat section about these people - or some very similar. As Baddox has suggested, keep well clear.

Their stock levels are too high, quality too uniform, prices too low and a lot of the info is in American English.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PDF
the postcode looks like an office address?
It's normal for brokers to state the location where a boat is 'lying',
I spotted one American flag and some palm trees which don't look very 'Brum' to me, along with a lot of American references like 'Gasoline' USCG etc.

I f you search on Yachtworld, you will find many attractively priced boat in America....
searay 240 Boats For Sale
 
  • Like
Reactions: PDF
Welcome to the forum PDF
Looking at that link, all of these boats look like USA spec boats with US registration numbers showing and interior photos showing 120V switch panels.
Therefore these will be 'Grey Imports', not UK spec boats.
Probably more importantly, they are also unlikely to be CE/RCD Compliant unless they have had a 'post construction assessment' carried out by a recognized authority, more details of this here: www.imci.org/POST CONSTRUCTION ASSESSMENT
An imported boat must have this assessment and CE/RCD mark attached to be legally sold in the UK.

So, bottom line, don't touch these boats at this link with a barge pole, even if the correct assessment is carried out, and you even get an actual boat, they will always be worth much less than a UK supplied boat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PDF
Lyons Boat Yard, a seemingly legitimate Stratford Canal boatyard, carries a warning on its web-site regarding this brokerage, which it describes as illegal and a scam.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PDF
Thanks again for all responses. It goes back to the old saying if it's too good to be true it probably is. I'll stick with local boatyards for ease in the new year.

Forum at it's best. Merry Christmas.
 
PDF said:
Thanks again for all responses. It goes back to the old saying if it's too good to be true it probably is. I'll stick with local boatyards for ease in the new year.

Forum at it's best. Merry Christmas.
Click to expand...


another caveat.
Petrol boats in general are usually smaller boats used for short local trips and as such fulfill a purpose admirably.
Larger petrol boats ie, 25- 30 feet can be very very difficult to sell and the asking price should reflect this.
Many petrol boats on inspection will appear to be in amazing condition compared to the diesel alternatives.
The reason being the boat has hardly been used, because the fuel is virtually impossible to get and blimming expensive.
........and you will get fed up lugging umpteen jerry cans from your local supermarket plus the lingering whiff of petrol in the car and on your clothes.
Just saying....
 
I'm Midlands based, not quite Brum. Since September I have bounced around the UK (and even considered Majorquin and Corfu boats) viewing six boats so far. Troon, Sawleyx2, Newcastle, Plymouth, Weymouth, Ardrossan. Seen some great m/way services and some less great boats... Start a winter offer at 50%?
 
When I was looking for my first (and only, so far,) boat, we visited a place called Nationwide Boat Sales in Cheshire, which appears to have fallen off the face of the earth now. It was several fields with everything from dinghies to substantial motor cruisers all at "attractive" prices. Unfortunately, most of them didn't need a bit of TLC, they needed a humane killer.

It did one serious bit of good, though. We were looking for a canal boat because Milady was nervous about big waves and flappy canvas. We'd finished looking, but felt like there was something more; then we noticed a Macwester Rowan with a ladder next to it, so we went & had a nose around and she was smitten, not so much by that boat, but the idea of sailing. A month later and we had Jissel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top