Dealing on an Alumacraft

[52Alumacraft]

It is easy to buy a car. You can go on line and find dealer cost, average selling price, or what ever benchmark you choose. Then you make an offer that makes you happy and gives the dealer a little money to keep the lights burning.

I don't know how to buy a boat however. Seems like the best I can do is call around to all the dealers within a few hours drive and then compare prices. Doing this I see about a 10% difference from top price to bottom for the same boat.

Is there a better way to get to a fair price?
JB

 

[Navy Jr.]

Re: Dealing on an Alumacraft

Is there a better way to get to a fair price?
JB

Nope.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Dealing on an Alumacraft

It's especially difficult when you consider the cost of the engine which may come from Johnson, Evinrude, Merc, Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, Tohatsu, Nissan, etc. The trailer can come from a gazillion different manufacturers, and the boat can be packaged with a bunch of options. Obviously none of the prices for the major parts are same between manufacturers. Since you are dealing on Alumacraft, go to a dealer and price a "no pre-rig boat" with the options you want. Alumacraft will do that since they aren't owned by an engine manufacturer --- yet. Just tell the dealer you already have an engine and will isntall it and the controls yourself. I did this with my Navigator 165CS. Then go to another dealer who sells your choice of engine. Get a price on the engine with controls. Get the idea? Then do the same with the trailer. Add up those three major items to get a total and then start shopping dealers for the whole shootin' match.

 

[JUSTINTIME]

Re: Dealing on an Alumacraft

nada.com has good values

 

[52Alumacraft]

Re: Dealing on an Alumacraft

Thanks for the nada tip. I never thought about them for boats. That helped in comparing motors for sure. I also found a web site for the state of Florida that shows retail and their negotiated prices for a bunch of motors. That was pretty interesting. Meanwhile I am still refining the process that Silvertip pretty much described.

I managed to drag my feet past the window for the $650 rebate so now I have another month until I stand to pass up the $400 rebate.

 

[Navy Jr.]

Re: Dealing on an Alumacraft

I managed to drag my feet past the window for the $650 rebate so now I have another month until I stand to pass up the $400 rebate.

You know, I found that declining rebate thing rather irritating. I can't recall ever seeing such a thing like that before. Vehicle manufacturers don't offer rebates like that. Nor does Honda, which currently has a rebate on some of its marine engines.

Sure, the idea is Alumacraft wants you to buy sooner rather than later, but the message they're sending is that they are punishing customers who buy later. Maybe it's only me, but when we shopped for boats at the boat show last weekend, well, it just didn't feel right.

Is this a new strategy for Alumacraft, or have they done it in years past?

 

[Tredeb]

Re: Dealing on an Alumacraft

You know, I found that declining rebate thing rather irritating.

snip

Is this a new strategy for Alumacraft, or have they done it in years past?

It was there last year when I bought mine. Really, you shouldn't let it affect your decision. You are talking about a 1 to 3 % difference.

In my mind, the strategy is to give people the impression that they are getting a better deal to buy early.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Dealing on an Alumacraft

Buying a boat is no different than buying a car or a house. You decide what you like, what you are willing to pay and you lay your checkbook out on the desk and say here's my offer. If they take it you should be happy. If not, you have the option of walking away or uping the ante. You obviously need to have at least a remote idea what the rigs list price is or should be. You can do that by asking in the manner I described. For engine prices, try Ed's Marine Superstore. Keep in mind you generally end up with about $800 in rigging fees on top of those engine prices. For boat prices, price a package boat and deduct the cost of the engine. Again, it at least gets you in the ball park. There is one caveat to buying anything. Once you buy it, stop looking because you will inevitably find the identical product for slightly less money. You were happy once, why look for a way to make yourself unhappy!

 

[Navy Jr.]

Re: Dealing on an Alumacraft

It is easy to buy a car. You can go on line and find dealer cost, average selling price, or what ever benchmark you choose. Then you make an offer that makes you happy and gives the dealer a little money to keep the lights burning.

Just giving this a little more thought because I asked the same question a while back and didn't really get a definitive answer.

I wonder if another big difference in buying boats compared to buying cars is that there isn't as much volume selling boats as there is cars. In other words, boat dealers still have to pay overhead and whatnot, but they know they can't sell nearly as many boats as a car dealer can sell cars. The boat dealer needs every penny of margin he can muster.

Regarding the Alumacraft rebate, while it bugged me a little, I wouldn't have turned it down. The Trophy 175 we were looking at is a great boat, but we ended up getting a Lund Fisherman 1750 instead. Probably paid too much, but like Silvertip said above, we're happy and we aren't looking back!

 

[wismike]

Re: Dealing on an Alumacraft

52 Alumacraft....I just bought a new 185 Tournament Sport. I managed to drag myself past the Feb 1 date also but the dealer worked the full $1000 into the deal for me. I didn't take too many options (top and extra seat). There wasn't too much room for negotiation but I am buying the TM and Electronics myself and they are installing them for a very fair price. I would say overall I felt good about the deal and the dealer was very good to work with.

 

[52Alumacraft]

Re: Dealing on an Alumacraft

Congratulations on the new purchase wismike. You will like that boat for sure. I decided to let the January rebate go so that I could cool off and try to make a rational decision by the end of this month. I don't like the declining rebate either but I understand why they are doing it.

Going back and forth between dealers I am getting a feel for how low they will go. Unfortunately the deals are 100 miles away and my local dealer (about 1/2mile from my house) is still about 10% higher than the others. He claims the other guys are selling at 4% over his cost.