Will I get more boat for my money if I wait until after the Summer ?

Patrick1964

Patrick1964

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I'm looking for a first boat, and have more-or-less decided on a Quicksilver Commander 500. There aren't many for sale at the moment, and I'm wondering if it would be a better idea to wait until after September to buy ? I'm guessing that there's a glut of boats for sale in the Autumn, and that prices will be lower, meaning I can get more boat for my money. Am I right or not ?
 
Yes and No depending on whether you are looking at purchase price or overall cost of ownership. There is never a "right" time to buy or sell. At the end of a season, boats usually require work, have to be stored and made ready for the next season. Unsurprisingly such boats are likely to sell for lower prices than boats ready to go in the spring.

Only you can decide what is best for you.
 
Am I right or not ?

The best time to go boat hunting is in the dog days of Jan/Feb,when its dark at 4pm and preferably with a nice layer of very slippy ice on the pontoon walkways.
If you can find out when the marina/mooring bills go out in your victims marina so much the better.Give it a about a week and try your offer.
Just had a look at your proposed purchase,poss trailered in somebodies front garden...forget the marina bit.
quicksilver-commander.jpg
 
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I say this somewhat tongue in cheek and having been unable to use our boat for weeks, however, with an element of logic, perhaps?

If you attempted to sell in the summer in the middle of a gale or a torrential rain storm you may fail, perhaps sell in the winter and sell the dream not the reality of our summer's
 
oldgit said:
Am I right or not ?

The best time to go boat hunting is in the dog days of Jan/Feb,when its dark at 4pm and preferably with a nice layer of very slippy ice on the pontoon walkways.
If you can find out when the marina/mooring bills go out in your victims marina so much the better.Give it a about a week and try your offer.
Just had a look at your proposed purchase,poss trailered in somebodies front garden...forget the marina bit.
quicksilver-commander.jpg
Click to expand...
May well be the time when a seller might be tempted by a lower offer. However, boat will probably be in miserable condition, unlikely you will get a trial and you still have all the hassle of getting it ready, but maybe not the time.

Purchase price is only part of the "cost" of boat ownership.
 
A boat sales persons view

In the heady days of boat sales from 2002 through to 2007 there were definite patterns to the number of sales you would make in a month, but definitely not in the price the boats would sell at.
In essence there was no buyers market or sellers markets to worry about, just the numbers of buyers available. And there were lots.

Deep into this recession and the oddest thing is that used boat sales have never been better in the area of the market that you are looking.
We (many brokers) are phenomenally busy and the problem is one of simply not enough of the right boats on the market.
BUT. The boats that are there will only sell if they are sensibly priced. Not necessarilly cheap, just fairly priced.

Looking back over the last two years I don't think there has been a particular pattern to the sales. No busy months or quiet months. Quite simply, if you have good boats to sell, they will sell.
So as a buyer, keep looking, but just because it is a recession, don't expect the prices to be stupidly low, but do expect a deal. Also just because the Summer will be over, don't expect a flood of boats to the market with desparate owners trying to sell. That is a common belief that simply isn't true.

Keep looking, you will find one.
 
As mentioned, there are costs involved in owning the boat over the winter months-servicing,storage,insurance.
But I would also say that buying a boat isnt the same as buying a pint of milk. Not only is there limited supply in what you want, there is variable age, different locations,different condition,different engine,even different paperwork maybe.
So, although boat buyers always seem to think they hold the reins, that isnt always the case. If the seller isnt going to get any refunds, he may he feel, rightly, it isnt going to cost him any more to wait til the Spring. There again, come Spring, you may feel you want a full season out of a boat, rather than lose four months in order to get what you think is a great deal !
So, look at a number of examples, find one you like, decide what it is worth to you, and cross your fingers. One other point, you might get a better choice of boats by being first in line. Come Spring time, you might be one of many chasing a small number of your chosen model.
Its much more important to get the boat you want, than to get the boat you dont really want, but what a deal !!
 
IMHO the best time to buy is Nov/Dec after the impact of the Southampton show has worn off and before the London show kicks off interest in the new season. Also, some owners want rid before they have to spend money on winter maintenance and some owners just plain lose interest in their boats once the dark days of winter set in. But there's no harm in making a low offer on a boat at any time of year; you never know how keen a seller is to sell until you make an offer
 
May well be the time when a seller might be tempted by a lower offer. However, boat will probably be in miserable condition, unlikely you will get a trial and you still have all the hassle of getting it ready

My advice was based on the fact it is a small speed boat with an outboard and by the look of it unlikely to be more than a couple of years old,the pre summer spruce up would consist of untying the cover ,a quick splish over with car shampoo fill up the tank and off to the slip and if the boat is a couple of years old and the price a steal,the sea trail would consist of a run up in 50 gallon drum. ?
 
oldgit said:
May well be the time when a seller might be tempted by a lower offer. However, boat will probably be in miserable condition, unlikely you will get a trial and you still have all the hassle of getting it ready

My advice was based on the fact it is a small speed boat with an outboard and by the look of it unlikely to be more than a couple of years old,the pre summer spruce up would consist of untying the cover ,a quick splish over with car shampoo fill up the tank and off to the slip and if the boat is a couple of years old and the price a steal,the sea trail would consist of a run up in 50 gallon drum. ?
Click to expand...

If there is that little to do, then there is unlikely to be any difference in price. Lower price at a particular time of the year is an indication that the current owner wants to transfer some of his expected costs to the purchaser. For the buyer there is no advantage if he can wait till the spring.

Read Nautibusiness above. Good boats sell for good prices all year round. Dogs generally fall in price the longer they are unsold.
 
"Good boats sell for good prices all year round."

Nope ....not speed boats.

Try advertising your open speedboat with no cabin in December at any price and see what response you get......

Stick it in the paper after a nice hot bank holiday in mid summer and then see what happens.:)
 
The boat you are looking at is very rare, probably less than 20 in the country. They only come up for sale now and again, if this is the boat you must have, then the time of year may be irrelevant. If you find one, make an offer. A small word of warning, I'm a fan of these open type boats, but the difference between the 5m and 6m ones is huge, the 6m versions are much more seaworthy and have significantly higher freeboard.
 
oldgit said:
"Good boats sell for good prices all year round."

Nope ....not speed boats.

Try advertising your open speedboat with no cabin in December at any price and see what response you get......

Stick it in the paper after a nice hot bank holiday in mid summer and then see what happens.:)
Click to expand...

Exactly the point. There is not a market in the winter, so nobody advertises and nobody buys - so how do you know what the price difference is!
 
"and nobody buys - so how do you know what the price difference is"

Because as a unashamed serial buyer of this type of boat in the past,a dedicated summer only boat bought in the depths of winter was always cheaper/newer/bigger than the same boat bought at the height of summer.
Stands to reason that if you only get one winter offer you will probably seriously consider it,where as if you are getting fed up with the phone ringing(been in both situations) you will hold out for best price.
In addition if you are going to wait 6 months to use boat you perhaps will not be in a hurry to hand over excess cash,people who are desperate to get out on the water poss on a whim seem to hand over oodles of cash in way they would not when buying a car etc.
 
landlockedpirate said:
I'm a fan of these open type boats, but the difference between the 5m and 6m ones is huge, the 6m versions are much more seaworthy and have significantly higher freeboard.
Click to expand...

100% actually 200% agree.

Get as big as you feel you can manage and afford. You will find that a 5m boat will feel extremely exposed in anything other than flat water very close in. A 6m boat starts to become fun and you start searching out the odd tide race to play in.
 
oldgit said:
"and nobody buys - so how do you know what the price difference is"

Because as a unashamed serial buyer of this type of boat in the past,a dedicated summer only boat bought in the depths of winter was always cheaper/newer/bigger than the same boat bought at the height of summer.
Click to expand...

This was the rule up until about 3 years ago.
Back then I would have stated the same.
Now there is only the smallest difference, barely perceptible, in buying seasons for this type of boat.
More and more boaters are beginning to realise that there is no such thing as a dedicated Summer boat and with the appropriate gear on, owners of boats like these are still enjoying theirs on a crips February morning whilst owners of the four seasons boats have theirs on the hard for the closed season.

...I must be imagining all these 18' bowriders that are getting sold right through the year, year after year...
 
O Yes it is ...O no its not......

...I must be imagining all these 18' bowriders that are getting sold right through the year, year after year...

It may well be your imagination playing tricks in that nice comfy warm cosy office and that phone ringing off the hook with folk just desperate to buy bowriders for mid winter fun and frolics,next time I see anything resembling one out anywhere on the murky depths of the Medway whizzing throught the sleet anytime after October,you will be the first to know.:):):)
 
YES
Absolutely, although there are not so many advertised, as the old salts (like me) will wait until May/June to advertise them. I always hunt and buy in the winter, to sell in the summer. November is the best month.. who wants to pay for storage, winterising etc only to not be able to use it until April
Cameron
:cool:
 
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