Website that shows Dealer Cost for many boats.. Including Sea Ray

MonacoMike said:
Todd, It is always easy to think the other guy has no risk, expense, and just makes it so easy. What does it cost to deliver a million dollar boat to the end user? Many manufacturers push their responsibilities to the dealer at delivery. I was thinking; what factors may necessitate high dealer markup?

Liability insurance.

Employee expense.

Water related real estate locations.

Carrying costs, including storage, interest, property insurance, and tax.

Equipment to move large vessels.

Go pay for that with the chump change of $200k and let us know how much you have left.

EDIT: By the time i got this poted several had expressed these points. MM
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Unless all of the dealers activity is known I don’t see of what importance it is to even waste time pondering some of this stuff. I don’t know how many dealers could support themselves just off boat sales. He may have an on water Marina type dealership, slip rental, repair facility, outside and inside storage, brokerage services, winterizing and commissioning services, parts and accessory sales, trailer sales, recreational vehicle sales, warranty sales, financing commissions, good efficient employees or poor ones, tear the world a new a$$ salesmen or the ones that are sleeping when the customer walks in…should it matter to us unless we’re going to use those services. Knowing the dealers cost is a good reference tool but it doesn’t tell us what the dealer has to make on his boats.
 
The beauty of a competative market place is that if you feel that the markup is too high, start your own boat dealership and run it the way you think it should go. We've all got stories of local dealers that offered "unbeatable" prices only to mysteriously go bankrupt later. Simple economics at work and it always seems to find a balance.

We had a local Four Winns dealer fail... heard they had "killer deals" while they were around... Hmmmm...
 
All good points gentlemen. I am just not used to seeing that kind of mark up spelled out. I think I'd rather not know.....heh, heh!
 
Tonka Boater said:
I don't know why the dealers/manufacturers care.
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I believe the reason the dealers will not like this is, assuming the information remains available, it is alot easier for them to negotiate down from MSRP than it will be to negotiate up from Invoice price, especially with the spread seen on some of these boats.

Good points have been made here about the dealer having to make a profit, overhead expenses, commissions, etc., but at the end of the day when a consumer has a printout that says a dealer paid $X amount and the dealer wants them to pay potentially tens or hundreds of thousands more it just opens the possibility to frustrate buyer and dealer even when the dealer explains the value add.

One thing that has not been brought up is the question of whether or not a dealer gets some kind of holdback or dealer incentives from Sea Ray or special floorplan financing rates? I don't know but there is surely alot more to the equation than just invoice price.

I think it is a net good thing for the consumer and could be good for the dealers as well. Dealers may have an opportunity to sell more volume by coming down lower than the competition and generate more revenue in the process. At least there will be no more mysteries. As long as the buyer is willing to make the deal then they should not complain about price they agree to. We all know the dealers have to make money. They are not in the business to break even, nor should they be.

Also, I tend to think that dealers make more on selling used boats than new boats anyway at least based on what I have seen. I have some boats at my dealership that the dealer sold new and since then 4 or 5 times over. Each time they are either getting a brokers commission or buying at trade value and selling at retail.
 
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If it was so lucrative, then why did so many manufacturers and dealers go belly up in the last 5 years? just look at the cost of parking the damn things.
 
Turtlesboat said:
If it was so lucrative, then why did so many manufacturers and dealers go belly up in the last 5 years? just look at the cost of parking the damn things.
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Like I said, in this economy.....SWOOSH!!!
 
The local SR dealer is in downtown Richmond. Not a lot of water around. The rest is not my problem. As was stated earlier. You (the collective dealer) need to show me (the collective buyer) what added value the markup is bringing to me (the collective buyer). The rest, is not my problem. The purchase price is.

"A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner" - English Proverb
 
haha that site is funny, I work at a dealer and I can tell you those prices are way over inflated for most boats. I have access to dealer pricing for 8 boat companies. Many boat dealers work with a 12-18% margin, not a 40-50% margin.
 
Re: Dealer Costs

Makes what you thought was a good deal look less good.
 
You would think so, wouldn't you? I worked for a Honda motorcycle/ATV/watercraft dealer, and the invoice prices look very similar to the MSRP. But there are so many dealer incentives, you wouldn't believe it. For example, I sold a Gold Wing with a MSRP of $22K, for $21K. We showed the invoice to the customer because we knew it would look like he got a great deal. I made a whole $125 commission on the sale. Then I found out from the finance manager that the dealership also got a $2K dealer incentive on that model. Didn't make me very happy, to say the least. Not long after, I found a job where the company didn't take advantage of its employees...
 
Those prices are base prices. The 350 they had at the boat show had an MSRP over $400,000 with a boat show price just over $300,000. The base price is just over $250,000. The dealer cost for the base boat is just under $200,000.

I feel good seeing that my exact boat has a boat show price of over $300,000. I got a great deal. No regrets. I hope to pay back the dealer with many more years of winterization and storage.
 
Was anyone able to determine if the margins stayed the same between 2010 and 2011? A quick looks appears that the spread between MSRP and dealer cost actually increased in 2011 over 2010..
 
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