How much boat can i afford?

If you want to buy a new boat, you are faced with the question of how much money you can invest. Used boat or new boat, economical displacer or sporty glider: we explain how to calculate which boat you can afford, and what to consider when financing with traditional boat financing, a boat lease or a boat loan.

How expensive can the new boat be??

If you can and want to pay for the new boat out of your savings, it's easy: then all it takes is a quick look at your bank account. It is already clear how much the new boat may cost. But if you want to finance the boat purchase with a loan, you can find out in three simple steps what purchase price you can afford to pay.

But before you base your boat purchase on purely mathematical calculations, it's best to get an overview first. Use our calculator to determine the financing rate possible for you based on your savings reserves and the upcoming purchase price of the new boat.

But before you put your boat purchase on purely mathematical calculations now, it's best to get an overview first. Use our calculator and determine the possible financing rate for you based on your savings reserves and the upcoming purchase price of the new boat.

1. Step: calculate the maximum monthly payment

First, you should know what monthly rate, that is, what fixed monthly charge you can afford in the future. Decisive for this is on the one hand your income – above all the salary, but also other income, such as rental and lease income or income from self-employment or part-time work. On the other hand, there are the running costs, such as the monthly rent or amortization for your own property, insurance premiums and expenses for the desired lifestyle, as well as previous installments for current loans, if applicable.

To determine what monthly amount you can afford to pay for your new boat financing, you should clearly contrast what your fixed income and fixed expenses are for the month. Important: also irregular but foreseeable expenses such as the annual vacation or new investments for the household should be included in the calculation. The difference between income and expenses is your monthly allowance.

Do not spend the entire allowance on the new boat.

Our tip: do not let the entire allowance or also called surplus flow into the installments for your new boat. Plan a buffer for foreseeable and unforeseeable expenses. In addition to repaying the purchase price of the new boat, you will also incur boat maintenance expenses. This includes expenses for insurance, mooring, service and ongoing operations. Thus you preserve your financial leeway and your boat financing stands on a solid foundation.

How much money you should include as a reserve in the financing depends on several factors – for example, the size of your household, your personal standard of living and your living situation. Homeowners, for example, should have a little more money at their disposal than renters. After all, something can always break on the house.

The monthly installments for your boat loan should not be too high. After all, a boat, regardless of its size and age, is primarily a luxury item. Therefore, leave enough buffer for unexpected expenses. So the financing is on a solid basis.

As a rough rule of thumb you can estimate 200,- EUR monthly for a single household. With each additional person in the household, the recommended financial buffer increases by a good EUR 100. According to this calculation, a parent couple with two children comes to a buffer of 500,- EUR to be considered. Subtracting this from your monthly allowance gives you the maximum amount available for the monthly payment on your boat loan.

2. Step: calculate the amount of the loan

How much you can borrow on your new boat depends on the monthly payment, the interest rate and the term of the loan. The longer the boat loan runs and the lower the interest rates, the higher the loan amount you can finance with the same monthly installment.

Term should not exceed the holding period of the boat.

How long the loan may run depends on how long you plan to use and keep your new boat. In general, a boat loan should be fully repaid at the latest by the time you want to sell and replace the boat. Even though boats, regardless of whether they are GRP boats, aluminum boats, or boats made of steel or carbon, have a long shelf life, you should rather assume your own presumed holding period for the boat. Often life circumstances also change the requirements for a boat.

This is different with a boat financing. In contrast to the boat loan, which is intended and used solely to finance the purchase price, a boat financing is directly oriented to the boat to be financed. Before the boat financing is approved by the bank, the boat is considered for its current and expected value. The current sales price or the current current value or market value of a used boat should be taken into account. Thanks to appropriate appraisals, a predicted loss of value can be calculated and a correspondingly expected value of the boat can be calculated. With a boat financing one wins thus a higher security to be able to repay the financing also before expiration alone by the sales proceeds of the boat as good as completely.

We therefore recommend that you always consider boat financing first, rather than a boat loan. Even if boat financing does not allow you to finance one hundred percent of the purchase price, boat financing does offer the realization of boats that cost hundreds of thousands and even several hundreds of thousands of euros.

To avoid over-indebtedness from the outset, you should not get into a situation where you already need a new boat while the loan for the old one is still running.

For this reason, it is also advisable to take out not only liability insurance but also comprehensive insurance during the entire term of the loan. It will compensate you for the value of the boat if you have an accident. This is how you can pay off the loan before you buy a new boat. You can find a good and cheap insurance easily and quickly by means of our insurance inquiry.

More boat for the money – thanks to favorable interest rates.

Also the interest rates for the boat loan or boat financing have an influence on the maximum loan amount that can be financed.

This is shown by a simple example calculation: according to current information, the average effective interest rate of consumer loans is approx. 6.99 percent. The most favorable banks make a consumer discretionary loan at an effective two-thirds interest rate of 2.89 percent. With such a loan you can finance the purchase price of the new boat to be purchased.

Boat financing is offered by banks or financing companies again at an average effective two-thirds interest rate of 4.69 percent. Due to the valuation of the boat in boat financing, the interest rate also fluctuates depending on the age of the boat. For example, financing a new boat often has a lower interest rate than financing a boat that is several years old.

The two-thirds interest rate is mandatory and should make loan conditions more comparable. It is representative of broad customer groups. It should clarify that two thirds of all customers of a bank receive this interest rate.

Another tip: no bank offers a boat loan at a particularly favorable interest rate. A colloquial boat loan is always a consumer loan for free use. The boat is not considered by the bank and does not serve as collateral for the loan, as is the case with a car loan, for example. Therefore, when applying for a loan, make sure that the purpose of the loan is correct.

On the following page you will find a selection of banks that offer loans for free use and at a favorable annual percentage rate of charge.

3. Step: calculate the maximum purchase price

In a final step, you can now calculate the maximum purchase price of your new boat. If you have already set aside a little money for the purchase of a boat, add this amount to the maximum loan amount. If the new boat is to replace your current one, you can also add the sales price of your old boat to determine the budget for the new boat.

For a first estimate, with which sales proceeds you may count approximately, you can look on internet market places or in magazines for advertisements for comparable used boats. At what prices are other boats of the same brand and model offered? When comparing, also pay attention to the year of construction and similar equipment. This gives you a good overview of the market rates.

You get more security by commissioning a valuation or even sales appraisal in the form of a boat check.