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NSW Boat License

What’s the best jet ski for you?

There are many types of jet skis to choose from, and there are jet ski hire companies all over Australia where you can take a personal water craft (PWC) it for a quick spin, a tour or even a full day hire.

Its very true a lot of jet skis like a Yamaha, Sea doo or Kawasaki get bought at the start of what’s going to be an amazing summer on the water, and if you look through jet skis for sale on Ebay and Facebook marketplace, you will see a lot of jet skis for sale with under 20 hours use on them.

So is buying a jet ski going to be the right move for you? Will you get the use out of it that is worth the $4000-9000 devaluation by the time its been in the garage for 1-2 years’ with only 20 hours of fun?

If you lose $4000 on your jet ski purchase price by the time you sell it, you’ve spent $200/H on your ride JUST ON DEVALUATION ALONE.

This doesn’t include:

  • Fuel $85/ tank 2-5 hours
  • Registration on the trailer and ski $450 yearly
  • 10- & 50-hour service $400-490
  • Insurance $1000-1500 yearly
  • Break down repairs on a second hand ski $400-4500 or up to $10’000 for a new engine.
  • Your time washing off the salt and flushing the engine with salt away after every single use.

We did some math for you and let’s say you buy a ski without finance and drive it for 3 years (no longer in warranty). Then you’ve racked up a dedicated rider use of 100 hours on your jet ski, your ski has devalued around 40-50%, so what was a top of the line 300hp jet ski costing $25’000 brand new is now worth maximum $14’000.

Devaluation                               $11’000

35 tanks of fuel                         $3’000

3 years of Rego & insurance  $1’350

10hr & 50-hour service           $1’455

Broken wearing x 2                  $420

TOTAL COST                              $17,225 for 3 years

TOTAL COST PER HOUR           100hrs = $172 per hour

Finance Interest total charge $2800 on a 3-6-year term

Seeing these figures written in front of you can be quite confronting and maybe your starting to think a jet ski rental company might be for you…