lack of repossessions is hardly a straight forward comparison of the health of the economy

in autos in particular where subprime lending is heaviest lack of repos either means one of three things (none good for the overall economy)

1. lenders have so damn many repos on the lot and they are so worthless that is is a losing proposition to go pick up another one

2. lack of subprime lending because people with garbage credit can't get a loan at any price especially when combined with the above where the secured asset is dropping like a rock in value and will be hard to remarket

3. even though there are sales and loans again the levels are so far below where they used to be that the number of repos you get even if the same % of repos VS sales is still lower than if there was a healthy economy

as pointed about above by another forum member there are risk factors involved in banking and when things are good banks can take more risk especially if they feel the secured asset will maintain some value

now the higher end boats like discussed on this forum have never been the real domain of subprime loans, but of course national liquidators and others do not just pick up high end boats they pick them all up

was the economy worse off when those places were full of boats yes it was, but being better than total crap is not really a "recovery" nor is it a strong economy especially when there is so much instability and worse when there is a lot of disconnect between financial markets and man on the streets

and boats have always been (well for far too long anyway) about long term loans for stupid lengths of time and there were plenty of people buying seadoo wake runner crap for 72 months at near subprime rates when the economy was good and most of the companies that built crap like that (seadoo being one of the exceptions) have long ago closed shop to never come back no matter what major player might have wanted the name/"brand"......and those left are too busy degrading former decent names like happened to others many many years back when boating really took off

fuel cost, manufacturing cost, competition having washed out of the industry and on and on have driven up boat (and many other product) cost as well and people do not have the disposable income for boats and tow vehicles that they once had and unless things get a lot better much of that will not come back and the remaining manufacturers are currently making enough of a margin on the sales they do have (and some have very good sales) that it is not worth the risk to them to expand especially with so much economic uncertainty and the high fluctuation in things like fuel prices that help reduce demand for their products

Fuel prices dont help. But the reason the industry went nuts in the late 90's and early 2000's was semi artificial. Everybody took out a second mortgage and refi then they bought a boat. Besides most of the "family" boats right now are jet boats and pretty good on gas.

I also agree with what you're saying. If you talk to people in the boating community around here Everyone is complaining about the price of fuel. Looks like another summer of $5.00 a gal . People just don't have the extra income when they are being hit in every direction. Fuel prices effect the cost of everything in our economy . Everyone in the northeast has payed more money for heat,electric , groceries and everything else this winter , if they still have a boat they won't be able to go very far with it.

Found their boat list. Not much for selection.

http://www.harrisonmarine.com/boat_list.cfm

IMHO, uncertainty of the economy and future is the biggest offender, not the actual "state" of the economy whatever that really is. Those old enough will remember periods when the economy was good and conditions stable for the foreseeable future and society and laws were also pretty stable and lots of things were bought on credit. Since 2007 and Obama's election there have been economic as well as social upheavals creating feelings of uncertainty in many if not most of us usually capable of buying and financing what we want and need. With laws changing fast and fear of new taxes and more "entitlements" at the whim of a politician's promise to the mass voter most of the middle class are feeling very uncertain.

IMHO.

Maybe the insurance companies and banks found out how they do business. every time I tried to deal with them I was always "leaked some information they are not supposed to divulge". Only problem everyone on that particular boat got the same story. Several times I compared notes with other people that were interested or bidding on the same boat and we were all fed the same line of crap.
I was a high bidder on a Doug wright and they said the bank decided not to sell it. 2 weeks later up for sale again and sold for a couple grand more.
Bunch of bull. I will never deal with them!

Plenty of this back handed crap in the housing market too.

Hey, I resemble that story. And I know one of the guys that was told the same crap.

You were obviously dealing with national liquidators. I have bought about ten boats from another repo company. Never had that happen. I talked to national liquidators once about a boat and realized they suck..

Gino - Agreed, I got the same BS line on a 38 Cig TG, got jerked around on the first deal. Bought the second deal, but was not happy with the integrity of the process. I TOTALLY agree with you.