BOAT VALUES

When you are purchasing a boat or insuring one, it’s important to get the most current and accurate value possible. Accurate valuation is something that I take very seriously.

For purchases, you need to know if the boat is worth the asking price. And when you are insuring, you need to protect your asset so that you are protected if something goes wrong.

Maritime Surveyors assigns the following three values on the written survey report:

Replacement Value

The value of the boat if it were new, in present dollars. This can often be a bit challenging as your boat model may not be in production today. It takes some time but we utilize time tested methods of estimating what your boat would cost if were new today. This value is reviewed by your insurance company to help them determine quality of build and what potential repairs may cost.

Fair Market Value

This is the value most buyers and owners are interested in. It is an estimate of what the fair market value of the boat in the present market. Many factors are taken in to consideration such as comparable boats in the present market, location, historical data from several sources including public and private boat value databases.

Fair Market Value after Recommendations

This value can be a bit confusing. If there are few recommendations on the report of survey, the fair market value and fair market value after recommendations will probably be about the same. However, if the boat needs say $2,000. of repairs, the fair market value after recommendations value may be more or less than the repairs cost.

Here’s an example: 35′ Powerboat that requires $2,000. of repairs and maintenance.

• Replacement Value: $ 157,000.
• Fair Market Value: $ 89,500.
• Fair Market Value after Recommendations: $ 90,000.

You can see that in the above example, the difference between the fair market value and the fair market value after recommendations is only $500. So where did the other $1,500. go? Well, in this example the $2,000. reflected estimates of repair but those repairs don’t increase the value dollar for dollar.