Utopia Too Fast

[venicestate]

We are a retired couple who recently purchased a waterfront home in Venice, Florida which came with a barely used 18' See Doo Utopia. It came with a trailer and was kept in the attached garage. We have taken it out a few times and, although it is a very nice boat, it is a bit too fast for us. At this stage of our lives we are more of the leisurely pontoon boat types. We have a Freedom Boat Club facility nearby which may be more practical for our limited useage. I am writing to ask if anyone knows if there is a Kelley Blue Book type of guide to determine what a fair current value would be if we did decide to sell.

Thanks, John

 

[FULL-THROTTLE]

Price

I would recommend,

www.nadaguides.com

It will give you the retail and trade in value. I have found it very helpful and realistic for sale prices.

Any chance you want to donate it to a hard working military dad????

Just joking, you have a nice boat that should give you a good sale price.

Good Luck,

Fran

 

[venicestate]

Fran,

Thanks for your input. I was wondering where my post went. I placed it under General Discussion on Saturday and quickly had a reply from someone who was ready to buy. He caught me by surprise. When I went back to the site on Sunday my past was gone. When I was alerted to your post today..there it was again. This time on Buy/Sell/Trade.

That same poster also suggested the NADA site and I was able to negotiate my way thru to be able to get some starting information. I was surprised to only find Low Retail and Average Retail figures. Since mine has hardly been used and is in showroom condition where do I find the High Retail results? I also noticed that some people are able to disclose the number of hours of use on their boats. Is there an hour meter hidden somewhere or does it have a built in computer memory that I can plug into?

Thanks, John

 

[Sikiguya]

NADA is just a guide

NADA is just a guide. What anything is worth is what someone is willing to pay for it. The good news is that it is prime boating season and the demand is high now. If you feel the boat is worth more, than list a price higher than what NADA has. If you are out of line, your phone will be quiet....too low and it will ring like crazy.

You may want to take it to a dealer and have the hour verified and the compression of the engine checked. People shopping for this boat will ask for this info. The better the information....i.e. low hour will support a higher asking price.

Good luck!!!:cheers:

 

[venicestate]

Siki,

Great Info. I will make an appointment with a local shop to get the compression and hour data documented.

Many Thanks, John

 

[ScottZ]

Boat

I ahve a really nice pontoon boat...Id work out a trade with you...The boat is almost new maybe have 20 hours on it....Let me know if you interested i can get you some pix of it thanx...........Tuckin18s@yahoo.com

 

[venicestate]

Scott,

Unfortunately really don't use our existing boat very much. We are investigating joining the Freedom Boat Club. From what we've learned they started down here in Florida about 20 years ago and now have about 50 locations around the country. They charge an initial membership fee and a monthly fee. After that we just reserve the boat and just pay for the gas we use. It gives us the opportunity to use several types of boats at any of their locations. For our limited use it seems to make sense.

Good Luck, John

 

[kcr357]

Right now people are paying $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for just about anything that floats. An aquaintence of mine who fixes and sells boats put a 95 sportster on craigslist for 3500(over twice what it books for) and is getting plenty of serious calls about it. Its a sellers marker for sure, there are very few boats for sale, at least in craigslist. If its taken care of and well maitained, so much the better.