Best Time to Sell and Buy a Boat

[2024AR190 East TN]

I am looking for general opinions on best timing to buy and sell as well as good methods of determining fair pricing when selling and buying. Historically I have tried to use JD Power for values. However, lately I feel that it has been all over the place.

Our current setup is a 2024 Yamaha AR190 that we have really enjoyed this year. Bought it in April as a new leftover unit from a local dealer at a good price.

Admittedly, I didnt do enough research into the boat to determine if it will meet our long term needs. We frequently find ourselves running out of room. We also are getting into lots of wake sports and are looking at moving into a larger v-drive wake/surf boat.

It seems like the market is flooded with boats right now at the end of the season making pricing slightly better when buying. However, it seems like a difficult time to sell.

I have reached out to a few dealers with boats that we like and have received trade in values around 70-75% what I think we can sell for private party. Not sure how fair those numbers are since I have never traded anything into a dealer before.

Anyways, I appreciate any input or personal experiences in what has worked best for other folks. This is new to me since this is our first boat.

 

[BumbleBee255]

Sell in the spring, buy in Nov/Dec. You will ALWAYS get way less than market value when trading in because the dealer needs to make money from the resale. Seems like lately any titled vehicles will trade in at $5000+ under market value. Dealers play dirty to cover the the huge overhead that they have.

 

[2024AR190 East TN]

Sell in the spring, buy in Nov/Dec. You will ALWAYS get way less than market value when trading in because the dealer needs to make money from the resale. Seems like lately any titled vehicles will trade in at $5000+ under market value. Dealers play dirty to cover the the huge overhead that they have.

That tracks on trade values I have seen the last week or so. In my case I am leaning towards putting the boat up over the winter and trying to sell in the spring.