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I realize booklistings are lower than fair market value, particularly for a pristine condition freshwater boat, but how much lower than retail - 5%, 10% generally speaking?

I find it ridiculous to input an 84 Montauk into Blue Book with 90 motor and have it spit out it is only worth $3K. I can't imagine selling my Montauk for anything less than half the value of a new 170....about $12,500 for example.

Thoughts? I have seen a few postings over time on this issue, but never really saw a very analytical answer to date.

With the rising cost of new boats, you wonder when the market is going to bust like the overvalued stock market or the dot.com boom. Everyone seems to be waiting for the real estate market next to fall....can boats be far behind?

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Mambo,

most of these listing services derive the prices by dealers inputting what they are paying at auction and for trade-in's for the listed boats (atleast this is how the car prices work). With so few of these classic whalers ever being sold by these means I would think that would explain way the numbers are so far off. I can not think of any dealer that would take a classic whaler on trade in and give anything close to its fair market value.

All of these price guides are done with the best interest of the dealer in mind. I have gone to the NADA convention for the past 4 years for work and let me tell you it makes me sick seeing all the ways NADA helps to show the dealers to basically scam more money out of the customers pocket. Whether it is ways to make a small service issue into a POSSIBLE MAJOR issue for a vehicles owner to helping dealers through monopolizing used vehicle prices for the benefit of the dealer body (this is way these guides are published). It is frustrating. Of course the seminars are never titled like the above however, you can easily read between the lines.

Do it think there is a classic whaler bubble like realestate? No probably not. As for other new boats...I think there might be one.