Dude, I am sorry hard times have hit your situation. I have been there, brother and I feel your pain. We'd all be better off if we had saved those hard earned dollars we dumped into our gasoline powered toys -- we'd have more reserves when these rainy days hit. But human nature and the pure joy of snowmobiling sometimes cloud our judgment. I am as guilty as anybody. But I truly am sorry for yours and a lot of other's financial situations right now.
And while we all sort of know this in our heads when we bought (that the sled would lose half it's value the minute you pull off the lot with it on your trailer), those shiny new sleds sure do look nice on the showroom floor and we splurge. Any snowmobiles are a bad, bad investment from a financial standpoint. They are highly seasonal, very expensive, and manufacturers (all of them) are constantly improving/changing the sleds to increase sales of "new" sleds from year to year.
And when the economy tanks, unnecessary things like sleds or ATV's are the first items that hit the want ads. Afterall, you can't commute to too many job interviews on your Nytro, can you?
So in bad economic times like we have right now, lots of sleds are for sale by private owners. Well, there are also lots of holdover sled models that went unsold at dealers all over America. And remember, Yamaha Snowmobile Company's #1 priority is to sell new snowmobiles. Well, to do that they have to cut the glut of old holdover machines, which are competing for sales with new sleds. Your sled for sale is also competition to them. To compete with you, the manufacturers drastically cut prices and offer incentives. It's simple economics.
Coupled with the fact that it's now June, anybody selling a sled has a marketing problem because most people (Not us TY'er's!!!!!) just are not thinking about snowmobiling right now -- and especially not considering buying one!!!
If you need money for food or necessities you will just take what you can get now and sell the Nytro. If the bank is going to repo (if you financed it....), then you will sell if you can at least get enough to pay off the loan. Or you might consider calling your bank and seeing if they will work with you.
If you own the sled outright and can weather the storm, try to hold onto it until at least November -- you will get more for it guaranteed. This will be due to people's changing interests (winter and snow on the way!!!!) and maybe the economy will be improving by then. But sleds sell a lot better in the winter, period.
Your sled is a newer model sled in like new shape. Heck, it's not even remotely broken in. It will sell. Most Americans have no idea about changes between the '08's, or '09's, or '10's. I'm sorry, but the things we TY'er's pay attention (the geometry changes or whatever) to are not what most people consider or know about. And Yamaha most likely will discontinue it's incentives sometime late summer and won't be "incentivising" like they are doing right now. That alone would help you a lot.
I guess what I'm saying is hold out if you can, for as long as you can. Don't dump it for too cheap unless you have too. And only you know if you are in that position right now. If you dump it and didn't have to, you will regret it. If you dump it to feed your family, it will have been an excellent decision.
Good luck brother.
