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Excellent response Tom. Being in the insurance segment of the marine industry I hear the before and after stories from customers. They always like to brag about the "great deal" they got and later complain when they can't get good service from the selling dealer. No one wants to over pay but you need to allow them a reasonable profit to support the dealership and its service department.
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I was told by a custom mfg. that it costs approx. $1000/ft to build a hull for labor and materials. The rest is in the engines, drives, interior, paint, guages etc. As far as the larger production boat companies I would think their costs would be much lower. Mfg. margins are much larger than that of the dealers. Look at the costs of R&D (although not much other than graphics changes year to year), advertising, overhead on a facility large enough to build these big SOB's etc.
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It's true that this is not the car world as far as beating the other guy's price game goes. By the same token, there's a GM dealer in every town. If I have to travel more than say 250 miles to buy the brand boat I want...then the idea of putting 10, 20, 30 thousand needless dollars into somebody's pocket for "after sale service" is ridiculous! You the owner (especially a performance boater) are going to fix the little things yourself (not haul it hundreds of miles for a loose screw) and Merc is Merc...in or out of warranty, most authorized Merc places are happy to have the work, wether you bought the boat there or not! The only variable is how quickly you get turned around...but since when in the boating world (generally speaking) is it done when promised anyway? Take out the over the road time, fuel, and risk, and you can afford the local place (where you didn't buy the boat) 2 extra days to deliver before your behind! I've always had good luck, and been taken good care of by my selling dealer (where I slip my boats) but I'm not afraid to stray to get the product I want. I'm not going to buy a product I don't really want, or pay too much for it, for this magical "after sale service". I guess it would be different if I was not comfortable with rigging, wiring, systems, hardware, ect. Not synical....just realistic. :)
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Just for you PQ guys Vype, the poll now reads 26% and above....
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Originally posted by WildThing I have a good friend that owns a dealership. He told me that some dealers/manufacturers mark up their hi-perf boats as much as 40% to 45%. With custom builders this % would be lower. He also told me to negotiate everything added onto the base boat, I.e. engines, gauges, hyd. steering, k-planes, trailer, etc. He said many of these items are marked up as much as 50%. Even the 5 year warranty is negotiable. He also told me it is pretty standard for a dealer to offer 20% off at a boat show. A few years ago I talked to a truck driver who was hauling B boats and he had opened some of the invoices, against company orders and found them to be marked up around 45%. Sean, were these guys BSing me? Wildthing, Everything has mark up in it otherwise a dealership wouldn't be able to stay in business. 45% seems to be a bit on the very aggresive side. But anytime you put high performance into the equation everything seems to become astronomical in price on the other side of that equation there's a lot of man hours put into something that IS high performance and something that is billed as high performance that hasn't had all the man hours to make it work put into it. For example just using engines as an example you can buy all the parts used to build the engine and bolt them together BUT you wont get the same product as someone such as Keith Eickert or Sterling or Zul that does all the porting, polishing, balancing, and other tricks that make it build real power. The same holds true in the other areas. Anyway enough rambling about High Performance. |
Is there ever an option to buy factory direct? and I am even willing to pick it up. Does that come into play at all when you are talking bottom line out the door prices? Do any boat builders sell right out the factory doors?
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I bought factory direct from Pantera, Fountain used to do it but it...well it upset the dealers :D
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:D just saw a 32 Skater with tripple outboards float past the house
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Originally posted by CAP071 Is there ever an option to buy factory direct? and I am even willing to pick it up. Does that come into play at all when you are talking bottom line out the door prices? Do any boat builders sell right out the factory doors? |
It's been 25 yrs since I sold boats.....things have changed, but one thing remains constant....PROFIT
When you look at a build sheet or cut sheet your have a MSRP and then Options. Rule of thumb is 25% off of MSRP and 33% off options will put you real close to dealer cost, add in shipping, which can be alot and inflated. Now also what has to be considered is Bank floorplanning. What is going on right now is the economy, which we all know. The interest rates are the lowest in 50+ years, which also drives down the price of OUR boats. Trade-ins are not wanted, it's easier to sell a new boat than a used boat. Just like the auot business.........they are some crammed with used cars, that they have to take them to auction for the small used car dealers to buy. There is always a market for the next step down to buy cars, BUT not a market for the next step down to buy used high $$$ boats. I too am looking at upgrading to a newer boat, but can't sell my boat now. No one wants to take it on trade for one reason or another .... or they want to give me 50% less that what it is worth. So the main statement is .... it's not always cut and dry |
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