NADA value?

[La Porte Rouge]

I am in the market for a Hunter Passage 42 or 450. In looking at the boats available, most of them are priced considerably above the NADA retail value. Anyone know why this is? Is the NADA value a good guideline to go by?

[sailorboy1]

because NADA value is always low for any boat you lookup

[tomfl]

NADA value is used by lending institutions to determine how much they will loan on a boat, not how much you may have to pay for it.

[WebWench]

I think it is low because boats have a lot of upgrades....especially cruising boats. These can account for tens of thousands of dollars. That is not so common in cars where a limited number of upgrades are available.
Also the older a boat gets the more it's value becomes dependent on how good a job in maintenance an owner has done. That's why you can have two boats, same year models and thousands of dollars different in price.
In this respect boats are more like houses than cars. You can look at two different houses with 2000 square feet and the prices are very very different depending on the quality of build as well as location and upgrades.

[colemj]

The NADA values are completely useless for boats that are not manufactured by the thousands each year, with many changing hands each year for several years. They may be a valid reference for jet skis, pontoon boats and Hobie cats, but they will not have any basis in reality for a large cruising boat.

Your local bank may use strict NADA values, but marine lenders understand this much better.

For an example, our 1998 Manta 40 NADA value is $77,000. You will never find a Manta 40 in any condition for less than twice that price - with all Manta 40's sold over the past 10 years going for more than three times that price.

Besides, if you want to know what a Hunter is worth, just ask on these forums! (sorry, I couldn't help myself)

Mark

[belizesailor]

Try BucNet instead. More realistic prices for mid sized boats.

NADA might be OK for a bass fishing boat, but I've not found it useful for larger boats.

[knotnow]

As a dealer I always scratch my head as to what algorithm NADA bases their boat values on. I would love to take nice trade-ins at their average retail price. I could retire and live in the windwards next year. We have customers coming in with NADA sheets wanting us to sell a boat for what NADA publishes and we politely tell them to order one from them.

Stepping off the soap box now as I think I need a beer.

[La Porte Rouge]

Thanks for the response and the info. And, yeah, I knew the Hunter comment was coming.