Advice on my boat for sale.

Buying a new boat SOON. Still have my current boat that's not quite 4 years from new. It's relatively inexpensive.

Here's my question:
If it were you and you had the money to do so would you:
A) Trade your current boat in and be upside down on it and pay the difference?
B) Buy the new boat without a trade-in and wait for a buyer on your older boat?

The payment on my current boat is, again, relatively cheap so it's more of an annoyance than a burden.
The difference between trading it in and selling it myself is AT LEAST 3K.

It all depends on your financial situation......

this

If you are still making payments on the boat seems like it would be very difficult to have a buyer that was ready to go through the hoops of getting it paid off/swap loan into their own name. So I’d say you mine as well take the loss on it and trade it in.

You have inferred that your budget can handle a second payment. Therefore, have ur boat appraised from boat dealer and bank, be specific as to ur boats whistles and bells. Sell your boat now as used prices are generally higher in Summer months. This forum is an excellent platform to accomplish a solid boat transaction.
You might find that ur boat needs work in order to trade in and or sell outright. Therefore, the difference, boat as is, to a dealer may be equal to fixing said problems in order to sell to an individual.
I sold a boat and purchased a boat from this forum. I received lots of calls.

The difference in trading and selling should include the sales tax difference and the interest cost. 3k thats a bunch for me. I would sell the bought outright, add that to my boat fund and pay cash.

Me too. I have purchased two boats from sellers who still had the boats financed. I have also sold three boats that I had financed. The transactions went smoothly with the new loan spaying off the old loans. It is no big deal. Do whatever you can to get the most out of both deals. I wouldn't leave $3000 on the table.

Right. That's a jack plate and a power pole!

My only hesitation is potentially having to wait months...or maybe even till late spring next year before that buyer comes along. While I can afford it it just makes me cringe.

If your boat is a 18’er trade it in, they are a hard sell since everyone wants bigger boats.

It is. 18' 8". Good to know. Thanks for the comment. I myself am looking at a bigger boat.

Some will say that I’m wrong and you might find that I am because you might find that needle in the haystack pretty quickly. But when I sold my 18’5” Skeeter which was 1 owner in great shape it took forever to sell. The buyers will want to beat you down and make your life miserable too.


You might try selling it for a few weeks first and get lucky.

- You will pay the taxes on your new boat.
- The buyer will pay the taxes on your old boat.

Avoid this if you can by having your buyer ready to purchase your boat. Have the dealer of your new boat do an in-and-out for you. It works just like you traded it in. You save the tax amount on your old boat and gain the $3k that you speak of.

- I have done this many times and it is not that hard.
- Tell your buyer you have found a new boat at your dealer.
- Your dealer will take care of all his paper work; which saves him time and trouble of doing all the tax, title and license himself.
- It is all done through the mail. He will not have to go to the dealership to do anything. His bank will will take care of giving your dealer all the specifics.
- When your dealer gets the check for your old boat he can take it from your position and it is a done deal.

I bought a new and was just patient on the selling of old. Got the best price that way fwiw

Just trying to help and make my above post a little clearer.
- Be patient, talk to your dealer and pick out the boat you want. Put some money down to hold it until you find a buyer for your boat.
- If you sell your boat out right. You will make a little extra money; but without doing the IN-And-Out, that extra money will only pay your tax, title and license on that new boat.
- With doing the in-and-out with your dealer you win both ways. It works like a trade in and you save the taxes on what you sold it for and you make the extra money that you got out of it over and above of what the dealer would have given you for it; if you had just traded it in and not spent the time to find a buyer.

Now sometimes you can not have two recreation loans out. This would require you getting rid of one to finance the other.

That's all dependent on your credit rating and debt to income ratio. If you're stout then having multiple rec loans is a non issue.

That in and out deal is questionable on the legality and I got burned on it on cars twice. The gentleman I bought the car from ran it thru a friends dealership charged the appropriate fees but never paid them to the state. I got the title but when I went to sell I had to pay the sales tax on the previous transaction or they would not transfer the title. The other time was a dealer that went bankrupt and never paid the tax and same thing. Had the car for 4 years with title in hand and had to pay tax again even when I could show a receipt that it was paid to the dealership. I now pay my own sales tax.

This 100%. If you're making payments on a boat you're either dumb, young AND dumb, or you really like giving other people money as some form of charitable donation to THEIR boat fund. If it's the latter, PM me and I'll send you my paypal information.

Well aren’t you just a rich genius.