March 16, 2012. Samuel Valero
In determining an accurate market value for your boat, most people would go to Kelly blue book for boats. However, they will be disappointed. There is no Kelley blue book for boats. Kelly blue book determines values for cars and RVs, but they do not determine values for boats.
In order to find a market price for your boat, you will need to go to NADA guide online. NADA works much like Kelly blue book. You just put in the information like the year, the make, and the model of your boat and it will give you a fairly accurate market value. But first, there are a few things to consider when you are pricing your boat, which are as follows.
First, when NADA asks you to select options, be sure that any options you select our actual upgrades for the boat. If something comes standard in the boat and yo put it in as an upgrade, that particular upgrade will be valued twice, giving you an inaccurate price. For instance, let’s assume you have an electric downrigger on your boat. NADA will increase the price by about $500, but if this comes standard, NADA would already have included that in the price and you’d be overpricing your boat by $500.
The second thing to consider when you’re using a NADA guide is the prices that they give you. They will give you a suggested list price, a low retail, and an average retail. The suggested list price is usually about twice the low retail price. When you are buying a boat from a dealership, you can expect to pay the suggested list price. You are paying this in exchange for being able to use a company’s name and reputation to back up the value of the boat. And sometimes, dealerships will do a thorough inspection and guarantee it as well. If you are trying to sell your boat, you’ll be looking at closer to the low retail value. But before you make an assumption that low retail is what your boat is valued at, do some research in the nearest 200 miles. Find other boats for sale, and you can price your own boat pretty similar to other boats that are like yours.
Updated March 16, 2012. Published September 5, 2011. Samuel Valero
