Boat Show Season

[liquid]

Completely agree. If you can add them and it's not going to kill your pocket do it. Better to have and not need then to need and not have...

[jhnmdahl]

I was pleased to see an A40 here at the Minneapolis boat show - helps the booth attract casual visitors who then see how much better a 21' can be than the Yamaha, Glastron, Bayliner, etc. stuff they've seen up north all their lives.

Plus, it's really well made. I always leave the boat show convinced that there's nothing better out there, at least for me (luxury wakeboard boats like Nautique and Malibu are great, too, but not for my needs).

[Tuscany]

I took my wife and 23 year old son to the Toronto show, expressly to see everything. We looked over Cobalt for about 45 minutes. It took us about 5 minutes on Formula, and they pretty much walked away not wanting to see anything else.

[Big Block Power]

Did they say how long to build one? I'm not into bigger boats yet. My next step if it isn't a tow boat would be the R3. In a runabout boat I don't even look at a different manufacture anymore. Granted I'll never buy a new boat but in the used world still only one comes to name. I'm good for a couple of years before buying another boat I think. We will see how this summer goes. Can't wait.

[Tuscany]

I didn't ask. As of last fall, my dealer told me 6 weeks. Probably longer now. I don't want it delivered until late May anyway. My business is extremely busy in May, and I won't have time to use it anyway. And, I would rather have it shipped from KS to NY when the road salt, sand and grit are gone.

PS, everyone is responsible for negotiating their own deal, but I can tell you that the mark up is incredible on high end boats. A lot more than you may think. You may be able to order new, and pay less than a two to three year old boat if you know what you are doing. The prices asked for used 14' and 15' MY boats make me laugh out load..
Dealers may play it tough, but the fact remains that there aren't a lot of people walking through the doors with that kind of money to spend on a toy. The leverage is always with the buyer when the check book is in hand.

[Big Block Power]

Very true. I'm working with another buddy on a tow boat and it's a min of $25k off the sticker. So why have a sticker.lol
Congrats on your future New R7

[jhnmdahl]

Yeah, I bought a new loaded 210 for less than someone a few towns away was trying to sell a three-year old used 210 with fewer options on Craigslist. Some people walk in and pay MSRP for boats and cars and whatnot, and why would a dealer object? I've seen it happen, and it definitely makes the dealer's day.

I know some small dealers stick closer to MSRP and others will discount very quickly, but sometimes wonder how a big dealer like Gordy's prices - does everyone get 8% over cost or some such thing, or do some pay 8% and others pay 30%?

[Tuscany]

I think we all know that a dealer is in business to make max money if they can.
And ofcourse the dealer will be sizing up the buyer.
I think people with a lot of money, especially old money that's been handed to them actually like paying MSRP, just to have their rear ends polished to a higher gloss shine, so I imagine any dealer will see if that gift lands at their feet before getting down to business.

I found a 15' R7 on CL. Nice boat, 430, sport arch, loaded to the nines, but also 75 hours and going on four years old, and not near the improvements of the 17'.
The ask was $115.000.
I offered an extremely fair 80K because that was all it was worth to me because I know what I can buy a new 17' for.. I would think any educated buyer looking for an R7 wouldn't pay a cent more. The broker said the sellers were looking for something close to the ask.
Obviously drinking the resale kool-aid...

[Big Block Power]

Yea it tough to buy from a broker. They want there cut.same as commission boats. I was surprised what the dealer I bought mine from. They were selling it for one of there customers. I threw out a stupid price and they grabbed it and I kept hitting them below the waste and they kept excepting it. I would buy my next boat from them if they had what I wanted just because.

[Big Block Power]

Made it to the Milwaukee boat show today.This would be on my lists of next boat. Maybe not with the forward drive though. They say the boat does not lean when surfing. The tabs are huge and I thought I got a better picture of them but I didn't, they looked like there were two of them stacked on each other. Pretty cool. They seem to have the bugs out off out pretty well. Only a $42k Mark up.lol

[Big Block Power]

Just to add. Not sure if your dealer is this way or not ourr if its acceptable in this industry or not vs my automotive field. I would never swear to a guest of ours. And he didn't even know me.
I was at the show yesterday and it was my brother and myself and my 12 year old son. I was pretty mad when the sales person kept swearing in front of my son. This dealer is like #1 in customer service too. I would say something to the owner he knows who I am but I brought something up to him last time and I don't want to be that guy so I just ignore it. The dealer close to me was real nice last week so I'll just start using them.

[jhnmdahl]

BigBlock, I think like any industry you find all types. If you don't like the first one you come across, it's rarely too hard to ask/look around and find someone better. I'd like to think I've become better at being the guy people are driven to than the guy who drives customers to other service providers...

Nice shots of the R3 WSS - they are doing some neat things lately, working hard to stay ahead of the curve.

[Big Block Power]

I really like the r3 I'll watch for these in a few years. I'll see how my 220 does. I can't wait just to get it wet again.

[Tuscany]

I would bet that the swearing salesman is a minority. If my salesman conducted business like that, I would also be upset. Very unprofessional....

[jhnmdahl]

I read an article on new boats recently that made some interesting points. First, only about 200,000 boats 15' and over are sold each year, mostly condensed in the first half of summer. Most dealers don't do the volume that car dealers do, and have to run a business that can be just as complex and expensive with a small fraction of the sales. Dealers also stock less inventory than they did even a decade ago, and by the time you're in the 30' range the average buyer will look at a boat in the showroom but will wait for a custom order rather than buy the display model. Sheds some insight into why some dealers won't discount off MSRP at all, and others that do more volume are able to give fairly substantial discounts.