Selling a boat

[dubya1982]

Hey all,

So I bought my first boat last year, a brand new pontoon and, well, we hate it. We don't hate having a boat, we actually love it and use the heck out of it, but we hate the one we chose, it's a cheaply made piece of crap. I wouldn't take another Encore boat if you offered it to me for free.

Anyways, we want to sell and upgrade and I'm a little clueless about selling a boat. I looked up the boat, trailer, and motor on NADA and it said that the "low end" was $23,000 for our setup. One year old boat (2013 Bentley 220 Cruise, two year old motor with about 50 hours on it (2012 Merc 115 efi), and a one year old trailer.

How much can I reasonably expect to get out of this thing? How close are NADA values to what boats are actually selling for? I don't really want to trade it in because we are already going to take a loss on it (most likely) if we can sell it privately. I've tried finding comps to see what other private sellers are asking for them in my area but I just can't find any, I guess there aren't as many suckers like me buying them. :lol:

Anyways, if you can answer any questions or just provide general feedback about selling the boat I'd appreciate it.

 

[thumpar]

Re: Selling a boat

If you are with a credit union have them book it. They have access to more NADA info.

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: Selling a boat

That's quite the sales pitch. lol

 

[Pony]

Re: Selling a boat

NADA is probably closer to what you can sell for when dealing with a boat that new. In regards to trying to find comparable boats in your area to get a list price, I would just list it for a price you are comfortable with and see what happens. No one is going to force you to sell it to them for something you don't want to. If you don't get anyone calling you or wanting to see it, then it might be priced too high or is just out of the market for most people to finance privately.

 

[crabby captain john]

Re: Selling a boat

Problem selling a boat 1 year old is those with the funds are more likely looking at new for longer warranties and etc. Good luck and hope the next one is better....

 

[dubya1982]

Re: Selling a boat

Problem selling a boat 1 year old is those with the funds are more likely looking at new for longer warranties and etc. Good luck and hope the next one is better....

This is what I'm afraid of, but worst case scenario we just hang on to it a few more years and make the best of it. Having a boat we don't love is much better than having no boat at all.

 

[BigDfromTN]

Re: Selling a boat

I would get a trade in quote to use as a baseline value. Not sure about your state but here in TN you only pay sales tax on the difference, not the entire purchase price. Also ask the dealer if you sell it how much you should be able to sell it for.

 

[agallant80]

Re: Selling a boat

I was in a similar position in 2013. I had a boat that was only 1.5 years old that had to go(divorce crap). I paid 36K for for boat and it had 40 hours on it. I think at that point in the game people people fall in to three categories
category one would rather pay the extra few thousand and get something new
category two just offer ridiculously low prices to see if you will take it
Category three offers to buy it only to find out they can't get financing for the boat

At any rate its a total waste of time (at least in my case because I was under the gun to get rid of the boat). If you can wait it out then perhaps you will find someone. Just remember every year you keep it the value of the boat drops and unless you paid cash for the entire purchase your payoff will not decrease at the same rate as the boat value.

What I ended up doing was talking to a few dealers on a new boat, I always wanted an express cruiser so I figured it was a good chance to make the jump from bow rider to express. All of the dealers I spoke with were willing to roll dice and put together a deal for me. At the end of the day I took the deal on a boat I liked on terms I liked. Marine Max on a 2012 260DA new wanted too much for the boat and offered too little on my trade, The local dealer here in NC put togeather a decent deal on a stingray but the boat looks a bit dated to me and the price for what I was getting was a bit steep and a dealer 300 miles away in Baltimore put togeather a good deal on a 2013 Bayliner 255CR. I went with the bayliner.

Talk to some dealers you may have to travel but one of them will offer a good deal. Honistly I would call Chatlee in Sanford, NC. People go there from all up and down the east coast. They sell on volume and do a decent job passing the savings to the customers. They were the lowest around when I bought my first boat from them and though the stingray did not work out (it was the stingray rep from the factory being difficult not chatlee) they still went to bat for me.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Selling a boat

i'm curious... What don't you like about your pontoon? In my mind, a pontoon must a) float, and b), have a running engine. Everything else is up to the people on board! One of the best pontoons I had was nothing but an open deck with a minimal console, and an engine. Everything else was what you brought on board.

 

[dubya1982]

Re: Selling a boat

i'm curious... What don't you like about your pontoon? In my mind, a pontoon must a) float, and b), have a running engine. Everything else is up to the people on board! One of the best pontoons I had was nothing but an open deck with a minimal console, and an engine. Everything else was what you brought on board.

What don't we like about it? It might be easier to tell you what we DO like. It is an entry level boat that is put together as cheaply as you can imagine. EVERYTHING is plastic! Not even good plastic, it's cheap plastic and is already getting brittle around the edges. The deck has caught my barefoot twice in two places with exposed nails, the horn has quit working, the frame on the bimini top has come apart, the anchor light (not sure if that's the right term, the light on the bimini that sticks up in the air) wasn't screwed in to the frame and flew off, the wood in the deck has a crack, and a few other minor things. I know some of these aren't a big deal, but when you add them all together after one year of ownership (only 4 months of using on the water) it just makes you lose all faith.

Do we have fun on the boat? Absolutely. Do we wish we'd have bought a different boat? Absolutely. If we sell it then we will upgrade, if we can't sell it then we will just enjoy our time on the water and sell it in a few years. When you spend $25K on a boat you should be able to expect some level of quality.

 

[crabby captain john]

Re: Selling a boat

Not even Bayliners start off that bad....

 

[T_Herrod]

Re: Selling a boat

Sounds like you got one the was built on a Friday and the workers were in a hurry to get off and start partying.

 

[rsmitty814]

Re: Selling a boat

Not even Bayliners start off that bad....

Watch it.
It sounds to me like it would most likely be warranteed work. No?

 

[Bubbasboat]

Re: Selling a boat

rasmitty has it right!
"It sounds to me like it would most likely be warranted work. No? "


Call your dealer, quick!!!!

 

[dubya1982]

Re: Selling a boat

rasmitty has it right!
"It sounds to me like it would most likely be warranted work. No? "


Call your dealer, quick!!!!

Oh I wish! The dealer has been the worst part of the whole transaction!!! After we bought the boat and took it out on the water for the first time the alternator went out on the motor and we had to be towed in. This was in April on a lake that had no traffic so we drifted for 2 hours before we were finally able to get someone to come tow us in to the marina. Took the boat back to the dealer and they fixed the engine (that had 2 hours on it at this point) and they wouldn't reimburse us the fee we paid to have the marina come rescue us.

Then a month later I was concerned about the performance of the boat, it seemed like it wouldn't accelerate and the prop was slipping. After some research (on this forum) I figured out we had the wrong prop. The dealer had installed a prop with a 6 pitch and we needed a prop with a 12 pitch. I called the dealer and they said I had to tow the boat to them to get a new prop. Not unscrew the prop and bring it in, but TOW the boat in which was 90 miles away. So I took the boat in and they put an 11 pitch prop on. I told them I had called Mercury and Mercury had told me we needed a 12, but the guy at the dealer refused and said we could take the 11 or buy our own. I told him we were tired of driving this boat back to them to get it fixed when we had only had it on the water twice and his response, verbatim.... "tough sh!t." We took the 11 pitch and left and haven't gone back.

This entire transaction has been a nightmare and we have received no help from the dealer so we have given up on them completely. It put a bad taste in my mouth and made me think that maybe that's how all boat dealerships are, but I've spoken with a few other boaters and they've all said that particular dealership is a nightmare.

All-in-all, I blame myself for most of this. I bought a budget boat over a boat I liked a little more because I wanted to save some money. I should have spent a little more and got the boat I liked initially. I was afraid to spend too much because I wasn't sure if we'd use the boat enough to justify it, but we have. In the last year I've learned I'd rather be on the water than almost anywhere else at any given time. This has been a learning experience for me and I'm chocking it up to an expensive lesson.

This post makes it seem like we are just a bunch of complainers, but really that isn't the case. I'm happy to have a boat and if I can get rid of it then great, if not then we are still happy to have it and enjoy it. I do have my eye on a new G3 I took a look at this weekend and might be talking to them about a trade in.

The G3 Suncatcher feels like a very solid boat and seems to be well built. Any opinions on it?

 

[rsmitty814]

Re: Selling a boat

If that is the case with the dealer. There should be some sort of legal recourse. I use to let things like that go and say there's nothing I can do about it. Not any more, and there is always something you can do. Even a scathing letter about the dealer to the BBB is something.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Selling a boat

The G3 Suncatcher feels like a very solid boat and seems to be well built. Any opinions on it?

Funny thing is, that I would have said the brand that you picked was one of the nicer sofa boats I've seen. I think no matter what you choose you will find someone that didn't like what they bought - quick google search brought up this from a G3 owner.

Problems with my brand new G3 Suncatcher Pontoon

As for being a bunch of complainers, maybe. Hard to say, but you're not making great decisions. A 90 mile round trip towing a pontoon for a $100 prop? Jeeze - buy a prop. Might be a good time to cool down and figure out if it really makes any sense to sell it or if you can fix the little things that are bugging you and not lose a ton of $$$ on a trade/new boat.

 

[Pony]

Re: Selling a boat

I don't know if this is feasible or not....sort of depends on how many dealers you have in the area. I would be inclined to take the boat to a handful of dealers and talk to the owner, or someone near the top of the food chain, about what you have gone through and see what they would be willing to give you on a trade or consignment sale or something. Chances are one of them will want to get your business. As a sales manager (though not in the marine industry) when I know that a potential customer has had a bad experience with a competitor.....I work that much harder to gain their trust back. What is there to lose at that point? If you don't like any of the offered deals, than you fix up what you have and continue to use it and create family memories.

I would also try to get something done with that dealer. BBB is a start, but I know around here there are a couple of consumer advocacy groups that are fairly respected that can help people deal with bad businesses.

 

[Brian 26]

Re: Selling a boat

I looked up the boat, trailer, and motor on NADA and it said that the "low end" was $23,000 for our setup. One year old boat (2013 Bentley 220 Cruise, two year old motor with about 50 hours on it (2012 Merc 115 efi), and a one year old trailer.

Prices are regional and we don't know where you're located. NADA should be pretty accurate on a boat that new but honestly I have zero experience buying and selling one year old boats. Another appraisal method would be to deduct about 30% from what you spent on the boat. Another idea is to pick a number and put it up on craigslist and see how many calls you get.

I would think every potential buyer that comes over is going to ask why you are selling it after only a year.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Selling a boat

Prices are regional and we don't know where you're located. NADA should be pretty accurate on a boat that new but honestly I have zero experience buying and selling one year old boats. Another appraisal method would be to deduct about 30% from what you spent on the boat. Another idea is to pick a number and put it up on craigslist and see how many calls you get.

I would think every potential buyer that comes over is going to ask why you are selling it after only a year.

The bigger issue is likely to be that it looks like they only cost $22K for a brand new 2014 plus $1600 for a brand new trailer. Going to be hard to get anywhere near 23K for a used one.

http://goo.gl/60J0dk