Tips for buying a new boat?

The wife and I are looking into buying a brand new boat this fall and I was wondering if anyone has any tips to share for negotiating with the salesmen. Anyone got any idea how much markup is in these things I know that they won't put the prices on their website or even email them to you like they are top secret or something. We are looking at something in the 1860 range welded with center console and around a 90hp motor.

my personal experience,i waited till december when it was really late in the boat/fish season,the dealers are trying to unload all the old stock.i negotiated a really good deal.the salesman was offering me a killer deal for the trailer ,boat (g 3 guide v 14 )and a motor.i ended up just buying the boat .still regret not getting the motor,my johnny died the next summer and i ended up getting a new yamaha anyway :? .but it was also a good deal.dealer knocked 800 off the price of the motor because i wanted an electric start and they had none in stock and i was ready to walk.so i have to pull start,big deal. :LOL2:

Aaron Lariscy said:

The wife and I are looking into buying a brand new boat this fall and I was wondering if anyone has any tips to share for negotiating with the salesmen. Anyone got any idea how much markup is in these things I know that they won't put the prices on their website or even email them to you like they are top secret or something. We are looking at something in the 1860 range welded with center console and around a 90hp motor.

Click to expand...

that boat in the picture ....yours ? ... i like it...

Do you have the luxury of shopping more than one dealer. I just bought a new Lund and was able to shop 3 different dealers for the best pricing. My final price was 4k less than my original quoted price. A 90hp is going to run between 7k-9k which does not include the controls and rigging. If you wait til spring, there are also other incentives mfgs offer. I got a free 2 year warranty extension on my Merc, and they also have "boat show" discounts. You may be able to negotiate other things like free rigging or something simiar.

Best thing you can do is call a dozen different dealers and get a quote from each one .... chances are you'll find a few that are quite a bit lower than the others. Hopefully the cheaper ones will be close ... or maybe you can get the local guys to price match.

Sometimes you can find killer deals on last year's leftovers.

Don't forget to dig into the price to find out exactly what you are getting ... like extra seats, cover, options, accessories, prep charges, etc etc etc. You want to be comparing apples to apples.