The used cost of Side X Sides is at a historical high price and has been all summer long. Polaris, Can-Am, Kawasaki, Honda and Yamaha, it is across the board, every make and model is overpriced. I felt It was time to give you some of my thoughts on just how high the cost of the market for used Side X Sides is right now. This is my story about a 2015 Polaris XP 1000 2-seat with 1,310 miles in excellent condition in late 2016. I paid $18,300.00 at the time and this was a great deal then. After owning my 2015 XP 1000 for approximately one year it was time to sell it and purchase the brand new upgraded 2017 Polaris Turbo when it started hitting the showroom floor in December 2016. 5 Years ago my friend Pat & I decided to sell our Polaris XP 1000’s and purchase new Polaris XPT Turbo’s to go play hard in the sand dunes! I had in my mind that I should be able to sell it for close to $16,500 with all the accessories I had installed on it. The first of October 2016, on a Saturday I decided that my wife and I would trailer the XP 1000 and take it to some local dealers to find out what the trade in value would bring. I will not name the dealers but they were all within a 50 mile radius of Salt Lake City, We stopped at our first dealer and parked fairly close to the front doors of the showroom and went inside to meet the sales lady (manager). After telling her what I had on the trailer and asked if she could come outside and take a look to give me an estimate of what it would be valued at. She told me that they had so many used UTV’s in the back that they are not interested in mine at all and refused to even come outside and look at it. Driving to the second dealer I parked in the large lot and was within view of the front doors again and I went inside to pitch my sale. Again I was told they had no interest in the Polaris and there was no need to go out and take a look at it to give me a bid and told me if they did give me a bid it would be insulting to me and he did not want to do this. We hopped in the truck and drove to the third dealer. This one was in a small town and they seemed really friendly. By the way, I was the only person in the last two dealers showroom. Again I told my story and almost the same response back was they were not purchasing anymore used Side x Sides at that time, but he was willing to step into the parking lot and look at my Polaris.

The Skyrocketing high cost of UTV’s (Side X Sides)

By Gary Madsen | October 23, 2021

The used cost of Side X Sides is at a historical high price and has been all summer long.

Polaris, Can-Am, Kawasaki, Honda and Yamaha, it is across the board, every make and model is overpriced.

I felt It was time to give you some of my thoughts on just how high the cost of the market for used Side X Sides is right now.

This is my  story about a 2015 Polaris XP 1000 2-seat with 1,310 miles in excellent condition in late 2016.  I paid $18,300.00 at the time and this was a great deal then.  After owning my 2015 XP 1000 for approximately one year it was time to sell it and purchase the brand new upgraded 2017 Polaris Turbo when it started hitting the showroom floor in December 2016.

5 Years ago my friend Pat & I decided to sell our Polaris XP 1000’s and purchase new Polaris XPT Turbo’s to go play hard in the sand dunes!  I had in my mind that I should be able to sell it for close to $16,500 with all the accessories I had installed on it.

The first of October 2016, on a Saturday I decided that my wife and I would trailer the XP 1000 and take it to some local dealers to find out what the trade in value would bring. I will not name the dealers but they were all within a 50 mile radius of Salt Lake City,

We stopped at our first dealer and parked fairly close to the front doors of the showroom and went inside to meet the sales lady (manager). After telling her what I had on the trailer and asked if she could come outside and take a look to give me an estimate of what it would be valued at.

She told me that they had so many used UTV’s in the back that they are not interested in mine at all and refused to even come outside and look at it.

Driving to the second dealer I parked in the large lot and was within view of the front doors again and I went inside to pitch my sale.  Again I was told they had no interest in the Polaris and there was no need to go out and take a look at it to give me a bid and told me if they did give me a bid it would be insulting to me and he did not want to do this.

We hopped in the truck and drove to the third dealer. This one was in a small town and they seemed really friendly. By the way, I was the only person in the last two dealers showroom. Again I told my story and almost the same response back was they were not purchasing anymore used Side x Sides at that time, but he was willing to step into the parking lot and look at my Polaris.

Polaris, Can-Am for sale

How about selling your Polaris, Can am and making money

After looking at it and what accessories were on it he told me that it would be best to remove as many of my accessories as possible and sell it more as a stock unit, and told me it was probably worth $13,000 retail.  

We drove home that day somewhat discouraged but not giving up. I would put it in a parking lot on my trailer on Redwood Rd and let people see it.  After no response at all the next week I removed as many of the aftermarket parts leaving the street legal kit and roof.

I dropped the price to $13,700 and finally had one person interested. He ended up offering me $13,200 and I sold it to him.

In one year I had lost over $5,800.00 with the cost of the UTV and some accessories, I had some nights of lost sleep because of this loss! 

Now 5 years later I have been watching 2015 Polaris XP 1000 2-Seats with 5-6000 miles of wear selling for as much as mine did 5 years ago! I could have driven this Polaris 5 more years with tons more mileage and never lost a penny! This is insane. buyers are willing  to pay  too much to own a UTV right now.

The local dealer I work with right now has just under 400 units that buyers have put deposits on waiting for the UTV’s to be built and delivered to them. It might be 8-10 months before they get their new play toy.

My advice to anyone who is looking to purchase one of these units right now, is that you buy it outright or wait for the market to turn back around so you will not be upside down in it.

Side x Side Costs in 2021

Do you owe more on your UTV than it will be worth in 2022?

You do not want to owe more than it is worth.  In a year or two when the pandemic has some control, the price for Side X sides will return to a reasonable price.

Until We Ride Again!

Gary Madsen

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