Do You Want Great Deal on a "NEW" Boat?

If you are looking for a deal on a "New" boat, then a non-current model boat might be a good thing. Non-current model boats can be a great deal, or they can be a bad investment. All boat manufacturers roll over their model year designations sometime in late summer to early fall. Boats from the previous model year that remain in a boat dealer's inventory are considered non-current boats. The boat dealer is more than ready to move these boats in order to clear their floor plan account for the new year, and to make space in the showroom for the new boats. Great deals can be had in late summer and at the fall boat shows on these boats. Before you waste the summer waiting for the fall special. Let's consider some of the drawbacks on non-current boats.

First, once you sign the sales contract on a boat it is instantly a "used" boat. The most current used boat valuation books like the N.A.D.A. guide, www.nadaguides.com and the BUC Book, www.bucvalu.com are updated several times a year. Even if you buy your boat at the spring boat show, by early fall it is considered a year old and the valuations will reflect that. Like cars, boats depreciate in value significantly during the first two years. You want to make sure that if that particular boat became a year old, according to the valuation book, while it was sitting on the boat dealer's lot, that the boat dealer pays the depreciation. Not you.

You should never pay more than the average used boat value for a non-current boat. Check the N.A.D.A. and BUC websites. Look for when these companies are about to release the newest version of their guides. If a new value guide is due to be released shortly after your planned purchase, you may want to wait and see what it says about the particular model you are investigating. Used values can drop as much as 20% between updates of the valuation guides.

If you can get a boat at, or close to, the average used boat valuation but with brand new factory warranties you have done very well for yourself. If you can not get close to the average used valuation, you should be better off spending a little more for a current model year boat.

So with a little work, you should be able to find a great deal on a "NEW" boat.