Boat show Prices?
01-16-2005, 12:01 PM
#11
Registered
VIP Member
Re: Boat show Prices?
It costs the manufacturer or dealer a small fortune to be in the show. It looks good if they write the deal at the show to justify the cost for next year.
Don't forget, they must build in some cushion in case there's a trade involved, so if there is not, let them know right away.
15% of something is still better than 30% of nothing and the dealers realize this.
Go get'em Cowboy and Good Luck!
Don't forget, they must build in some cushion in case there's a trade involved, so if there is not, let them know right away.
15% of something is still better than 30% of nothing and the dealers realize this.
Go get'em Cowboy and Good Luck!
01-16-2005, 03:41 PM
#12
Registered
Re: Boat show Prices?
show space can be expensive but a successful dealer needs the write off anyway.
Don't feel sorry for them 'cause it costs $ to be there. The exposure most often comes back to them in spades.
Don't feel sorry for them 'cause it costs $ to be there. The exposure most often comes back to them in spades.
01-16-2005, 05:05 PM
#14
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Re: Boat show Prices?
Formula bought in 1991 at 35% discount from published list price.
Ordered a Sea Ray in 1995 at 26% discount from SeaRay's published list price (was even bigger discount from the dealer's inflated list price).
The Formula was first "seen" at a boat show, and had a "boat show price" of $9,000 more than I bought it for (boat show price was a 28% discount).
The Sea Ray was ordered. But the discount on the units at the boat show had "boat show pricing" at around 18% discount.
Ordered a Sea Ray in 1995 at 26% discount from SeaRay's published list price (was even bigger discount from the dealer's inflated list price).
The Formula was first "seen" at a boat show, and had a "boat show price" of $9,000 more than I bought it for (boat show price was a 28% discount).
The Sea Ray was ordered. But the discount on the units at the boat show had "boat show pricing" at around 18% discount.
01-16-2005, 05:22 PM
#15
Re: Boat show Prices?
Pricing in many industries is "black magic". MSRP in many industries is just a "number" in a book someplace. Nobody actually pays that much for the product. There is tiered pricing depending on the application; region and customer and everybody essentially pays something different. It's designed to get the most amount of money from the market segments that exist. Some areas of the country get the high end and others the low end. Some markets have wide ranges and others narrow ranges. Different kinds of boats have different margins across the board. From what information I have gathered the margins on mass production boats is wide and the factory makes a bigger cut and the margin on lower production boats is much smaller and the dealer makes the bigger cut. But it varies from company to company.
I played with offers on a major builder's 38' offshore a couple years back. It had an MSRP of around $333,000.00. The "boat show" price was $269,000.00. That was 20% off MSRP.
I would have bought it off the floor for $224,000.00 which was going in at 33% off MSRP. I knew the dealer paid $176,000.00 for it. It had been in the water at a boat show with a few miles on it. The dealer would not accept my offer and make close to 50k on the boat so I walked away.
I went back to the same dealer a year later the same boat was sitting on a rack. The colors on the boat were not the most appealing. Since the boat was a year old I offered $200,000.00 for it. Which would have meant the dealer would make 25k on it and the answer was again a resounding no. Since then this dealer has lost a franchise on a major brand of boats they once carried and laid off all but one or two salespeople.
Then for the heck of it I put together a list of 10-15 national dealers of the boat I was interested in. I started calling around all over the country. I found a couple dealers that were out of state that would have gladly have taken the offers I was making. Then I had to relocate and the decision to buy is now put off a couple years.
So my advice is keep trying. You can get 33-40% off MSRP and maybe more but it may not be at your local dealer and a few hours work can save you a bundle potentially.
I played with offers on a major builder's 38' offshore a couple years back. It had an MSRP of around $333,000.00. The "boat show" price was $269,000.00. That was 20% off MSRP.
I would have bought it off the floor for $224,000.00 which was going in at 33% off MSRP. I knew the dealer paid $176,000.00 for it. It had been in the water at a boat show with a few miles on it. The dealer would not accept my offer and make close to 50k on the boat so I walked away.
I went back to the same dealer a year later the same boat was sitting on a rack. The colors on the boat were not the most appealing. Since the boat was a year old I offered $200,000.00 for it. Which would have meant the dealer would make 25k on it and the answer was again a resounding no. Since then this dealer has lost a franchise on a major brand of boats they once carried and laid off all but one or two salespeople.
Then for the heck of it I put together a list of 10-15 national dealers of the boat I was interested in. I started calling around all over the country. I found a couple dealers that were out of state that would have gladly have taken the offers I was making. Then I had to relocate and the decision to buy is now put off a couple years.
So my advice is keep trying. You can get 33-40% off MSRP and maybe more but it may not be at your local dealer and a few hours work can save you a bundle potentially.
Last edited by Hydrocruiser; 01-16-2005 at 05:31 PM.
01-16-2005, 05:34 PM
#16
Registered
Re: Boat show Prices?
Yea, it often blows my mind what a some dealer's think someone's gonna pay for a leftover. You can often save your breath by bypassing the one's with 2,3,4 year old new boats, cause you know their stoned, and have refused many a reasonable offer.
That's it Sparky, you keep paying that floor plan money on a quickly depreciating boat until you go out of business.
The art for these guys is to know when to cut their losses on a leftover....too many don't.
It's the same idiocy with sleds.
That's it Sparky, you keep paying that floor plan money on a quickly depreciating boat until you go out of business.
The art for these guys is to know when to cut their losses on a leftover....too many don't.
It's the same idiocy with sleds.
01-18-2005, 09:50 AM
#18
AT Cult Member #3
VIP Member
Re: Boat show Prices?
We ordered our boat from a boat show, got boat show pricing and had it built to what we wanted. Saved a good bit....how do you think I afford it! (I have my wife make the payments 
) Hey she offered!
) Hey she offered!
01-18-2005, 02:03 PM
#19
OSO OG
Gold Member
Re: Boat show Prices?
Originally Posted by Hydrocruiser
Pricing in many industries is "black magic". MSRP in many industries is just a "number" in a book someplace. Nobody actually pays that much for the product. There is tiered pricing depending on the application; region and customer and everybody essentially pays something different. It's designed to get the most amount of money from the market segments that exist. Some areas of the country get the high end and others the low end. Some markets have wide ranges and others narrow ranges. Different kinds of boats have different margins across the board. From what information I have gathered the margins on mass production boats is wide and the factory makes a bigger cut and the margin on lower production boats is much smaller and the dealer makes the bigger cut. But it varies from company to company.
I played with offers on a major builder's 38' offshore a couple years back. It had an MSRP of around $333,000.00. The "boat show" price was $269,000.00. That was 20% off MSRP.
I would have bought it off the floor for $224,000.00 which was going in at 33% off MSRP. I knew the dealer paid $176,000.00 for it. It had been in the water at a boat show with a few miles on it. The dealer would not accept my offer and make close to 50k on the boat so I walked away.
I went back to the same dealer a year later the same boat was sitting on a rack. The colors on the boat were not the most appealing. Since the boat was a year old I offered $200,000.00 for it. Which would have meant the dealer would make 25k on it and the answer was again a resounding no. Since then this dealer has lost a franchise on a major brand of boats they once carried and laid off all but one or two salespeople.
Then for the heck of it I put together a list of 10-15 national dealers of the boat I was interested in. I started calling around all over the country. I found a couple dealers that were out of state that would have gladly have taken the offers I was making. Then I had to relocate and the decision to buy is now put off a couple years.
So my advice is keep trying. You can get 33-40% off MSRP and maybe more but it may not be at your local dealer and a few hours work can save you a bundle potentially.
I played with offers on a major builder's 38' offshore a couple years back. It had an MSRP of around $333,000.00. The "boat show" price was $269,000.00. That was 20% off MSRP.
I would have bought it off the floor for $224,000.00 which was going in at 33% off MSRP. I knew the dealer paid $176,000.00 for it. It had been in the water at a boat show with a few miles on it. The dealer would not accept my offer and make close to 50k on the boat so I walked away.
I went back to the same dealer a year later the same boat was sitting on a rack. The colors on the boat were not the most appealing. Since the boat was a year old I offered $200,000.00 for it. Which would have meant the dealer would make 25k on it and the answer was again a resounding no. Since then this dealer has lost a franchise on a major brand of boats they once carried and laid off all but one or two salespeople.
Then for the heck of it I put together a list of 10-15 national dealers of the boat I was interested in. I started calling around all over the country. I found a couple dealers that were out of state that would have gladly have taken the offers I was making. Then I had to relocate and the decision to buy is now put off a couple years.
So my advice is keep trying. You can get 33-40% off MSRP and maybe more but it may not be at your local dealer and a few hours work can save you a bundle potentially.
At 33-40% off of MSRP you will only be able to purchase 1 boat from 99% of all dealers. Here is the truth, from a fellow OSO'r. It costs, on average, 13% to break even. This is a figure that many larger dealers use. The smaller ones ignore it and get beat up. They wind up taking short deals and are gone in 12-36 mo's. The lack of profit catches up.
And, yes you can usually go outside of your local dealers area for a better deal. Want to know why?? Because the dealer that sells you a boat 500 miles from where you live has already decided that when your taillights leave the parking lot so does responsibility to service what you just bought. 5% diff. in price on a toy should be carefully weighed. I just bought a new BMW for my wife. Paid about 1800 more for the car locally. I could have driven 2.5 hrs and paid less, but the service is important. I made the right decision. In 60 days the car has been back for service 3X!!! Each time they pick it up and bring a loaner. That convenience alone is worth doing business locally. If I bought the car from the dealer 2.5 hrs away I would have wasted in - in drive time alone - 16 hours on the road. 1800 divided by 16 is 113/hr. I think I got off cheap.
My .02
01-18-2005, 02:25 PM
#20
Gold Member
Gold Member
Re: Boat show Prices?
Originally Posted by buyafountain.com
At 33-40% off of MSRP you will only be able to purchase 1 boat from 99% of all dealers. Here is the truth, from a fellow OSO'r. It costs, on average, 13% to break even. This is a figure that many larger dealers use. The smaller ones ignore it and get beat up. They wind up taking short deals and are gone in 12-36 mo's. The lack of profit catches up.
And, yes you can usually go outside of your local dealers area for a better deal. Want to know why?? Because the dealer that sells you a boat 500 miles from where you live has already decided that when your taillights leave the parking lot so does responsibility to service what you just bought. 5% diff. in price on a toy should be carefully weighed. I just bought a new BMW for my wife. Paid about 1800 more for the car locally. I could have driven 2.5 hrs and paid less, but the service is important. I made the right decision. In 60 days the car has been back for service 3X!!! Each time they pick it up and bring a loaner. That convenience alone is worth doing business locally. If I bought the car from the dealer 2.5 hrs away I would have wasted in - in drive time alone - 16 hours on the road. 1800 divided by 16 is 113/hr. I think I got off cheap.
My .02
And, yes you can usually go outside of your local dealers area for a better deal. Want to know why?? Because the dealer that sells you a boat 500 miles from where you live has already decided that when your taillights leave the parking lot so does responsibility to service what you just bought. 5% diff. in price on a toy should be carefully weighed. I just bought a new BMW for my wife. Paid about 1800 more for the car locally. I could have driven 2.5 hrs and paid less, but the service is important. I made the right decision. In 60 days the car has been back for service 3X!!! Each time they pick it up and bring a loaner. That convenience alone is worth doing business locally. If I bought the car from the dealer 2.5 hrs away I would have wasted in - in drive time alone - 16 hours on the road. 1800 divided by 16 is 113/hr. I think I got off cheap.
My .02
