Mastercraft and Nautique resale much worse than Moomba

I'm looking at getting a new boat and one of my considerations is depreciation and resale value. I did a quick comparison of resale values at nadaguides.com for a SANTE, an X-2 and a Mobius LSV--all 2007 models (~4 years old).

After 4 years the X-2 is only worth 61% ($36,830) of it's original MSRP ($60,370) , the Nautique is worth 65%($40,570) of it's original MSRP ($62,012) and the Moomba is worth 77% ($28,580) of it's original MSRP ($36,995).

In some ways I'm surprised by this--I would expect more expensive boats to be better built, more reliable and therefore have better resale value. Looking at the depreciation values tends to make me think they may just be overpriced. Anyone owned a Moomba and an X-2 or Nautique that would care to chime in? Are they better quality or just overpriced?

i'd be willing to bet that nautiques and mastercrafts are sold new much lower below msrp than moomba, but i could be wrong.

I had a 1992 Nautique Excel it was 26000 with the trailer. I sold it for 10000 in 2007 with 500 hours on it.Iwas very pleased with the resale.I then purchased a 2007 Tige 22ve for 52000 and sold it this year for 40000.I likewise was pleased with it's resale as it had 426 hours on it,but was very well maintained.All of the boats you mentioned are good boats,but you should buy a boat that you like best and not worry about resale unless you aren't sure it's what you want.

True, but, in the past I haven't considered depreciation as much. I always think, "I'll keep it 'til it dies" but I end up wanting something newer in a few years. This time I'm trying to think ahead a little bit. :-)

tro, good point. That's possible. It's the same way with cars when they offer huge rebates--it makes the depreciation numbers virtually meaningless if they compare them to MSRP since no one's buying them at that price.

Now for the reality, go out and find a 2008 X-2 for $36k...... not gonna happen.

Nada is correct on some things and way off on others, putting value to wake boats happens to be one of them... especially upper end boats.
The market brings much more than what NADA claims, fact.

time will tell. I bought my '02 SAN new for $36k. Clear to guess what % of that it's worth darn near 10 years later? I'm going to say 80-85%.

It is never an apples to apples comparison when you look pre-2007. At that time, boats were going up so fast in price, that you could buy new boats and sell them for what you paid 2-3 years later.

MCs & Nautiques are way overpriced.... period.

When I was buying my boat this year, used Moombas were going for the same price as the higher name boats for the same year/condition/features/hours. My thought was why would I buy a Moomba when I could buy all of these other better brands for the same money?

" I always think, "I'll keep it 'til it dies" but I end up wanting something newer in a few years". Dont you hate this. I was sure I would want to keep my X-2 for at least 10 years as it has everything I could ever need in a boat but now 3 years later I am ready to move into an Axis and getting rid of the X-2 is proving to be a lot harder than I thought and I am willing to make someone a slamming deal.

I bought a 99 Moomba used, kept it for 2 summers, I put a tower and racks on it, but nothing more. The boat never gave me any trouble...the guy paid me the asking price. I was able to break even on the whole deal which rarely happens.

My first two boats

89' Ski Eliminator - added tower ballast stereo and 500 hours, sold it for $1000 more than I paid,
94' Hydrodyne Legacy - added tower, stereo, used it for 4 years and sold it for $500 more than I paid.

I've had good luck with resale of "off-brand" inboards.... the current boat is a nautique... we'll see how I do

Despite my best efforts I couldn't find anyone who would accept NADA for a MasterCraft or Nautique that was clean and in proper working order when I was looking last year. I was able to find plenty of Moombas at or below NADA though but they were all sold by the time I was able to get a response out of the sellers. By chance I did up getting a MasterCraft for well below NADA but it needed a lot of minor peripheral engine work and wasn't running at the time of purchase.

While I've one had 2 other boats and one currently, my experience is that Nautiques sell for more than the NADA value. I'm sure that might be the case with Mastercrafts as well. Just my 2 cents worth.

nice research. numbers dont lie.
i can add to your findings
i bought my 03 moomba LSV with 46 hours on it for 20,000
i TRADED it in two years later with 496 hours and they gave me 20,000, and resold it for 28,000.
was a great boat, and never had a single issue with it. wake was awesome too.

I've got a 2006 MC Maristar/X2 SS and put about 200 hours/year on it, in saltwater. I'm johnny-on-the-spot with routine maintenance, cleaning and hopefully preventative maintenance making the boat run great. The fact is...machines and parts break over time. With that in mind, my MC has performed excellent over the years with merely parts replacement needed which is a tribute to the MC quality...maybe I was lucky and got a good build!

Comparing those two to moomba is like comparing a mercedes benz to a volkswagen. Lol

[Comparing those two to moomba is like comparing a mercedes benz to a volkswagen. Lol]

Haha, for sure!!
Maybe consider buying 1 or 2 years old and let someone else take the drive off depreciation? Just a suggestion.
I believe the old adage stands true -you get what you pay for.

I really like my volkswagon! and Nautiques put out a great wake!

We got our 08 mobius LSV for 35k brand new and have been offered consistently between 29-31k on trade in as we're looking for a new boat. Our boat has 500 hours too. Not too bad.

I prefer the chevrolet to cadillac camparison. And I am more than happy with my chevrolet. i may not have a tocuh screen gizmo on the dash, hot and cold water shower, LEDS that light up everywhere, arm rest on the bow seats, or fancy looking carpet but the thing fires up every time i turn the key!

Bought an 02' Moomba - used it 3 years and 180 hours, added accessories and came out flush on the whole boat. only expense was gas and maitnence.

I bought a 2004 used SAN 210 back in 2006 that I sold for $1500 more what I paid for it when I sold it a year later. Keep in mind I bought it from a dealer so I didn't exactly steal the boat when I bought it.

Any wake boat can have good resale value if properly maintained and cared for IMO. Going off NADA is well, laughable.

Another thing to look at is Cost Of Ownership. According to your numbers, over 4 years, the MC cost $24K, the CC cost $22K and the Moomba cost $8K. Thats $6K/year vs $2K/year (a 3X difference in COO). And, this does not include the added insurance cost coming with a more expensive boat. So, yes, the value boats cost A LOT LESS to own especially in their younger years.

I bought my '05 X2 brand new for 35k. I sold it two years later with 250 hours for $36, 500. Guess you just have to make the right buy in the first place.

At that point the market was helping bolster used boat sales. New prices were going up so quickly it was rediculous. I'm sure the same cannot be done right now.

FWIW.... The boat before that was a Sanger that I bought new in '02. Had it for 3 years and 450 hours. Bought for $27k. Sold for $23,500. Not bad at all.

My 2000 BU VLX, that I recently sold, cost me $25K for 11 years of service -- thats a cost of $2272 per year. Not bad.

thats a good point on annual insurance cost.

Nautiques and mastercrafts also often sell 20,000 under retail while moomba just don't have that room to operate and need to deal more volume to compete. For example you can buy a loaded xstar new in the high 70s to low 80s even though the retail is like 115k. So if you turned around and sold it for a few grand less the book would tell u that you took a huge hit even though that's not true. Look at old school super airs and especially supersports. They are typically going waaaay over nada value, I can't remember the last time I saw a moomba sell for over it's suggested value

I'd like to see what the depreciation is out 10 or 15 years. I'll bet that's when the higher quality boats catch back up.

Purchased my 89 CC 2001 for $16,000 new and I think I could probably sell it for $7-8000. $8000/22=$363.66/year

Originally Posted by LowPressure

I'd like to see what the depreciation is out 10 or 15 years. I'll bet that's when the higher quality boats catch back up.

Purchased my 89 CC 2001 for $16,000 new and I think I could probably sell it for $7-8000. $8000/22=$363.66/year

Sent pm lowpressure

As others have mentioned. Show me an X2 that u will find under 40 l. Let alone a 210. Those numbers are way off. I will even say there is no way the moombaever left a dealer at that price
. Everyrhing is an added option on moomba and the price shoots up faster than u think. You put apples to apples w options and those numbers are way off in the real market.

Here by me people with clean sans or mc's are getting minimal 5 k above avg nada. Especially for 02-05 boats. In 10-15 years i bet the moomba takes a crap pn the ratio and mc nauti flatten out


I actually priced an 07 lsv and it was no where near 36k. It was close to 45 with minimal options. Also mc and nauti hsvr way more negotiating room off msrp than moomba

I don't know about that. My '07 Moomba LSV was $47K and I negotiated down to $39K OTD and it had everything (Including a tandem trailer) but the Roswell tower speakers/lightbar which i didn't want anyway.

im no so sure the quality difference is that great. if the MCs and CCs are about sell at 20k off MSRP and still be profitable then it seems the MSRP is highly inflated. They do cost more to make due to all the added features but I wouldn't say the components are more quality, just more components. Like a Cadillac to a Chevy, they are the same quality wise, the caddy just has more crap on it. Maybe vinyl grade and carpet will be better quality but up until recently MC and Moomba ran the same engines pretty much.

NADA uses a mathematical formula to price boats. They lump Moomba with MC and CC - even though there is a massive difference in layup, build quality, and rigging. The reason is there is simply not enough volume to report actual numbers as there is on automobiles. So, the short cut appears as if the MC and CC performs worse than the Moomba in terms of depreciation. However, the actual numbers from sales, if you track them, tell a very different story. At a certain age and condition, virtually all boats will be worth about the same. The real story is in the first 10-years. The better built boat will perform better - as long as there is demand.

A. Adillac is no where near a Chevy. Cadillac has an engine package you cant get on Chevy or Gmc. The leather in a caffy is differrnt. The electrical is diff. Theo ptions are differrn the suspension different. Most the electronics are similiar but not thr same. Asidr from being s Gm product they are no the same truck st all. There is a reason cadi's cost more. Same ss lexus and toyota. While both are decent products one is superior for sure and will cost more to produce.

Is the other product garbage..........no...........but it is def inferior. People are different and put more emphasis on different things hence the different products. However the term uou get what you pay for is def true. You decide what matters in the end and buy the product that fits your neefs