I'm looking to buy a brand new boat in the next month or so. I've never done this before and could use some tips. I have a little runabout, but I bought used, cash, a few years ago. I'm ready for a serious upgrade. I'll put the old boat up for sale myself in a few months as the weather warms up.
I'm deciding between a 2015 Axis T22 and an Axis T23. I'll be paying cash. I won't be using the boat before May, but I'm assuming that buying the boat before the boat show should get me a pretty good discount versus buying it in May. I have no problem whatsoever with the dealership making a fair profit on me. Frankly, it's going to be more of a relationship thing moving forward anyway, as I'll need their help for warranty work, maintenance, and repairs anyway. But I don't want to piss away an extra 10 grand because I'm a rookie boat buyer.
I've looked up the MSRP and the dealer cost on this site:
http://www.seedealercost.com/boats. The dealer cost consistently represents about a 27% discount from the MSRP for 2015 Axis boats. I expect I'll pay somewhere between those two numbers. Here are my questions for the experts:
1) Is it really worth it to buy the boat now versus in May? What kind of a discount will that get me?
2) Is it really better to buy before the boat show rather than at the boat show?
3) At this point of the year, am I ordering a boat to be made or what? That is, should I expect to be able to custom order it? Will that cost me or is that no big deal since most of the boats that will be sold this summer haven't been made yet? How do you do that? Do you sit down with the dealer, tell him the colors you want and the options you want and when you want the boat?
4) What's a fair profit on a boat in this price range? How small of a mark-up from dealer cost is worth it to them?
5) If I am custom ordering a boat, do I have to pay for all of it up front, just a deposit until delivery, or nothing until delivery? If a deposit, what's typical and is it usually non-refundable?
6) How does it work when choosing options? Do you just go down the list- I want this, I don't need that, tell me about this etc etc. The dealership probably only has one of each of these models to look at, so it's not like I can look at and play with all the options.
7) Is it typical to be able to add on options at dealer cost, or is every little option another negotiating point?
8) Any other negotiating tips? There are other Axis dealers around, but they're a 4-8 hour drive away, and it's not like I'd be going there for warranty/maintenance work. I would be willing to go that far to buy however, if it represented a large discount (>$2K).
Please share your experience and expertise. Thanks in advance.
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