Thinking About A New Boat

[dakota4ce]

The guys who don't lose a lot the first year are getting a honey deal from their dealer. It just defies the laws of economics. I hear it all the time on these boards and I think some of them are guys who have other motives, like either selling a boat, or padding their ego, or they aren't very good at math.

If I could buy a new boat every year and only lose 5K on the deal, then I would love to do that. And on the buyer side, if I was offered 100K for a boat I liked or 95K for last year's model of the same thing, there is no way I am going to buy the 95K boat. Saving 5K is not much of an incentive at this price point.

I went from a 2015 G23 to a 2016 G23 and lost a lot more than 5 grand. And I did get a better deal than most on both boats when new. That included running the sale through my dealer so I did not have to pay sales tax on the selling price of the old boat. There are other factors in every boat sale, but I stick to my philosophy that you lose 10% the day you take it off the lot, and another 10% per season. That's 20% after season 1. Unstuck's running of the numbers seems to support that.

I threw 20% out there as a random WAG. But your breakdown seems to roughly support that.

Boats are TOYS. You never win with toys. Right up front, if you're in the game of new wakeboats, then you by default have said "F" it, I don't care if I am taking a bath. And that's OK, right? It never "makes sense" financially to buy new anything. Homes, boats, cars, whatever. If you want new, there is a distinct penalty -normally- for deciding to do this. Exceptions do occur, when the market is on a rocketship upward. However, that is not normal. Ask homeowners in Vegas and Phoenix... Boats are hot right now, so people may be doing ok on their upgrades, but it still does not make sense in a purely financial analysis.

It only makes sense if you, as elevated pointed out, need to have a boat that someone else has never been in. OR, which may affect me next fall actually, if something comes out that has made a leap in capability. I am waiting to see what the 2018 MB lineup looks like for this reason. In BOTH of these cases, you are divorcing from good financial sense and just doing it for the heck of it. I already know that going in.

I bought a new Jeep Grand Cherokee once on a "killer deal" in 2003. Really looked good, right? Well, it was a mistake from a financial perspective, and the lesson stuck.

And finally, another important thing to recognize is that if you never plan to own the boat, and simply are looking for financing terms, then by all means, trade your face off! Sellers love that--you essentially are in a perpetual boat lease, and can always have the latest and greatest. Make no mistake though, it is not a good deal. But you really may never come to the point where the bad deal is realized, right?

[dakota4ce]

Dakota, I like that B52 you posted up. I heard that that motor is weaker than the new 400. I am also told that the 400 is too weak for a b52 with 5000 pounds of ballast at my elevation.

Its the same motor basically that I have in my F24 running 5200 soon to be 5500+ at 1400'. I don't know how that translates--it has everything to do with bow weight and props to make it do-able.

I am not sure how the specs between Raptor 400 and Indmar 410/PCM 409 compare. I would think they are pretty similar....maybe not.

[bsreid]

Quite enjoyable?! I can only think of a couple things MORE enjoyable LOL!

Ok maybe not. Maybe more just the new boat feeling and seeing what out there can be interesting

[Germaine Marine]

I don't think any of this is related to ego.

Selling boats is easily relatable to real life. 90% of people don't want to put in the work in selling a boat, not to mention that human nature is relatively impulsive. Stack those things together and you have a business model for a boat dealership. Dealers arent roasting people they are doing the work for.....they are just getting paid by those that don't want to put the work in themselves or want the new toy or upgrade instantaneously. If you go that route be prepared to pay and by pay I mean on both sides. That is the reason for some of the 20% hits.

My point the entire time has been that what I said above doesn't accurately portray the market for the boats. It's common sense. It's why when you buy or sell privately the market is higher on both ends. Why? Because you are cutting out an entire money making position in the chain that has to be inflated or deflated to account for profit margins.

But I'll continue to argue the idea that when you drive it off you lose 20 percent.

Boats losing 10% a year is also grossly incorrect.

To know what the marker is doing you have to know exactly how boats are optioned etc.

Lots of people are sold what they think are loaded boats, that aren't loaded. That's a term thrown around loosely in the dealer world.

[Germaine Marine]

Gosh, I'm traveling and the above looks like a preschooler wrote it. Sorry-

[UNSTUCK]

I don't know. That MB I spoke of is advertised locally right now at $80k. The ad also says it's $10k cheaper than new. He'll sell it to me now for $77k. It's a 16 with like 80 hours on it. Sell price has dropped $13k in one year and who knows how bad the trade in was. My guess is around $70-72k. That's a 20% loss in the first year.
The blue and white 2016 Z3 I test drove is offered to me at just under $80k. I'm sure it sold at over $100k a year ago. What would the trade in have been? That's worse than MB.

[dakota4ce]

Unstuck--how good of a deal could you get on that 2016 F24 at Reboats? It is a $1200 set of GSA tabs away from being just like a 2017. The black/red one?

Have you ever chatted with him about that one?

[UNSTUCK]

I know nothing about a '16 f24. I'll have to look.

[Germaine Marine]

I don't know. That MB I spoke of is advertised locally right now at $80k. The ad also says it's $10k cheaper than new. He'll sell it to me now for $77k. It's a 16 with like 80 hours on it. Sell price has dropped $13k in one year and who knows how bad the trade in was. My guess is around $70-72k. That's a 20% loss in the first year.
The blue and white 2016 Z3 I test drove is offered to me at just under $80k. I'm sure it sold at over $100k a year ago. What would the trade in have been? That's worse than MB.

Dont believe everything you read, unless you can see the original sale invoice you are wasting your time assuming..........

[UNSTUCK]

Unstuck--how good of a deal could you get on that 2016 F24 at Reboats? It is a $1200 set of GSA tabs away from being just like a 2017. The black/red one?

Have you ever chatted with him about that one?

Talked to him last night. I didn't see it before because I never looked at his New inventory. He has it at $87k. Don't know what he would take for it, but we're headed in the wrong direction, price wise. I still like the look of the b52 that he has better, and at $7k cheaper from list prices its a better deal, even though it's not new.

At this point I would be hard pressed to buy anyones new boat, simply do to loss in value. Well Coleman does make a nice new canoe that I have my eye on. And it's under budget!

I bet I'm more conservative than even you, Dakota.

[Bakes5]

Went to the boat show Saturday. Really nice boats for sure; however, one thing is patently clear....there is no way I would have $100k more fun on the pimped out G23 than I will on my Z3. At some point, it's deminishing returns....for boats it's somewhere between $50 and $60......and I'm sure many would say significantly lower than that. Tons of great boats out there in that range. Turnkey, subfloor ballast boats? Nope. 23 footers that will get you, friends and family out on the lake doing what you love? Absolutely.

[Brianrzr]

I just bought my 2014 RZR over thanksgiving weekend. A Malibu dealer in Minnesota had it that new nothing about Tige's. I had been watching it since spring and the price dropping since Labor Day. Nobody else was going to buy that boat until the spring thaw, along way away in Minneapolis. That means several months of taking up space and eating floor plan dollars that could be used to sell new boats from a line they actually carry. When I reached the point of not being able to stand it any longer and I called, they practically begged me to "please, just make an offer". I ended up with it for about 50% of what it was new. Now the hardest part is, since I live in Michigan, I had to put it in storage on cyber Monday just before a big snow storm, and just get to look at pictures of it for the next few months. Maybe it would of been worth a couple of grand to have bought it in October and had just one ride. Lol.......just dreaming of spring.

[Coop]

Went to the boat show Saturday. Really nice boats for sure; however, one thing is patently clear....there is no way I would have $100k more fun on the pimped out G23 than I will on my Z3. At some point, it's deminishing returns....for boats it's somewhere between $50 and $60......and I'm sure many would say significantly lower than that. Tons of great boats out there in that range. Turnkey, subfloor ballast boats? Nope. 23 footers that will get you, friends and family out on the lake doing what you love? Absolutely.

Completely agree, Bakes.

But, are you saying a pimped out G23 is $100k more than the Z3? That doesn't sound right.

[Bakes5]

Well....it was actually well more than a hundred K than I paid for my Z3. It was something like $190k. That said, there was another there in the $140k range. Which is still $80k more that one "needs" to spend to get a great boat.

Really...the only boat I lusted after was the Nautique 200 ski boat. That thing was just beautiful and would get me something I could not get on my Z3...wispy slalom wakes.

[dakota4ce]

Turnkey subfloor ballast boat under 60K? Yes! My F24.

Have had people with boats +80K who said they were jealous of performance. The point of diminishing returns is where I like to hang out! So that message resonates with me. There's a point of max value that I love to hunt for--and there are a handful of sweet boats in that realm.


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