I am trying to find out the year.needs a new cover.When was the last year that significant changes were made to the unit?How difficult is it to ship a used hot tub? Should I use a mover or are there companies that specialize in it?The move will be approximately 550 miles
Typical price is around 50% of what it sold for new but that would be in perfect operating condition. A few have been able to pick up older ones people have neglected or simply decided that they didn't want any longer for as little as $500. However, under normal circumstances they are worth no more than 50% of their original street price. In 2003, that price was around $6,500 fully loaded or as little as $5,200 with nothing so 50% would be around $2,500 if is is in good, solid working condition. Newer models 2009/2010 gave (apparently) been selling for as much as $8,500 for that model so $4K for one of those would be reasonable.
If you are talking about shipping it, then it sounds like you won't get an opportunity to inspect it and that could be a REAL problem. Shipping across country would have to be done by freight and since it is a single piece, it's gonna be expensive (likely around $900) so it would be a shame to buy one for $1,500 & pay another $900 just to find out when it got there that the original owner was less than honest about it's condition and possibly have shipping damage as well which would mean that you would have paid $2,400 for fire wood. Why are you even considering buying one from so far away?