Questions on buying used Bennington

[Hockeyguy4u]

I have the opportunity to buy a used 2018 Bennington 25RSBA tritoon with the Yamaha 250hp engine from a dealer in Wisconsin. It has many upgrades, such as elliptical ESP sport package, blackout package, upgraded speakers, and diamond stitching. A total of 78 hours of use. It appears to be in excellent condition. He wants $75K for it (I believe original MSRP was over $120K). Is this a fair price ? Thank you!

 

[Potomacbassin’]

That sounds like a fair price, but don’t be enamored with the MSRP which is generally 20-25% over what most people actually pay. The ESP is an expensive upgrade as is the blackout, so I would guess the original price paid was in the high $80’s to low $90’s. Not a “fire sale” number so maybe start at $70?.

 

[Marantzer]

I'd echo that MSRP is a bit arbitrary as I've heard of discounts between 0% and 40%+ off of that number. Generally the more high-end the model of boat within a line, the greater room there is for negotiation. I wouldn't say it's an incredible price, but I also wouldn't say you're getting hosed either for a used boat. Bennington's retain their value better than most on the market. The one other factor you'd want to consider is that, despite the ambiguity around the economy, empirical data suggest that the boat market has tightened. COVID managed to restrict supply further and seemingly increase demand, so it does not appear to be the best time to be negotiating a boat.

 

[Vikingstaff]

I think the advice above is good food for thought. Likewise, if you priced that boat up new now, and as tight as the market is going into summer and coming off production shut downs, I think its a nice price.

Is 75k the asking list price, or something you negotiated to already? Frankly, you are getting a lot of boat at that price, and it likley would be hard to beat. Previously owned newer model Bennington’s that are in good shape can often command close to their original purchase price.

That said, I am enjoy a good negotiation. If $75k is the current asking price, I’d offer 68-70k. If they said yes, I’d lock it in with a deposit due to general boat scarcity as stated above. You likely wont get a better boat in that price range used.

 

[sjhorner9475]

I would agree with the above. It sounds like a good price. If you know all or most of the options on the boat, you can get a price estimate using the following link:

Research New Boat Prices & Used Boat Values

Power boat, Sailboat Prices & Personal Watercraft Values - J.D. Power

www.nadaguides.com

 

[harski]

Here is my observation from my search last summer. All used Bennington's with trailers from dealers or PP will be about 10K over Nada. If you have patience wait to find one at NADA or as others said try to get the number down as far as you can. I'm stubborn and waited a while but found one at high Nada that was in great shape and low hours. They are far and few in-between but the ultimate question is how bad do you want it?