The truth about Boat Sales MSRP and Boat Dealer Margins

[@BoatBuyersSecretWeapon]

FREE For Boat Shoppers: www.BoatersSecretWeapon.com/Toolkit FREE Boat Buyer's Toolkit for new or used boat shoppers will give you 28-pages of checklists, questions to ask and how to demo the boat the right way so you don't miss a thing. Plus, get the cost of ownership calculator so you know precisely what your cost of ownership will be. FREE For Boat Owners: boaterssecretweapon.com/pages/boater-bootcamp FREE Boater Bootcamp for newer boat owners gives you insights on boat ownership basics, navigation and practical rules of the water and how to avoid, be prepared and handle emergency situations. No more not knowing what you don't know in the boating lifestyle.

[@33RPMVinyl]

I went to a boat show 4 weeks ago with the intend of buying either a Cobalt or a Regal. I let each dealer know that I was interested in both boats and that I would purchase one of them before the end of the boat show. The dealers, knowing they were competing against one another, made significant reductions in their "boat show pricing". Both the marinas and the boat builders together offered significant reductions to the price in order to obtain my business (factory reps were on the floor supporting the marinas). In the end I did buy one of the boats. Should be built by late spring or early summer.

[@captainsplash24]

Your video helped tremendously. We are in Tampa for a boat show and had the idea prices would be better. It turned out that their SPECIAL DEAL is worse than online. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and help smart shoppers to save money.

[@TheNotimprezed]

As a 1st time buyer I'm much more attracted to manufacturers with online pricing. The hard part is deciding between a Tritoon w/150 or a Yamaha jet boat. Both seem like nice family options.

[@Fljeff7]

Triton more usable deck space

[@TheCandel34]

Manufacturer; “we sell boats! “ Customers: “how much are they? “ Manufacture: “can’t tell you. “

[@bryanw.richter3584]

@@BoatBuyersSecretWeapon just look at cars, most people HATE dealerships and as a result the internet has become the way to check pricing and decide what they can afford

[@johnhoskins4098]

MAP is minimum advertised price. OEMs will provide MAP pricing to the dealers so the boat is not discounted too much creating pricing war issues.

[@napjohn88]

I have bought a few boats and I can tell you that some dealerships are great and some are tough. Covid has made negotiating pretty tough. I did get a 2018 Stingray 208 CR MSRP 60K down to 41,700K in 2018 with a 5 year warranty when no one was buying boats. I also was lucky to get a tahoe Q5I used and the dealer was just happy to get rid of it. I feel some dealers know the 28-29% MSRP discount and if you build the base level boat, buy all the accessories yourself and install them. I just ordered last year a Stingray 225CR with just motor and only canvas/bimini top. No trailer or other shit. Will do all the wiring myself and saved about 5-6k on accessories. The point is be willing to shop, work with the dealer and if you come in, I want to build this boat it is no work for you some dealers will add it as they get a sale, volume discount.

[@bennyserrano440]

Great info!, thank you for taking the time to present. Quick question, I am interested in buying a Boston Whaler 210 Vantage DC. The price is thru the roof, and Im not sure why, its a 21 ft boat. But i really like it.... How or what recommendation can you make on how I can approach this.; 150K sale price.....

[@BoatBuyersSecretWeapon]

Whalers are a premium boat and worth the investment (quality and resale value). The boat was just released in Dec 2023 and 150K MSRP seems about right for that boat (depending on options). Mid-tier brands are close to 100K If you really like the boat, go in with a super aggressive offer on a 2024 model and see where the conversation goes.

[@bennyserrano440]

@ Thank you for getting back to me.

[@Cadaverine1990]

If don't see a price I don't go into the dealership because they want too much.

[@baseballunderthelights2373]

How do your pricing examples/msrp vs negotiated prices relate to the same in the larger 40-60 yacht dealers?

[@relee67]

Seems restricting price listing would be illegal

[@chrisfrank5331]

These prices are why more and more people are becoming alienated from boating. Only 10% of Americans can afford these astronomical prices. Your local harbor, like your local general aviation Airport used to be where people were at. Now many are half empty, GA Airports barely used .A good working blue collar family could afford at least one family hobby, whether trailerable boats, dirt bikes, an old Cessna. Now all these are priced out of range. 100k for a trailer boat?? You can buy a nice 40ft Hatteras for half that. These prices add fuel to the leftist movement and in ten years your fifty grand boat is worth maybe 8k. Just a general bitch but one that must be resolved

[@chrisfrank5331]

@@BoatBuyersSecretWeapon Sir thank you for your quick and gracious response. Say what you will but the old 15/16/17ft Bayliner capri 's were under powered but affordable and cheap to use. But not so long ago a high school kid could buy a beater boat and take the friends out to the lake ( for us the Coast) and have a ball. I spent many a day off the Channel Islands or L.A harbor catching blue Sharks and various sport fish. We need to make that possible for this and the next generation. Again thank you for your channel

[@NipItInTheBud100]

@@chrisfrank5331 what the heck does “leftist” politics have anything to do with it? The greed of capitalism seems to be the problem to me but until people stop paying those prices manufacturers have no incentive to stop raising them!

[@johnsambo9379]

Because leftist communism makes everyone poor. Look at the prices now under your commie leader Biden. Food and everyday supplies have tripled in price. Interest rates have skyrocketed.

[@tomvancil8213]

What type of discount can you typically get or expect on a small RIB ( think Brig or Highfield & in that 10’-16’ range )

[@alexdolly6077]

Great Video, Lots of good information, But truth be told I will Never ever understood the "dealer prep/ shipping " charges. I mean this is what they do, They sell boats.. and what do they do ?? they float and run on water.. Why should anyone pay an additional cost to have it do what you purchase it for ?? which is to float and run on the water. Imagine each time you bought food at your local supper market you saw a "shelf stocking /butcher/ cashers " charge each time you went shopping. Someone has to put the product out so you can Purchase it and the Casher has to ring you out Right ?? I would rather see those " prep" charges included into the price of the boat. If you produce a good reliable product people will buy it.. But I know, it is what it is , Again great Video..

[@joetucker9500]

For a fee, will you do research on a new boat and get the best manufactured price...

[@BoatBuyersSecretWeapon]

Depends on the location and type of boat... send me a message and we can discuss exactly what you're looking for and cost. boaterssecretweapon.com/pages/contact

[@stevegarrett4869]

What kind of discount can you get from tracker or ranger boats. Is it really no haggle?

[@miked8227]

I have seen some very good asking prices on used Rangers and Trackers in the last 6 months, still won’t touch either of them anymore. Too many stories about the poor quality of these makes now.

[@fishydubsfishing6516]

I wish you would've covered what a profit margin is for the manufacturer I bought a sea hunt 27 game fish and I ordered it to my specifications they gave me a price I excepted it when the boat was being built they kept cutting everything off that I was supposed to get they said look at the back of the contract the manufacturer has the right to change items we ended up in a big argument me and the dealer and they offered me to break the contract I excepted it and I lost the boat it's up to them one year to resell the boat

[@toddtassell3598]

Great information. Thanks, Captain Matt!

[@ivanko2567]

looking for an aquila 44, any idea whats a good used price? for a 2016 or 2017?

[@peopleschampgarage7869]

I dont understand boat pricing. I want to buy a 22' v hull sport boat, 300 merc. They want 150k for a 22' boat. Seems crazy. The engine is 30k plus rigging. 4 seats. Minium vinyl. They arent carbon hulls. White gel coat.

[@mp5kfisher241]

When you see the “Dealer Prep” charge, does that include batteries installed by the dealer or does the buyer have to do that or extra? Im fixing to buy a new 2022 bass boat, will dealers throw in any equipment if i stay at MAP pricing? Like asking the dealer to throw in a free Power Pole?

[@Fljeff7]

There is no such thing as free. If they throw something in many times it comes out of the sales commission and usually puts less in sales reps pocket.

[@kellingtonlink956]

Great tips. Thanks for the video.

[@fedx2185]

I don’t know if you think this is Car Sales.. I grew up at my uncles marina and there is way more mark up .. If you have good or decent DIY skills build .or repair a older boat restoration is dirty sticky gluing type work but you can end up with a high quality and buy a new engine. I just finished a 27ft center console and the boat surveyed for $85,000 and I have $26,000 in the boat with a new 300 hp Suzuki engine..

[@fedx2185]

@@BoatBuyersSecretWeapon My uncle still builds boats, mostly big boats but he claims there’s a lot of profit.. but who knows.. If you actually price out a $120,000 center console there’s about $11,000 in materials plus engine.. plenty of molds laying around and in fact you can rent molds now to lay up a hull. I still think there’s a lot of markup and by the way I still restore boats but as a hobby..

[@brinkee7674]

@@fedx2185 I have done what Brian did. Only on a small scale. My wife thought I was crazy as I had little experience with glass but my brother did. I spent a several week ends building canoes and front ends/noses for Nascar type cars before I tackled my 25CC He is right, know the right people and molds are available. I bought a used boat to get me through that summer and took my time building the boat which was better quality than many makers. Biggest expense is time/labor and normal overhead. Materials are really somewhat cheap considering. It makes it a little more difficult selling the used boat with an unknown maker but an experienced boater knows quality when he sees it. I was somewhat surprised how quick 3 guys could bang out a shell when they put their minds to it-well and saved the beers and doobies till later in the day. I wish I had kept up on the skills as it's something I'd consider doing again as the money I saved was tremendous and the satisfaction was priceless. It helped that I also had an older friend that owned a marina that did repairs and custom wood boat building as neither of us had experience building a larger boat. Last thing you want to to rip off the transom due to too little support. It's amazing where manufacturers cut corners to even save a few bucks

[@ashman0071]

rule number one - never buy a new boat - rule number two and three - never buy a new boat - rule number 4 - buy a used boat at 30% less than what the seller wants for it and pay in cash - IF you think it's a good deal .

[@carastinson9474]

Why are 2006 pontoon selling for 25k?

[@timshull59]

So I got a written quote from Cabelas for Sun Tracker 20 DLX FOR 35,800 OTD 90hp Merc with trailer and cover and underpinning Sept 2021. Do you figure there's any room to negotiate?

[@timshull59]

@@BoatBuyersSecretWeapon thanks for the help!

[@mp5kfisher241]

Wait, so the dealer can take care of the state tax and tag/sticker registration from the dealership? I thought we had to go to local tag agencies for all that? So does your tag or license sticker for boat & motor come in the mail?

[@usa91787]

What's the typical dealer hold back percentage?

[@usa91787]

@@BoatBuyersSecretWeapon I worked in power sports and so the manufacturer would give the dealer back $ of dealer cost after the sale was made. Sometimes it was a set amount. Sometimes a percentage. Since we weren't dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars usually around $20 - 30k it ran around $500 to $750. So even if you sold at invoice you would end up with something at the end. Probably not explaining the concept exactly correctly. This applied to pwc's, atv's, utv's motorcycles etc.

[@usa91787]

@@BoatBuyersSecretWeapon Gotcha. With say a Polaris ATV you could sell a model for cost and still make say $500 on it because once you registered the sale they'd cut the check. That area of Power Sports is pretty cut throat. The large dealers who sell 50 or 75 atv's a month can live on the hold back by selling at cost. The smaller dealerships like the one I worked for get crushed. We did about 30 units across all lines per month until snowmobile season then the early orders would pump that up a little in April. But still barely enough to even out a living. Edit: The Big dealers sell probably 200 to 250 units a month across ATV, UTV, snowmobile and Slingshot. not urgent We didn't sell Slingshots due to floor space so I'm not sure what they do there. But everyone was still under Minimum Advertised Price but you know how "Call For Price" goes.

[@miked8227]

Just because you’re wealthy or comfortable doesn’t mean you have to be stupid. I’m thinking that some of the bling you pay for on these vessels rarely or never gets utilized.

[@dwightbernheimer331]

Some less reputable boat Stealerships won't be around in a few months😂😂😂... Don't Overthink IT... Just wait for IT...😊😊😊... Thanks for posting this video... There are a lot of perspective boaters out there unaware of what they're getting into!!!...

[@fendert1384]

Good Info, I just don't agree with OEM's high MSRP then discounting down to a reasonable value. Sounds disingenuous .

[@TerraFirmaX]

@@BoatBuyersSecretWeapon I used to work for a manufacture in the ATV market. We sold to dealers, distributors and retail. The margins built in were Hugh for retail sales. The reason for this was so that everyone was able to discount to a certain point and still make money. It was all based on volume and our MSRP was set just to level the playing field. Now that didn't mean that a distributor couldn't discount it for less than a dealer could buy it for, it just meant that they could not advertise it for less, otherwise we would lose all the dealers.

[@Fljeff7]

Never finance a recreational item. Buy pre-owned. I prefer to by used and broken for penny's on the dollar. That way a boat becomes a true asset.

[@Deepimpactocean]

That blackfin pricing is a joke. A 2019 was going for under $175k. T

[@Deepimpactocean]

@@BoatBuyersSecretWeapon fully loaded with trailer.

[@boburwell9921]

Definitely not a sport for penny pinchers

[@LifeIsGoodThankYouGod]

Buy a use 3 to 5 year old boat for half the prices....

[@colemant6845]

Not possible today! COVID killed deals on used. Also, people have been financing boats (and cars) for last 3 years. They owe the balance if COVID killed their job. 2 years from now... deals will be finding a way back in the used market.

[@Maynardd]

@@colemant6845 i’ve been looking at boats since last February. I almost pulled the trigger on a $70,000 boat, But decided to wait a couple weeks because that was when COVID was just really beginning to blow up. All of the sudden I’m noticing a lot of boats coming up for sale online. Many of them Only one year old or used 2020. I think a lot of people bought boats out of boredom and now they’re scratching their head saying what was I thinking now that boating season is pretty much at an end and they still need to pay for them. I think you’re right, and I think next year will be a terrible year for boat sales and the prices will plummet.

[@justaviewer111]

OMG PLEASE BUY A POP SCREEN!!! Your "Ps" are MURDER! They're popping really bad.

[@Bass_attack7755]

This hasn't aged well. Cars are well above MSRP and I'm sure boats are as well.

[@colemant6845]

Your Manufacturer Profit is not accurate. Actual Profit on a typical 20-30 Ft CC Mid Tier is closer to 40-45%. Unless they are leftovers. Never less than 30%

[@lewiswatchorn7239]

The example of the Grady only comes up to a 10% discount. Assuming they still want to make a 20% profit, the margin would be 30%. I’ve been told that 20% discounts are reasonable-which switching the numbers around means the dealer would still make 10% on the sale and have a customer who would presumably take the boat in for regular service, or buy dealer-installed upgrades from.

[@nickcohen4900]

If you ask how much is a boat , it means you dont have money .

[@johnsambo9379]

We are all dumber for reading your comment. Do you just write a blank check and let them fill in the numbers?

[@richardalexander1838]

Prep fee on Robolo "build" online went from $800 to $1300 when I got the bigger motor. Is there wiggle room on dealer prep fee?

[@richardalexander1838]

@@BoatBuyersSecretWeapon I am looking at the Robolo Cayman 226. It literally sounds like a prep fee from the factory for accessories and Motor. I added a Simrad and upgraded the engine from 200hp to 250hp vmax and the "prep fee" went from $835 to $1345.