Need help / advice on boat pricing

[toohyped]

Hello all. Soon to be new Bennington owner here in Southern California. My question to anyone who might be able to help is what can I expect in terms of price difference from the MSRP listed on the Bennington Boat Build website compared to what a dealer might quote me? Any idea as to what I can expect from the dealer as far as negotiating his quoted price? This will be my first boat purchase from a dealer so any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Bamaman]

Current prices are not published but you can see some old pricing @ DealerCost.com for marine items. It just gives you relativity on cost vs. MSRP.

Remember that the boat business is not the automobile business. There's no selling boats @ $100 over cost--like a car dealer can often do on advertised units. A medium size boat business sells 50 units a year, where a medium size car dealer sells 50 cars per month. Both have expenses 12 mos. out of the year, however a large percentage of a boat dealer's business is April-August. I'm just telling you that you're not going to do business purchasing a boat like you would an automobile or truck.

The internet's IBoats.com, Boattrader.com and EBayMotors.com are great places to educate yourself on boat dealers and how they do business. It's pretty easy to figure out which dealerships are willing to compete with your business thru fair pricing. It's also easy to figure out who's trying to take advantage of your ignorance in purchasing a boat.

I'm in the market for a new pontoon later this year. I'm going to try to keep my business within 3 dealerships 60-90 minutes of my house. (No Bennington dealers or other luxury pontoon dealers are local.) All three dealerships are not high cost/large inventory operations. and can afford to sell boats reasonably. Time is not an issue, so I can order a boat that meets my exact needs. I prefer doing business with an established dealership, as many new, inexperienced boat dealerships have a high incidence of failure. I want my dealer to be around to service me next year, and 10 years from now.

If the three local dealers don't wish to compete for my business, I can go to Plan B. I have a recreational vehicle in the Blue Ridge Mountains with another 3-4 dealerships in Chattanooga and North Georgia, and those dealerships are not out of my way. Somehow and somewhere, I will receive a fair deal.

I would just suggest you enjoy your boat search and purchase. Make buying your boat a business decision and keep the emotions out of it.

 

[Friar]

Hi "toohyped" welcome to the forum. To add to Bamaman's comments, you can also look at www.nadaguides.com concerning boats, motors, and trailers to get a "feel" for realistic pricing. From my shopping experience two years ago, I can tell you that my boat's MSRP was listed at 43K but then it was advertised at the boat show as 3K off that (listed as regular sales price) and 6K more off (as the boat show discount)so 34K was the starting point of discussions. Ultimately we settled on a price several K off that number and then only after other options and things the dealer had locally were added on.

If you haven't already, search this forum about various options that are available for the boat and what owners think of them in deciding what you might want/like.

Like Bamaman says, try to keep emotions out of it as much as you are able (usually a little difficult, I know).

Last piece of advice - get the biggiest HP motor you can afford; it is the best time to do it. I know I thought my 90 HP Yamaha was sufficient but after my first time out I wanted more!

Good luck and have fun.

 

[kaydano]

Friar is pretty much telling my story too. Ours was right at $40k on build a boat, without any extra for delivery, dealer prep, motor mounting, battery, prop, etc (all that stuff at the bottom of the build a boat page). Not sure what to add for all that, maybe $1k to $1.5k more. So $41k or so. I paid $29k. So, around 70% of MSRP. I shopped two Bennington dealers. Neither of my numbers above included the trailer. What we paid was quite a bit lower than the "boat show" prices I saw, just like Friar says. We bought in the fall though, that might have helped some.

Good luck! And welcome to the forum!

 

[ranger45]

There is a site called seedealercost.com it has some good info. You can click on marine section and get a pretty good idea of dealer cost. I bought a 2274GLI with a Merc 115 and tandem trailer for 28k. The boat alone priced out at 41k so that gives you an idea of the mark up. It has a lot of options the trailer is Yacht Club with surge brakes. I hope this helps you in some way.

 

[GeorgeDand]

Ranger45 - I assume you have your boat (not on order)? Are you satisfied with your 2274GLI with the Merc 115? Just ordered a '13 2274GL with the 115 Merc and twin ellipticals. Couldn't quite stomach the additional $5000 for the 150 Merc ($3500 for the engine, and $1500 for the power steering). Not interested in performance like my V-8 I/O 19' deep-V, which I'm keeping for watersports; just want to be comfortable. Any thoughts?