Is the used boat market dead?
 

I've been trying to sell my Sonic for a couple months now and it has gotten to where I have no calls at all? Is there something wrong with the boat? The price? Or is the market just really slow now?

Here is the ad from the classifieds:
http://www.offshoreonly.com/classifi...o34713-en.html

post more pictures on the ad page.

Agreed, more pics of the interior, cabin and paint. Your add seems kind of focused on mechanical upgrades. Have you tryed Ebay? Best of luck. I've always liked Sonics.

I think you hit the nail on the head & it will be getting worse as winter approaches in the boat market. I gave up on selling my boat.

have you tried powerboat listings? looks like a steal!

x3 on the pictures. People buy boats from all over the country and need great pics to tell the story of the boat before the commit to drive and look at it.

buyers who haven't bought yet will likely start waiting until winter thinking they can get a steal........I used to buy to re-sell and the next 4-5 months were always dead.

You have to price the boat right, not saying your boat is not priced right.I bought 2 boats with in a year an half, and sold both of them already for what we paid for them.Good luck....

I totally agree about more and better pictures. My opinion is that 725HP 540's and 100MPH claims scare a lot of people away. The ad probably makes the average guy think expensive time bomb. If it had HP500's and ran 75, it would probably be gone already. It looks like it is a really sharp boat and I think it is priced aggressively. Sonics seem to be a very popular boat with a good reputation. I wish you luck. Too bad you don't have a buddy that wanted top shelf engines and had a nice set of 502's to trade in.

X2
Who built the motors? Most people are afraid of no name built motors. More pictures and just say nice performance. Insurance can be a problem big hp claims backed up by dyno run. Your price??

Thanks guys for the input. Bob Madara sent me all the important parts (cams, heads, and carbs), and I had the engines built locally by my preferred machine shop that builds almost all my motors. They have been in the racing business for over 30 years.

On the pics..... I have videos that can be emailed on request that detail every inch of the boat including running the motors, etc.

I guess the 725hp does scare some.... but my theory is, it is nice to have it but you don't have to use it. Better to have and not need, than to want and not have. hahaha.

In general, it seems like used market is still very slow. Stuff that seems to move is being given away.

niceguy, what motors were originally in the boat and what drives are you using? I thought the add mentioned Bravo 1's, but that seems like a lot of HP to be going through a standard Bravo. By the way I am asking because I have a buddy looking to upgrade. He currently has a an 03 Stingray 230SS with a 496 HO. He is a little leary about going with a boat older than his, but wants something bigger and is hoping to get something at least as fast as what he has. Are you at all interested in a partial trade or do you want cash only?

I am a potential buyer, but am not starting a serious search until closer to spring, but when I look at an ad, pictures are a big thing I look at. Ads focusing strictly on a stereo upgrade or built engines without knowing who built them or if they are reputable is a turn off to me. I would rather have something stock. Seeing how much went into building a motor does make me think "How many problems is this going to cause?" As a buyer, I also don't want to have to email a seller and request pictures and waste your time or mine or give false impression. I want to see as much of the boat and description in the ad that I can. If it looks good, then I will contact with the intent on a potential purchase. Price is a big factor too. I've seen a couple boats that are almost identical but may be the difference in a few thousand dollars. If by chance they are both in the same condition, of course I would go with the less expensive. Why spend more money for an identical boat?

Seems the sub-30' singles are still selling strong which, seeing as I have a 29' coming on the market I'm glad to see!!! :drink:

big differences in price are due in large part to how much the owner owes on the boat...if an owner is upside down, the asking price is outrageous...

i have seen identical boats listed with a 15k in between them...they are easy to spot.

some people are willing to sit on a boat longer than others...market always dictates a sale.

X2 and the fact that the motors only have 2 hours on them scares me...I would like to know that the boat has been used on the current setup ...rather then hoping the boat will stay running...not saying that they are not build right just that i would like to see more hours on them....

Or, I was just lucky. I sold my boat in 2 weeks.

I agree about the pics and the motors. I think OSO allows 10 pics, you should have 10.

It could be the size of the boat too. If you are going to deal with big power, big tow rigs, etc. might as well go 35 or 38ft.

You may be better off putting some stock 502s in there and selling boat for less and then selling engines seperately.
Otherwise you will need to be willing to come down till it sells
and take a bigger hit.
If you want top dollar I suggest just using it till market rebounds,
too many great deals out there right and financing almost non-existant now so buyers with actual cash in hand can pick and choose.

Put your hi-res pics and videos on an outside site, and post the link to it in your ad.
And post the name of the builder, regardless of how unknown you think he may be. Otherwise it may seem like you are hiding something.

I believe this is the main secret to my success on selling things. I use smugmug and always host my own photos there and link to it in an ad. That way the size can be huge, and I can add anything to it that someone requests without having to go back and change a half dozen ads.
Link



It's that easy.