Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

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drolaw

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New here and was hoping I could get some advice from those who are experienced in negotiating with boat dealers.

Is there a magic % that I know I could negotiate with? Here's my current situation. I currently have a 2011 Tahoe Q5i and have been boating the last three seasons and the wife and I love it. Now that we know we're gonna continue to go boating we looked to upgrade. The boat we like is the Cobalt 220 which is perfect for me and the misses. The MSRP (never pay that I know) is $70,000.00 with the options we picked. Normally when I buy something I'll immediately take 20% off the ticket price and give an offer below that hoping to meet in the middle.

Here are the numbers:

MSRP = 70,000
20% = $14,000

What I think is a good deal = $55,000.00 with the 20 hour and 50 hour maintenance free

Each deal is different but I'm not experienced in buying from boat dealers so this is new territory for me. I figured/hoping there are some people on this forum who could steer me in the right direction.
 
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Slip Away

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Re: Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

If the 220 you are looking at is a 2014, it would be a crazy deal if you could get it for $55K. My guess is $62K is about as low as dealer will go, but you can at least try.
 
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agallant80

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Re: Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

20% off of MSRP may be doable but 20% off of the dealer price will be a bit heavy. Have you got a price from a dealer yet or just a price from the website? If it helps the price of my stingray was about $43,000 on the website I paid $36,000 including trailer at the dealer. So it was about 17% less than the website and the trailer was "free" in that equation.
 
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drolaw

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Re: Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

agallant80 said:
20% off of MSRP may be doable but 20% off of the dealer price will be a bit heavy. Have you got a price from a dealer yet or just a price from the website? If it helps the price of my stingray was about $43,000 on the website I paid $36,000 including trailer at the dealer. So it was about 17% less than the website and the trailer was "free" in that equation.
Click to expand...

I'm waiting on a dealer price. I visited the dealer on Saturday and was quoted $75,000 with trailer and options for a Cobalt 232..MSRP was $89700. I like the 232 but I thinks it's too big and asked for a price on the 220. The website/MSRP is right at 70,000 for the 220.

This is all exciting but nerve racking all at the same time...lol.
 
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agallant80

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Re: Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

Stingray is a much cheaper boat than Cobalt so the discount may not be as good though on your 232 you are still 17% under MSRP and the trailer is "free" in the equation. If you get the same 17% on the 220 then you are looking at $58,000 with "free" trailer(if its included).....

Oh one more thing pay attention to the trailer and make sure the dealer is not giving you the cheapest thing out there. I bought a cheep trailer with my boat and I regret it. The quality of the trailer matters. My stingray had a wesco and it was great, my bayliner has a venture and its a POS
 
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oldjeep

oldjeep

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Re: Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

See if you can get someone who is going to a boat show soon to see what the boat show price is. 20% isn't necessarily out of the question, given some of the pricing I saw last week at the Mpls boat show.
 
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agallant80

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Re: Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

I'm going to the raleigh boat show this weekend if I see a dealer I'll ask
 
tpenfield

tpenfield

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Re: Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

Try See Dealer Cost. That could give some info to help with the negotiations.
 
tpenfield

tpenfield

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Re: Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

drolaw said:
This was really helpful! Really get to see the markup. Thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...

Probably need to make sure you add in all the options, etc to get a full apples-to-apples comparison.

I think the dealers will always want to make a fair amount of their money up front with the sale rather than service, etc. after the sale. However, 25-30% below MSRP is pretty typical for where the boats sell.
 
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MarkSee

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Re: Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

drolaw said:
.... Really get to see the markup.....
Click to expand...

In the size/style of boat you're looking at, generally here in SoCal at the boat shows the price you'll see posted/quoted IS the discounted price you will be paying. You might be able to haggle in some discounts on accessories or service but not much on the price of the boat and trailer.
And for a hot model that's selling well or with limited supply, expect little to no wiggle room at all.

Mark
 
roscoe

roscoe

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Re: Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

When pops bought his boat at a show, there was no haggle room. Dealer was willing to throw in a cockpit cover.
The real deal, was if pops would consider last years model, with no choice on color, rigged with the o/b that was on it.
 
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drolaw

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Re: Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

Thanks everyone! I ended up getting a good deal at 23% below MSRP for a 2014 Cobalt 220. The wife and I love it. We decided against the 232 because it was just too big for us.

I even got service at 50 and 100 hours included in my deal. I think I was able to get the deal because I walked away twice. I think if it was spring or summer I couldn't get the same deal.

The site "dealer cost" was very helpful in my negotiations so thanks again to tpenfield for the tip!
 
tpenfield

tpenfield

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Re: Need advice in negotiating boat price with dealer

Congrats on your purchase, I think you will really like the Cobalt :thumb: . I went to my local boat show yesterday and noticed that the MSRP prices of some boats continually creep up, to a point where they have become meaningless (IMO).

I looked at a few Cobalts, but the display has been smaller in recent years. Then I looked more closely at the Formula line as they had more big boats on display.

In the Formula line, I noticed that they now advertised 3 prices . . . "MSRP", "Formula Sale Price" (FSP), and "Boat Show Price" (BSP). So, I was looking at the 310FX . . . $310K MSRP, $248K FSP, $217K BSP . . . all for the the high-end option package. . . That MSRP is really meaningless, since Formula will give you 20% off to start, then the dealer will throw in another 10%. . . . :noidea:

Dealer cost on that config would be about $195K, so they are making about 10% on the sale.
 
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