The Financial Case for Donating an Old Boat

One of the best ways to get a funny look from someone's face is to
tell them you are interested in giving your boat away as charitable
donation. They may think you are actually crazy to be giving away an
older boat that you have grown tired of, but there are actually some
great reasons to do so. First of all we are in a buyers market right
now. That means the economy has driven prices of everything down so
much because there are fewer buyers who are interested or able to make
a purchase. So if you are trying to sell a boat for example, you have
to list it and hope to get calls.Well first you would only hear from
those interested in what you are selling and have the money to spend
it. However, you are already at a serious disadvantage. If you are
trying to sell your boat for $5,000 you are going to hit a problem.
Unless your boat is really worth twice that and you are just trying to
sell it fast, people are going to research and pick apart every bit of
information to try and get your price down because they know there may
be a better deal out there. After a few weeks you realize that all the
serious buyers you talked too have stopped calling and stopped
answering the phone when you call. This is because they know the
obvious fact, if they have that kind of money to spend on a boat they
can easily go to a struggling dealership and finance a much better
boat for less money. Can you imagine the deal someone can get right
now if they walked into a dealership with $5,000 cash to spend? They
will pay more money in the long run but they will also get low monthly
payments, low interest rates and other advantages.So you are working a
tough angle right now trying to sell that boat and get a respectable
price. More than likely someone will come to you with $3,500 as an
offer and you will take it just because you are tired of waiting for a
real offer. That's why sailboat donations and yacht donations make so
much sense. Let's say the boat is worth $7,500 and you sold it for
$3,500. Well you have to pay taxes on that $3,500 at the end of the
year, however if you donate the boat you have nothing to pay taxes on,
plus you can use that donation as a tax deduction. You can find out
the exact details of tax deductions for yacht donations by speaking
with a charity and your accountant but the fact is that you might be
saving more money by donating the boat than you would if you sold it.