The service end from there shut down coming up on 3 years ago. The one guy left and tried on his own but did not last for very long.

I'd guess the service side (mechanical) is very crucial to the bottom line of a boat dealership. Warranty work is great and you get paid whereas customer paid invoices will be at the mercy of the economy. If a guy's boat needs a motor and he doesn't have the money then the boat will simply sit idle, with nothing else being done either (other winter upgrades). For a place that doesn't actually boat for 6+ months a year this is perfect time to have the mechanics working all winter. The sales model is decent, make 10% commission on someone elses boat (no floorplan necessary). If you can take trades/sell new inventory then that is great too but all the channels need to be flowing money back to the owner or the overhead will end up consuming all the profits.

I'd want to see actual sales numbers on new boats before ever considering owning a dealership. I'd bet there aren't 50 new performance vees sold in the US every year, probably 30-40 cats. The CC market is obviously stronger and the lines get blurred between fishing/performance so that would be a harder number to determine. Go crazy and say 100 performance boats a year and 200 performance CC's. Still on 300 boats a year nationwide. If you are a huge dealer do you nail 5-10% of those sales (15-30 boats)? With factory direct sales I'd bet the amount of dealer sales is a sad number and this is with decent interest rates, reasonable gas and a robust economy vs. recession, $4 gas etc.

I think if you look at the current dealership cycle, those that are the most successful (At least on the surface) have multiple income streams from outside the dealership itself.

What is the old saying: If you want to make $1million spend $3million...

engine side warranty work is fine but will add warranty work work thru the boat manu's can be really bad. Will not mentioned any names but in my day as full blown marine service center - I have been stiffed by many boat manu's for unpaid warranty work completed by me and or my my shops. Some went of biz - some filed BR and some changed owners and some flat out stiffed on the warranty claims. Not all but many. I have been their in the past to experience more than one could stand.

I have heard that story before.........boat companies not paying warranty work.

I meant warranty work as in Mercury Marine (assuming they pay!).

Cap'n Nabber's made me pay for warranty work and then I was reimbursed by Donzi.