What % off MSRP did you get?...
 

With the rates being down so low now and lots of talk about buying new boats, and its a buyer's market etc. If you bought your boat new, what % did you get off the total MSRP?

EXAMPLE: MSRP was $150000 actual price paid was $112500.
112500/150000 = 0.75% with the difference being .25%

Okay bought a new 99 38 PQ and paid around $116000 and retail was around 194k-196k, not sure exactly. It was a new and current yr. boat that a dealer had. That would be about 40% off.

Wow! That's the kind of deal I want to stumble across....

21.42% off :)

Rick, I couldnt find a used 95 for that price at the time. I guess buying a boat that is a few yrs. old, isnt always better. Makes you wonder what markup% really is? I guess I dont get to vote.:(

I think retail on my boat was somewhere around 65K loaded (mine is) I paid 40K.... so thats what 38% off?

Man you guys are raising the bar here for cutting the good deals. 25-30% has been kicked around as being really the bar for the excellent buys new off the lot/ordered.

State what time of year you either purchased off the lot or ordered built from the factory? I beleive October-February are the prime months $$$ wise for ordering built...

I negotiated the deal for my boat in Oct-Nov timeframe and actually placed the order and wrote a deposit check in Jan and told them to take their time building it. The boat was delivered in May just in time for a full summer of boating. I ordered it directly through Shockwave Custom Boats, a custom builder located out this way.

29.56%, the boat had been used as a demo for the season, I bought it late August '97, 20 hrs on it. If you figure in the $10K too much they gave me for my trade (they lost that much when they sold it) it comes out to 36.86%.

Looks like the 25-30% crowd worked their dealers pretty hard. But I see only 19 out of 255 looks so far has rogered up their percentage. Must be a large number of used boat owners...

Mine was the brouchure boat for 2001... it was used at the dealer meetings etc ...

TTT

I guess another way of looking at this is how it measures the "anxious factor"....:D The 25-30% are either patient folks or flat out lucky with their timing...

I'll probably piss all the dealers and brokers off here but here is an anology that I have always stuck to. On a neww boat there is generally 25-30 % markup to get MSRP. I used to price all my/our new boats 7-10 % off that number leaving 18-20 % mark up.

Now here is the tricky part it depends what kind of dealership you are running if it is a large one the overhead is more and a smaller one is less so there comes a time that a certain percentage of mark up is your break even point....AT DSM this percentage was approx 13%......Now I believe everyone is entitled to make a profit on what they sell so you kind of use these guidelines when you deal. Cash is always King so you will get a better deal when dealing with it......trades pretyy much keeps you in a higher percentage bracket when it comes to haggling. Of course there's alot of other factors that play roles also such as non current inventory, upside down financing on your trade, and the dreaded my trade is pristine, yeah right, it's pristine if you have it full of hookers topless and in g-strings with bailing buckets to keep it floating as you dock at your favorite watering hole otherwise you couldn't finance theamount of a cheese on a Big Mac or in Too Olds case a Whopper to buy this thing let alone expect a good trade value for it.

I hope this may give a little insight into boat buying 101. Dont be afraid to throw out a number all we can and usually do say is no, or in my case "You bumped your head, bro"

Have fun while I take my licks from all the dealers across this vast nation for this stuff.

Sean

Thanks Sean for risking life and limb to divulge the trade secrets...:cool:
How does it change if one "orders" a rig to be built vice off the lot with the only dealer involvement being financing paperwork, mailing in the order itself, and prep at delivery?...

The bigger the boat the better the deal, Reckless your a Sunsation guy what is the MSRP difference in the single 28 and a single 32? Alot more than three feet of fiberglass. If the opt and engine are the same you'll work a better deal on the 32. A very well known builder once told me there was very little real cost difference in his two models rigged the same way same power but he got an extra 50k for 5' so he try to discourage the smaller boat sales(custom builder).
This is a great thread for someone looking to buy, the problem is there are alot of OSOers looking to sell that will never tell what they paid.
I also think the custom builders are more staight shooters and if you talk to them they will give you a more realistic figure.

Hugh

Don't forget that even if you order a boat and pay little over cost for it...you've done the dealer a big favor, in these times especially, by helping them to meet their (annual) commitment in $$$ to the manufacturer. Meeting this commitment usually means a kick in the form of additional discounts from the manufacturer for the following model year or additional discounts on in stock units once that $ level is met. ;) Of course this differs from one builder to another...but most all require an annual $$ commitment up front to determine builder to dealer discount level. So it works both ways...big showroom guy sells more units, therefore has a bigger margin, small guy may have little overhead to consider...but because of his smaller commitment, has less margin. Oh yea..dealer prep? You mean a $5.50 hr guy pulling off the shrinkwrap? :D

Hey taking off shrinkwrap is key to dialing in a boat!

Hmmmm. All good insight. I'm surprised there's only 27 votes on here? There's got to be more than just 27 folks who bought new...

Rippem that's what i always thought too. Sell a bunch to make the numbers for the end of year rebate. Car dealerships face the same thing. If they're sitting on the lot, the dealer is paying on the note and interest starts to accrue which i would think would drive the cost up a tad to make up for it unless it's needed badly to go away and cut losses. But siimply using the dealer to work a little paperwork and maybe financing should keep costs down. As far as shipping, I'm the type that would want to pick it up from the factory myself....

That certainly takes alot of the expense out of it for a dealer. This is an area that is like anything goes as long as the boss clears it. But I have turned away 15k over actual cost on a 600k boat and turned around and did the same deal with someone else for 10k over cost but with alot of perks thrown in for myself and the dealerships use.

I think rippem made a reference to some charges like rigging and transportation.....there may be a nominal charge if any to the dealer who then turns them into what is called a pack.....which becomes a bargaining tool for a lot of different reasons such as financing or a give and take session during the "haggling" with the potential customer who may need just that little nudge to tip our way. I can get into more detail if someone wishes to PM/email me with the pertinant questions.:cool: :cool: :cool:

Troutly also brought up VERY valid points as to the flooring expense along with all the other expenses incurred in keeping one of these baby's looking showroom while it is in stock.

Ordered my Formula built to spec and paid 21.22% off of MSRP. I'm happy with that.

I would think anything under 20% would be wishy-washy of the buyer...

Rick, my understanding on inventory and ordering is normally a in stock boat costs the dealer money after his "free" floor plan window, normally 6 to 9 months.

Our sticker was 104K, sale price for 6 months was 76K, at 9 months I bought it for 62K, he still made a profit, nothing is free.
Now he does not stock ZX's, only orders them.

Bryan

(Rick has the fever!) Your 288 will sell fast, nice boat!

Troutly is right they used to ding the **** out of you for selling out of territory and there are still some manufacturer's that enforce this rule. How do you get caught you ask..well you take to your local dealer for service work the service writer then punches up the serial numbers and "Hey this boat is from so & so 10 states over. Why dont you just haul it over to him to have your service work done since he gave you such a great deal......ouch.....thus the idea of the CSI or OSI penalty came to be put in place.

Bryan is also up on things after your free flooring (it's really not free the factory just picks up the tab for a period of time) runs out that flooring becomes a monthly expense just like your utilities bill.
And god forbid a boat have a BIRTHDAY on your lot....if that does happen you'll more than likely pay out just to sell it to someone not very good for a dealers bottom line.

Reck, that's cause your discount percentages don't go high enough. :D :D :D

More than 30%... you poll should have indicated a 30%+ range....

Thanks Sean good gouge. We had a nice 33 Scarab that sat in the window well past it's b-day and it recently sold. Rumor has it the deal was sweet.

Mack/Vype I keep forgetting you guys got 100% off when you bought from giveaway Pete's, or Duck's, or whatever up in PA. For principle sake, let's just assume 25-30 includes 30+ and I'll see if I can change the poll to read 25+ for the PQ types....;)

now, now! no need for the green monster of envy to show it's ugly head... LOL :)

Obviously, each manufacturer is entitled to discount to its dealer's any percentage they choose off of list, so the retail customer's percentage off of list is really irrelevant. The bottom line is the dollars actually paid, not the percentage off.

As a dealer, we also refuse to play the game of matching the lowest price. We try to factor into our overhead the cost of after care, and as such we maintain a very high CSI rating. If we didn't do this then we couldn't provide the level of service that we like to. Where the customer purchases his boat should be just as important a decision as what boat he purchases. We simply tell the customer "you can't buy the boat from US for THEIR price. If you want THEIR price, then you have to also accept THEIR poor delivery and lousy service." We have carved out our reputation as providing FAIR (but not the lowest) prices with exceptional service.

While you get what you pay for with the boat, the same is also true of the delivery and the after-care service. The cheapest price is likely to be the worst delivery and service.

CAVEAT EMPTOR!

Tom Caruso
Total Marine

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.

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.

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. :)

Just for you PQ guys Vype, the poll now reads 26% and above....

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?

I bought factory direct from Pantera, Fountain used to do it but it...well it upset the dealers :D

:D just saw a 32 Skater with tripple outboards float past the house

Most of the custom builders, Pantera, Active Thunder, Sonic(maybe), Powerplay, Apache etc...:eureka:

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