Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

About 8 years ago I moved to a new city. I've been a Polaris (atv, utv, snowmobile) guy for a lot of years but heard that the local Polaris dealer was difficult to deal with. A few years ago I wanted to buy a new Ranger XP900 utv from them. They quoted but wouldn't haggle even when I asked them to match a $200 lower price from my old dealer 2 hours away. The old dealer gave me a $50 gas card and the $200 cheaper price so I bought the machine from the non-local dealer.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I'm trying to decide on which pontoon to buy. Long story story I ended up liking the Sylvan Mirage boat best at the local "hard to deal with" dealer. I tried getting what amounted to a 2% discount planning on settling on 1% (basically I asked for a few hundred off and throw in oil change materials and a spare prop). Again they wouldn't haggle. Out of principle I almost didn't deal with them. I told them I can go to www.suntrackerboats.com and see their "No Hassle, No Haggle" National price and know that there business model is "no haggle" but of the 20+ vehicles I've bought through the years, every one had some final haggling.

Am I unreasonable to think that, unless a dealer says up front they are "no haggle" dealer, that I should expect there to be a little wiggle room and haggling?

What is your experience with dealers?

My experience with anyone selling anything is that there is a "Bottom Price" at which they're not going to make money.

Anything above that is "Profit" which is how they stay in business.

Given the "No Haggle" idea at some, that's fine, but then what is "Included In" the deal?

Asking for some additional incentives to induce you to buy isn't out of reason.

But keep in mind the guy has to make money to stay in business.

What you're asking for doesn't sound out of line.

Check with the old dealer you'd bought from before or else with some other area dealers. If they have deals that are similar, then you know he's at the normal price point. If they have better deals, then deal with them instead.

My experience with Bentley dealers was all over the map. I knew I wanted an Elite Admiral 220 with a specific set of options. I called and emailed at least 8 dealers within a few hundred mile radius. My quotes varied from nothing off to more than $5,000 off MSRP. Not only is there wide price difference, but my local dealer tacked on $3,800 more to the out the door price. At least 2 other dealers had zero fees.

It is so inconsistent out there it really pays to shop around. Not surprisingly, some dealers couldn't care less about my business and many had very little knowledge of the product lines. Even though, I am travelling nearly 200 miles to pick up my new boat, I know I got the best deal, with no fees, and from an honest dealer that is an expert on the products they sell.

The marine industry remains very competitive, and there's always going to be a dealership in any retail market that's willing to compete for your business with price. Using BoatTrader.com and going to boat shows in the winter, it's not hard to figure out who that dealer is.

As far as brands of pontoons, don't necessarily get stuck on any one brand. There are 4 or more brands I'd perfectly happy with--with either a Yamaha or Mercury 4 stroke motor.

Just hit the road, visit dealerships and it's not difficult to figure out who the players are in the marine world. I just warn you to keep your purchase a business decision and keep your feelings out of the deal. Don't let'em pressure you on the sale, and if you don't like the price move on to the next dealer.

I got 16% off MSRP on the Harris I am having built right now. I built the boat on their website and took it to the dealer to quote.

Pricing/discounting depends on:

the competition
the location
the time of year
the brand
and other factors

I have traveled to save money on several items but one time I bought a boat from a "cheaper" dealer that was 4 hours away it was the biggest mistake I ever made. I even choose my boat brand based on my local dealer because he takes care of me.

Last year I was going back and forth with our local Manitou dealer who had been servicing our current boat for four years. We visited multiple times in the dead of winter, so he knew we were serious. He ABSOLUTELY refused to come off list price. Because of this we started looking at other boats and discovered an Avalon dealer in the same area. I had never heard of Avalon, but the boat is well built and research indicated it was a top tier builder -- plus the dealer made many concessions. Had the Manitou dealer been willing to budge, even a little bit, he would have sold us a loaded tr0-toon and we never would have looked at pother boats.

That said, I'm glad he was an arrogant a**, because we love our new Avalon!

Last year I was going back and forth with our local Manitou dealer who had been servicing our current boat for four years. We visited multiple times in the dead of winter, so he knew we were serious. He ABSOLUTELY refused to come off list price. Because of this we started looking at other boats and discovered an Avalon dealer in the same area. I had never heard of Avalon, but the boat is well built and research indicated it was a top tier builder -- plus the dealer made many concessions. Had the Manitou dealer been willing to budge, even a little bit, he would have sold us a loaded tr0-toon and we never would have looked at pother boats.

That said, I'm glad he was an arrogant a**, because we love our new Avalon!

I really didn't feel I had to haggle on mine when I bought it last year. The pontoon was pretty loaded with upgrades already (27" logs, upgraded top of the line interior, changing room, individual seat covers as well as playpen cover, best stereo they offered w/bluetooth and other things). List was $42K and I walked out paying $30K. I think we did okay.

Capt. Dan wrote:Because of this we started looking at other boats and discovered an Avalon dealer in the same area. I had never heard of Avalon, but the boat is well built and research indicated it was a top tier builder -- plus the dealer made many concessions.
That said, I'm glad he was an arrogant a**, because we love our new Avalon!

Went to Philly boat show. Bought a Tahoe at the show.
MSRP was $50k-ish....

We added and deleted a couple things but ended up at around $44k with a galvanized LoadRite trailer.
That's before tax and tags etc...

At my original offer, the dealer said he would be making 6 "points"..
He countered and asked if he could make 10 "points"...

I assume points = percent profit.
I agreed to 10%.
Since then he has thrown in a spare tire and will mount it for me when the boat comes in.

So yes...you can haggle...
UNLESS the dealer has people lined up out the door to buy boats....
Which I dont think is happening...

I compared a few different brands when I was doing my shopping. The local Avalon dealer took off 19%, so that is the way I went.

When I ordered my Harris, I think I offered 14% off the MSRP. It was accepted so quick, I probably could have gotten away with more.

If you're near any more boat shows, note the MSRP and the boat show price. That will give you an idea of the spread.

Other factors can and do come into play. If the dealer doesn't like the deal, you still have the opportunity to sweeten it or keep shopping.

Don't be scared to also bring up other brands with them too, even if you can't compare exact brands you can get pretty close if you build out similar boats. For example, we built out quad lounge boats on 4 different brands (3 if you count Avalon and Tahoe as one) with similar finishes (ie vinyl floor, performance package, same engine, changing room, full enclosure, mood lighting, etc). We were honest and told them all we were looking at other brands which were all lower top tier brands and they came with their best bet. Then we decided on the boat and dealer we liked best. Wasn't the cheapest boat in the end but it was the best value for us and we got a heck of a deal on it I think. A lot of times if you show them you are an educated consumer they will be frank with you and ease off on the hard line salesmen shtick. There is a fine line in educated consumer and know-it-all....don't be a know-it-all.

My main reason I ended up with Lowe was the quote preparation I received via email two hours after I called. It had everything spelled out, even with items I never thought about, including tax and registration/license.
I first looked at the Tracker 22 XP3, which triggered to get a pontoon, and it penciled out to about 38K they way I wanted it. Then I looked at Harris but was not able to get concrete pricing from the dealer, more or less some numbers on a note pad. So I looked further at Lowe and was really surprised on what I received. So I scheduled a visit to look at the SS 210 they had in the showroom in the 2-log version. Asking for additional discounts he replied "if I could do better I would have offered it" but he gave me the upgraded helm seat and with a call to his dealer rep the mfg. rebate for 2014 models for the 2015 model I ordered. The entire atmosphere at that dealer was different the way they treated us.
I ended up with about 4K less than the Tracker including a galvanized trailer over the regular one.
A good deal is not always the cheapest one, both sides need to be satisfied and respect each other. And if the boating afterwards is as you thought it will be or even better you're a winner.
Happy Tooning!

Thanks for the feedback folks. Seems to be a wide range of experiences. We looked at 6 brands at 3 different dealers and were pretty open that we were shoppin' around. As long as they take good care of me when I need service, there is something to be said about dropping the boat off on the way to work instead of burning a Saturday to drive 2 hours to a lower cost dealer I guess. Still I feel a bit screwed with their hard nose approach. At the end of the day if we enjoy 'toonin 1/2 as much as we think we will, I probably wont think about the few hundred bucks I was haggling over.