Pontoon Buying Advice

[joer3155]

Hello All,
We're about to buy our first boat (of any type). We're planning to buy a new boat from a dealer and I'm trying to get an idea of how much of a discount percentage I should expect off of list price. We're in the lakes region of New Hampshire. I'd prefer to buy a boat from inventory rather than order one. Should I expect more of a discount on a boat that's in stock?
I've looked at Harris and Bennington and like them both.

Any advice would be welcome to help raise my confidence that we're getting a good deal.

Thanks very much.

[smltooner]

Welcome to the club.
Some dealers, depending on the brand, will negotiate and some will give you a set price, take it or leave it.
I don't know about Harris or Bennington, but Sun Tracker has a "No Haggle" price.
However, some dealers, like mine, will throw in extras to make up for not negotiating.
I got an extra battery with cables, life jackets, dock lines, fenders and the name of our boat put on the stern.
Good luck.

[Bamaman]

I would suggest you go online and identify the dealers for your desired brand(s) within close proximity of your home. Then go onto the websites of the dealerships to compare prices quoted. Call'em on the phone and see what their delivered price is.

Very often, one dealer will be the "leader of the pack" on pricing and willing to compete for your business vs. other dealers. On BoatTraders.com, it's not difficult to find the dominant marine dealership.

If you feel their prices are too high, have another brand of boat in mind. Bennington is my preferred brand, but there are a dozen other brands (including Premier, Manitou and Harris) that I'd be proud to own.

The big sellers are the tritoons with lifting strakes and 150 hp 4 stroke engines. They're very seaworthy and plenty fast for most people.

[ron nh]

Both of those dealers in the lakes region have excellent reputations, They won't try to screw you with msrp. Both brands are also excellent, so I wouldn't expect a deal, but go on Boat Trader and you'll quickly find the difference in msrp and actual price. Though it's still cool, I'm trying to splash in today for the 1st time this year. Good luck. And like Bamma said, Buy a tri-toon, especially if Winni will be you're stomping grounds. If you don't like the prices, there are many "lesser brands" that are built very well that can save you some serious coin. If you don't buy a tri-toon now, you will wish you did, then next year do it all over again.quick edit; There are some nice, new 2015s up there that you could save big on, if the layouts match what you're looking for.

[zoom650]

I special ordered my Harris in 2014, and wound up with 14% off dealer price. In hindsight perhaps if I'd bargained harder, I think I'd have wound up around 17%. I'm still happy. At least got a show price.

I also had just been to the Bennington dealer and talked about how I'd narrowed the choice down. I think it's good to have two boats/dealers to pit against each other.

My Harris guy told me last Monday the Verado 200 they are installing now, cost them the same as the 150 did, two years ago.

[joer3155]

I special ordered my Harris in 2014, and wound up with 14% off dealer price. In hindsight perhaps if I'd bargained harder, I think I'd have wound up around 17%. I'm still happy. At least got a show price.

Thanks for the info Zoom, and everyone. I went to the Boston boat show in February, and one of the dealers had a "show" price of ~ 10% off of list. I got a quotes from a couple of dealers recently with prices from 6% to just less than 10% off of MSRP.

[Soonertoon]

If you can pay cash on full, you have leverage.