The last few months I've been in the process of selling a rather inexpensive boat. However, the real eye-opener has been the search for an effective duck hunting rig. I've looked at many popular custom boats and the best mud motors. Obviously, used seemed to be an excellent alternative.....or is it?

Often, I see a boat advertised for a certain price and soon find out how much the seller has "invested".....new it cost a total of X number of dollars. This included sales/builder profits, delivery, sales taxes and license, title, boat registrations.

The used sale ads ask a price which appears to be way below what the original price was....sometimes. However, in Illinois I have to pay sales taxes plus license, title and registrations costs for a used boat purchase. The advertisement prices appear to be considerably less than what I would end up having to pay. In some cases, the difference hardly justifies buying a 3-4 year old rig. Am I missing something here?

Buying new seems more of a bargain than I previously thought except when I go to sell it and someone has read this thread.

not all the time. I bought my whole rig trailer and all for a little over what the motor cost new. It is 2 years old. Whether new or used, tax, title and registration is owed. Keep looking, there are some real gems out there at a great price. Plus you got till the season opens again and thats about 7 months till early teal, it feels like an eternity.

why do you pay tax on a used boat when the original owner already payed tax on it?

When you buy a used boat and register it with TPWL, you have to put down how much the boat was bought for. Then they tax you 6.25 for the sales tax. The government will take your money one way or the other when you buy anything. Or you could just take the chance of never running into a warden but i would rather just pay the tax...

I reread kwicklabs post and I think he is saying that ttl and registration is included in the sticker price of a new boat.

That is the way I read it also, but I do not think that is true...

Also, when buyin a used boat with X hours.. you dont know if thats been easy crusin, or bangin off stumps and jumpin everything you see.

If a boat has been used pretty hard in my area, there is a good chance the hull is worthless.