Hours & boat price

If a 2 yr old Brand X boat(respectable boat company) with 40 hours cost 35k, what is the typical depreciation if the same boat has 350 hours on it?? Is there a standard deduction??

there is a lot of varaibles just like cars... some depreciate quicker than others...

but check out nadaguide.com... its like the kelleybluebook for boats

I once saw a list of boat brands and estimated depreciation.
In general, the list showed that the fist year can be 5-10%, then it slows down.
For smaller i/o's (bayliners) rates were much higher than skiboats. 3-6% is what I remember seeing for CC, MC, Malibu etc...

Seems like you are asking about use and depreciation. Comparing 40 hrs to 350 hrs, I would say that is about $1500-2000. I got this number by factoring 3% depreciation over 2 years (2 years being about the added wear of the extra 310 hrs).

But if the boat was well cared for, the difference might be moot. Same could be said for a boat with very few hours, but neglected.

hope my logic helps you out....

Just me personally, but I would "penalize" the boat more than that. I would want to see at least a $4,000 difference between the boats. But maybe thats because I have a loaded '01 VLX for sale with low (110) hours. Anyone interested drop an email.

I would by a higher hour boat in most cases. Often the lower hour boat has been neglected while the higher boat has been used often and had regular maintenance. You will also often find that the higher hour boat has an owner that cares more for the boat and is upgrading to another new boat. Usually the low hour boat was bought because the person thought they needed a boat, then found out they really didn't want it that bad.

In my experience, the hour difference will make a lot smaller difference than say a car with 10,000 miles compared to one with 50,000 miles. I wouldn't expect for anymore than say a $1000 difference. 350 hours is not many at all. That would be very low miles on a car.

nick is correct i have an 03 with 180 hours that looks better than almost all low hour boats, and for the exact same reasons nick mentioned.

Comparing two year old boats, one at 40 hours and one at 350 hours.These represent two ends of the extreme.

On a serious day of wakeboarding I might put 8 hours on the engine. 40 hours, that is like 5 ski trips over two years! Why did they buy the boat if they only used it twice a year?



Consider that the first 25 hours is the "break in" period. The first few hours you generally drive the boat very easy, changing speeds often, never driving it too hard or too fast. You can generally forget skiing or wakeboarding during this period so I have always gone for a sightseeing cruise.

I would be concerned that the low useage might indicate that the break in period was skipped and/or the first oil change (25 hours) was skipped (check to see if it still has the factory oil filter).


On the other hand, 350 hours would require 44 "serious" days to run up that many hours. This person is using his boat. Take a look at the boat, does it look used? If not, then it indicates that he took good care of it, which is good. After 350 hours any problems related to the inital break in should be obvious.

I would be a bit skeptical of either of these boats: one because the hours are too high and the other because the hours are too low. If the low hours boat was broken in properly, maintained and stored well (covering a boat wet can lead to mildew and rot in the seats) then it could be a bargin.

If the high hours boat was properly maintained and well cared for then it can be just as nice.

Rod

350 isn't outrageous, especially if you are on a private lake. We have 300 on ours right now, took possesion in Nov. of '02 as an early '03 model. We use the boat from Feb/March to November/Dec in Kansas, so if you were in a warmer climate, you could easily do 200+ hours a year.

Here's the deal. I know it's a wakeboard camp's boat. I know it's a good boat and it's well-maintained. It is a 04 model. Yea, they put some serious hours on it. But I want to know how far I can realistically push the dealer(the dealer let the camp "demo" the boat) on the price.

350 is low on a camp boat. A lot of ski schools will put between 1000 and 4000 hours on a boat in the first couple years.