Nada guide for boats accurate?

[Nokomis]

Just wondering how accurate the Nada guide is for used boats. I may be selling my 24 Stealth and Im trying to figure out where to price it.
Thanks in advance

[Cole Sanger]

From what I have seen, they are usually way off. The crappy thing is the insurance companies use it for replacement costs. I personally look on Boattrader.com and look around the country for a specific boat and see what it is going for. That will usually tell you what a boat is worth. You will usually get a few boats that are way over priced, and a few that are way under priced. The rest are usually the fair price.

[SteelClipper]

My canned response to this question is, "depends on whether you're selling or buying."
If you're buying, go NADA. If you're selling, ABOS Marine Blue Book or BUC Research guide would be two good references.
I use all three with regularity in my job.
The final - and most important - is the gauge asking prices on boat market websites. Most insurance companies use these as a decent gauge of the market value of a boat.

[Kilrtoy]

I would think NADA is pretty close.....
EVEN thou SELLERS hate it......

[Keith E. Sayre]

Sorry guys, if the NADA book is accurate at all it is purely coincidental. You see, unlike the truck or car NADA books that use a hundred thousand dealers
and their input to justify their numbers--the boat book doesn't use any input
from any dealers to justify their boat numbers. Their book is a "straightline"
depreciation book. In other words, so many percentage for the first year and so much for the second year, then the third year etc. So if they hit it right
on the money, it is merely a coincidence. Here's an example: We occasionally get a used 1994 or 1995 deckboat in here and we'll sell it for
about $55,000. I'll get a call from the lender asking me what's going on
because the NADA book will say that it's worth about $20,000.
Your boat is worth what someone will pay for it. The only accurate way to
gauge what that number is that I have found is to take a bunch of 6 month old boat traders and call people that have sold their similar boats and find out what they actually got for them. They're usually happy to talk and help out.
Good Luck!
Keith Sayre
Conquest Boats

[TCHB]

NADA seems real low.
Boat Trader is the real market and will set the price. Dealers will give you more for your boat but they will make it up on the new boat.

[78' CANAM]

I was looking for a 21' Daytona this year and the NADA guides were considerably lower than what everyone one was asking for them in the trader / boat trader.com.
Like Sayre said, "it's all about what someone will pay." To me the pricing was right in the Trader. Have a marine survey done instead. most banks will except them as well.

[HocusPocus]

i like to use nada for both buying and selling boats. i have found many boats over the years listed way below nada, of course they all needed a little work. i have had good luck fixing them up and selling around the nada values and still making a little cash. its in no way a business for me, just a fun hobby that lets me experience a lot of different kinds of boats.
nada really doesn't take in consideration things like upgraded motors, various bling bling items, new interiors or if it was meticulously maintained by the previous owner.
i like to see what simular boats are selling for, then check nada and the BUC values. that should give you a pretty good idea of where to start your price.
i was at a boat dealer, looking at a used boat that was price a little over nada. i asked if he would come closer to the nada price and he said that they don't go by nada. then when i mentioned a possible trade in.. the first thing he did was pull out the nada book on it. i didn't buy from him.