Lessons learned in buying a boat from a dealer

[Mark Pothen]

If they don't start showing up like you said ppl are hanging on to them maybe a year longer than they want too

[OneidaEagle]

With the Covid, people are looking for avenues to get the family's out.

Fishing is one such endeavor, When such endeavors fail, and are found undesirable, you may see a flooded market of boats.

I bought mine 2 years ago, and could probably sell it now for MORE than I paid for it. Have thought about it, but as mentioned, Its hard to find what you are looking for exactly, let alone like it, or place a new order with a backordered vendor.

I like my boat, Ill keep it

OE

[Juls]

Listen, guests are allowed to post on this site. If you don't like what he has to say, ignore him, and don't respond to him.

When he breaks a rule, his post will be removed, but so far, he's only posted an opinion...abrasive as it may be, it's not breaking any rules.

And, for the record, I checked his IP and he is not a registered user hiding behind a guest status as someone suggested.

Please keep it civil. Thanks.

[2sac]

The first lesson you should learn is to talk to multiple dealers. Pit the dealers against each other. I'm in sales. Nothing even remotely similar to boat or vehicle sales. My relationship with my customer, the bidding process, and the dollar amount of the sale, has everything to do where my final pricing lands. I get people asking for breaks every day. If you spend $1M a year with me your everyday pricing will be better than if you spent $1K a year with me. If you spend $1K a year with me and are putting in a bid for $50K in parts, you're getting better pricing than the guy who spends $1M Everything is relative.

[Hat Trick]

Bottom line is do your homework. If everyone liked the same dealer we wouldn’t have a choice. I have talked to and been to 7 different dealers selling several different brands of boats over the last 9 months. I would say 3 were dealers I’d do business with. Some of the biggest dealers in the area were on that list. One I expected to be great wasn't at all. One big dealer I didn’t think would be competitive was great to talk to, work with, and offered a lot more than I expected in discounts. Most were arrogant that they’d sell everything on the lot whether I bought it or not. And you know what, they probably will sell it. Just not to me.

So, you never know until you start looking. But you have a better chance at a “deal” if you know what you’re looking for when you begin talking to them.

There were only 3 dealers I’d say that actually wanted to listen to what I had to say and really cared about what we were looking for.