Should I Buy This New Boat?

ok i have a 2004 Moomba Mobius LSV its pretty basic i have my own ballast stuff and theres nothing else special about it, im paying $240/month for it and i have 8yrs left on payments paying 3.5% interest.

now i went to the boat show yesterday and my dealer did some #s for me since the new LSV is so freaking sick.

i get everything including, EFI Engine (i have Carb) Tower speakers, Perfect Pass (i dont have), Bimini (i dont have), Gravity Games Auto Ballast (i dont have), Heater (i dont have). pretty much loaded up. boat show has the 4 way free option upgrades which i would do Cover, Bimini, 3 year warrenty, and Wake Plate.

my payment would be Max $50 more which is MAX i can pay w/ trade in on my boat. i'd be paying 6.9% interest and taking a 15yr load.

Do you think it is worth it? im pretty excited about being able to get all these options that i wish i had.

Seriously, put together an Excel spreadsheet and do a cost analysis of it. I'm sure once you work it all out you will see that the costs far outweight the benefit. Then run the numbers if you were to add the cool options to your existing boat(except the engine). Or why not buy a used boat with less than 100 hours, let the original owner take the big hit on depreciation and you come out smelling like a rose? Buying new is retarded!! You should never Max yourself out with something like a boat. Is your personal (health/life) insurance covered? My healthy stepdad had a $300k emergency procedure, luckily he'd been paying his $180/ mo premiums and was fine. Anyhoo, I'm getting off track, I vote NO!!

agree w/ heavy. chances are you can find a loaded up ride with low hours and still finance it for 15 yrs. chances are your pmts wouldn't be lower than they are now (3.5 is a good rate). but maxing out your monthly cash flow is a bad idea. your dealer is just trying to get another sale out of you.

This may help, someone posted this excel spreadsheet some time ago.

Upload Boat_true_cost_spreadsheet-240130.xls (17.4 k)

ok i understand what you guys are saying, i didnt say i was "maxing" out what i can afford i didnt mean it like that, i just meant it as its the MAX im comfortable with.

i could probably afford up to $350 a month, but im def not comfortable paying that just in case i have a bad month w/ my job.

a big reason i like new is that i get a 3 yr warrenty, i love warrenty that will save me so much if anything wrong happened, i have 1yr left on my current warrenty now and figure i should sell my current boat now to get the most equity out of it.

and i think that spreadsheet is soooo far off, i remember looking at it.

(Message edited by mmobius2001 on February 20, 2006)

I think the only one coming into a good deal would be the dealer.Just my opinion.Selling your boat private party would be best if you must have a " new " boat.By trading in your boat the dealer will profit profit from the sale of your boat not you .

Big heavy is giving great advice. I have an XLV in near new condition with around 100 hours on it and I am forced into selling. I am letting it go for 35 grand with a $5000 sound system with install. Gravity cames addition with every feature. Although I will buy again when some things settle out.....there are always great deals out there if you look hard enough. Buying new is something I have considered but the thought of driving off the lot and losing about 5 grand right off the bat puts a hole in my stomache. On the flip side you are right, the warrenty is a nice thing to have and if you can afford it then by all means go with what you feel is right. I mean I have had my eye on this Enzo they want 52 grand for. Never in my life would I had ever thought I would even consider paying that much for a boat. Funny how your perspective changes.

Sell your boat private, buy a used one with the equipment you want. The newness of things wear off quick, but payments that linger on for an extra 8 years do not.

Sell your boat yourself, dealers always low ball you on a trade. I'm getting a new 06 LSV, the difference between an 04 or 05 compared to the 06 is pretty dramatic, Im stoked for the new one.

I understand the fact that you want the options your boat doesn't have, but personally I would keep your existing boat and just do the upgrades myself or have someone do them for you. Ballast, perfect pass, and biminis are not tough to install. Yes you will only be paying $50 more a month, but the thing your missing is you're gonna have payments for an extra seven years, and the amount of interest that's going to be added on. I made ammortization schedules for your loans for you on excel tha I'll attatch. Hopefully these will be useful to other people. I was able to estimate how much you would need to borrow and how much you borrowed on your last loan just by knowing your payments, interest rate, and loan term.

The bottom line is, by buying the new boat at 6.9% your going to spend roughly $19,800 on interest over 15 years (that's not a typo). On your current loan your spending roughly $5,000 on interest over what I'm estimating was a 10 year note. That's a huge difference. If the interest rates were the same I'd say consider the new boat, but they aren't. These amounts don't factor inflation into the equation, but you should be able to see you're basically spending a lot of extra money on interest, plus whatever your dealer is hosing you for on the trade. I think you're much better off making the upgrades to your existing boat and trying to save money for your next one. 3.9% is an incredible interest rate.

Upload boatloans.xls (74.2 k)

Note, on the excel file, there are tabs at the bottom, one sheet for the 10 year and one for the 15 year. Go to the bottom of the interest column and I have it summed up for each loan.

i appreciate the advice, and i know that i could do the upgrades myself but that doesnt change that the 06 is/has:

longer by 1 whole foot

Wider not sure how much.

thicker tower

300lbs heaiver

fits 3 additional passengers (size)

the seats are higher off the ground, the tower is 6inches higher than 04's.

carpeted through out the boat instead of just half.

that is the only thing holding me back is the extra 7yrs and interest, but for what i want and this boat has may out weigh it, theres no way that i will be able to get a used boat w/ this equiptment for 37k.

i do not have the option of buying used because its just too much work to sell my boat and im pretty sure there is not a boat out there w/ the options/warrenty and all out "newness" (hrs) of this boat.

Phil, what are they giving you for your 04, 37K for the boat you discribed sounds like a good deal to me. I accepted long ago that I will always have a boat payment and try and turn my boat every 2 or 3 years, the warranty is a good feeling, the other posts make good points, so go with what your gut tells you.

$23,500 just looking at the book for a quick reference, but im going back thursday and get them to up that or throw in alot of free options.

what i'll probably do is get them to up my boat cost up to put a bigger Down payment down to cover the options so the boat cost will be more like 35-36k but get like 25-26k for my boat.

Your boat on boattrader is going for between $29k - 34k. Either they are hooking you up with a deal or you are getting the shaft. Just sell your boat, and walk into the dealer with a smile and a fat checking account. If they give you $26k and deal with you on some options then I'd take it.

Devils advocate..... It sounds like you have your mind made up. Buy it.

Make sure all your bases are covered financially and make the plunge if that's what's gonna make you happy. Just don't justify it by saying it's a good investment. I did the same thing when I got rid of my '02 Sanger. Nothing at all wrong with the boat, but I loved the X2's. I tried talking myself into what a good deal I was getting, but really I just wanted the new boat. Deal is done now and I have no regrets.

does sound like your mind is made up. i'm sure you will enjoy the new boat!

$19,795.90 worth of interest on a $32,500, 15 year boat loan at 6.9%!!!

I think i have been talked out of even thinking about a new boat!

Of course that is if you keep the boat. If not you take the automatic price hit off the showroom floor for buying new (when you sell it).

It comes down to Wants VS. Needs... and $$$'s

yeah-- less then double the payments you could pay it off in 6 years... i could never imagine paying on a boat for 15 years....

Consider these two scenarios on a $350/mo for 15yr loan.

Person A: Pays $700 a month for 5 years. Then gets laid off. No cash reserves because he's been sinking it all into the boat. 6 months goes by, bank picks up the boat. He's out $42,000.

Person B: Pays $350 a month for 5 years. Meanwhile tucks $350 in a dedicated reserve account - while gaining interest. Gets laid off. He's got $21k sitting in the bank, he can make minimum payments for 5 years. Plenty of float time to get a new job. Or sell the boat or give it back to the bank. Or make a lump sum payoff once the savings exceeds the balance owing.

If you have the discipline to save the money, it may be advantageous to follow scenarios B. However, if that doesn't fit your lifestyle, then making double payments is better than making minimums.

I use www.INGDirect.com to execute this plan. 4.75%, auto withdrawals out of your primary savings/checking. And the money is sort of hidden away -- out of sight, out of mind.

Craig- just a note, if you doubled the pmts, you wouldn't be paying interest for 7/8 years out of the 15. So the total pmt amount would be less.

Keep in mind that if you only own the boat for a few years you only pay a fraction of the interest. Who really owns a boat for 15 years. I know there are those out there that do, but for most of the serious riders 2-5 years would be max.

I vote that you should keep your old boat and use the extra $$ you would spend on the new one to buy the extra accessories. Where dealers hook you is they point out the difference in payment and try to keep your total cost($xx.xx/mo x 12 mo x 15 years)out of the picture.

I agree Byrd. This is interesting cuz I'm prolly gonna buy a boat this time next year.

Byrd said: "Where dealers hook you is they point out the difference in payment and try to keep your total cost($xx.xx/mo x 12 mo x 15 years)out of the picture."
-so true.

Evan mentioned that most people only keep a boat for 2 to 5 years, well most of the interest is paid in the begining of the loan. In fact, with the 15 year note for $32,500 at 6.9%, you'll be paying $6300 in interest over the first 3 years, $10,000 over the first five. Add that $10,000 in interest to the depreciation of your boat after five years and you're really taking a bath.

I'm by no means saying don't buy the new boat, but you should realize how much it's really costing you if you do buy it. If you do take a loan like this out you should try to pay as much as you can in the early going.

yeah, once my sales pick back up i'll put double sometimes triple payments in it to pay it off/ get more equity out when i sell.

i decided that the next new boat after this will be an X-Star, i wont be able to afford that for awhile so i should be set.

So, let me ask you a question... If you had 10-12k laying around (just to put on your new or used wakeboard boat) what would you do with it?? In this instance lets say a brand new wakeboard boat 40,000+. Would you put the full amount DOWN on it?? Would you put 7k down on it and reserve the rest for upgrades (stereo)? Just curious as to what everyone would do.

I would recommend putting the full 12K down. You can finance stereo equipment for 0% intrest from best buy for electronics and not loose any money You will save intrest on the boat by lowering the principal of the loan.

(Message edited by depoint50ae on February 21, 2006)

just get the new boat, whats the difference between 8 yrs and 15? just don't think about it, you only live once, if i broke down the cost of owning my boat i would cry. i can afford the monthly so i just pay and don't think about it

Jim if I had an extra 10-12K laying around I would buy a 2nd house/property.

Entrust, that's the way I think also, I never factor the intrust in for the long hall (to depressing) 2 to 3 years is as long as I keep a boat, when you start closing in on 400 hours the value drops a lot. Checked out your web page, cool clothing.........

you should sell the moomba and buy a malibu

If I were Phil and had the extra cash laying around I would pay off the old boat and keep it}. The best option on anything that depreciates is NO PAYMENTS....

Can't go wrong with a Malibu man!

www.BakesOnline.com

Buying new is not "Retarded" if it's the only way to get exactly what you want. Retarded is cutting corners and compromising on something you may spend 50 G's on wishing you had this and that just to save 5 G's (10%). You can't take it with you and you could get hit by a bus tomorrow. When your life flashes before you don't you want to picture you and your family in that perfect boat you picked out custom?

Oil change and maintance, and consumables(oil grease etc) are the same thing, right?

Are boats the same as cars where you get better interest rates on new than used (1-2% in my experience)? That might shrink the spread b/w new (faster depreciation) v. used (higher interest rate) a little.

Also, probably mentioned above or already known, but dealer financing may not have the lowest interest rate. As someone considering a boat that hasn't researched the particulars, what interest rates do people with good credit have on their boats?

Out of curiosity, what is the VLX going for?