This year has been a banner year for buying boats at state or local bank liquidated boat auctions. Unashamedly, I’ve been a long time boat auction junkie it’s generally accepted that a repo boat sold at auction will offer a 15-20% savings relative to retail.
That’s significant especially when you figure larger vessels retailing over $100K..the savings can be really be worth while. Now fast forward to today where the boat auction climate has only served to increase that percentage to as high as 30%.
Boat auction in the states — especially in the harder hit(Florida, California, New York, and Arizona) are seeing financial institutions including) credit unions become more aggressive in their re-marketing strategies of ‘non-performing’ assets. SunTrust Banks Senior V.P. Don Parkhurst concluded with regards to their repossessed boat inventory within todays climate, “You’ve just got to lower the price to where you can move it. You’ve just got to take the hit.”
The continued escalation in repossessed boats across the U.S. with most lenders has attracted first-time buyers who can now literally buy the same but later model vessel for significantly less than what a new boat buyer threw down 3-4 years ago for the same vessel. Auction companies like National liquidators and Boat Auctions Direct have reported that with the decline of the U.S. dollar coupled the rise of repo boats has perked the interest of shrewd overseas buyers particularly from Australia, UK, and Canada who have been taking advantage of this high tide.
So how can you save on a boat this year as well? According to the experts the key is regularly reviewing auction listings. Regularly attending online listings, classifieds, and dealer liquidations. Only by comparing asking prices and recent sales of similar models of the type of boat you’re interested in can you brag about savings of 50% or more. It’s really not rocket science.