[OFB Cafe] Checkin' out the Café

[Chris Olson]

From: Fred Smith 
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 10:01 PM
To: An Open Discussion Forum on Just About Everything,Especially for Techies. 
Subject: Re: [OFB Cafe] Checkin' out the Café


> I think this is just the industry as a whole figuring out that they can still sell boats at twice the price they were a few years ago.

Yep, and it's not only in the marine industry, that observation also holds true with snowmobiles and ATV's.

> 2) People understanding that even if you buy a boat used, you can sell it in 10 years for 80% of what you paid for it.

I think, depending on the model, that may hold true for new boats as well.  We paid right around $37,000 for our Ranger five years ago, which included the RangerTrail tandem axle, paint-matched trailer, but no motor, and dual consoles with Lowrance 520/GPS electronics in both consoles, along with all the other options (Minn Kota trolling motor, dual live wells, hydraulic steering, four Group 31 batteries, etc).

Crystal-Pierz Marine has a 2008 Ranger 198VX with a Mercury Pro XS 200 on their lot, with dual consoles and Collins electronics, but otherwise equipped similarly to ours.  Their price on the package deal for the new boat is $59,995 and when I blew the powerhead in my V-8 Evinrude the salesman shot me a trade price (our boat and trailer with a blown motor for the 2008 model package deal on the lot) of $27,500.

I figured it like this - I priced out a 300 Verado and the XS 250, but didn't actually price a XS 200.  My rough guess is that the 200 hp engine is probably about a grand cheaper than the 250.  So if the XS 200 is around $18,000, subtract that from the $27,500 trade price and we'd actually be trading boats, minus the outboard, for 9,500 bucks.  That puts the current trade value of our boat at about 75% of what we paid for it new.  However, considering that we'd be getting updated electronics in the new boat, and they'd make a profit on our trade, selling it for at least a couple grand more than they allowed us for it, it's still worth roughly 80%, or more, of what it cost new.

But if you look at pontoon boats it's another matter.  When my wife and I were browsing their boat selection we noticed they got several package deals on new party barges, ranging in price from about $11,500 to around $27,000.  If you take one of the midrange models priced at $17,000-19,000, then walk over to the pre-owned lineup and choose a 5-6 year old used one that's similar, you'll see that the price tag on the used one is around $5,995.  For some reason (my guess is that probably because party barges are mass produced whereas boats like our Ranger are hand-built, one at a time, by skilled craftsmen), the party barge depreciates considerably as soon as you hook the trailer to your truck and tow it off the lot.
--
Chris