Boat Trade in - Does this seem right?

[Sierra048]

So the me and the bride are kicking around the idea on getting a sightly larger pontoon boat to accommodate our growing family (basically the grandchildren). Plan on going from an 18' to a 21' with a larger engine.

We live in a small town and have two dealers locally. I visited both to see what they had and decided to go back to the one we bought our current pontoon from. We've decided to take the hit and trade our boat in on any new purchase. We just don't feel like dealing with the pain in showing the boat to who knows how many tire-kickers vs interested buyers. Both dealers were within $200 with their trade in offers and both were determined without a trailer. We have no trailer since the boat is kept on the huge lake we live close to and the marina is on the lake and they simply put it in the water after we closed on it.

Now here's where I'd like some opinions. I went into our present dealer and sat down to discuss what boat we were interested in and started talking price. When we agreed on a price, we started talking about our trade. He handed me a sheet with the trade in figures he came up with and my jaw dropped. The trade in figure, without a trailer, was still the same as quoted earlier but now it also had a $2200 deduction from the trade-in price; to compensate for not having a trailer.

I've owned several boats in my lifetime but have never traded one in. I always sold them privately. Is it common for dealers to deduct the price of a new trailer from a calculated trade-in value that already accounts for no trailer?

I'm not agreeing to this. I was just curious if anybody else has run int this situation.

 

[Donald]

He tried and you caught him.

When the initial trade in price was provided did they know there was no trailer? He could have assumed there was one.

If he needed to recalculate as he made a mistake on the initial trade in price, the cost of a used trailer about same age as your boat is what I would expect to be deducted. Not a new trailer.

Of course he can calculate it any way he wants and you know the way to the exit door.

 

[ragtoplvr]

I have never owned a boat without a trailer. There are used boat auctions and a trailer will be needed for most of them.

I suggest looking at a 24 foot and maybe one with 3 pontoons so the kiddo's can water ski.

Rod

 

[mk378]

No that's an outright attempt by the dealer to cheat you. Boats kept at a marina for use on one lake don't need a trailer, and they are often bought and sold as just the boat.

If the dealer was assuming there was a trailer why did he never ask to see it? Would be dumb of him to assume that it had any value whatsoever without inspecting it.

 

[SeaJay]

Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
I have never owned a boat without a trailer. There are used boat auctions and a trailer will be needed for most of them.

I suggest looking at a 24 foot and maybe one with 3 pontoons so the kiddo's can water ski.

Rod


Plenty of boat owners do not have a trailer as they keep either docked in the water or at a High & dry in a marina. Perhaps less common for pontoon boats. I had several boats without a trailer kept this way.

The OP can negotiate, walk or perhaps buy a used trailer for the boat and accept the original offer.

 

[Schmoe]

When trading in boats, typically dealers low-ball you on trailers anyway. The MOST I've seen trading in a boat with a trailer was about 4-500 dollars. Look up NADA and see what your boat is worth, they also give you an idea on the trailer too.

 

[DriveHard]

I have bought and sold many boats in my life. When purchasing with a loan, getting insurance, or anything else, the boat and trailer are ALWAYS considered as separate assets. The boat value and trailer are always separate line items...even registered with the state as separate. He is totally trying to cheat you!!! Just go to KBB or similar website and try to value what you have. The trailer will be totally separate. Don't let them cheat you!

 

[InhalingBullets]

Looks like he is trying to charge you the brand new trailer price...i looked and there are several places around you that have new ones for <$2500

 

[Sierra048]

Sorry to check back in so late. Had a long conversation with the salesperson/owner this morning. I asked him what in the world would make him believe I would voluntarily agree to buy a new trailer for the boat, only to get my trade-in value up to the trade-in value without a trailer.

At least calculate the trade-in value with a trailer and then deduct your specious deduction (I still would never agree with that nonsense). Needless to say we will be keeping our pontoon boat for now. Since the boating season is coming to an end, I'll just post a "for sale" sign on our boat and see what kind of interest I can generate. I like the service department at this dealer and don't want to do anything that might sour that relationship. Still slightly disappointed in the whole thing. We were ready to put a deposit down. Thought given the slow season starting they would jump at the chance, especially since we had already agreed on a price for the new boat. Oh well.

 

[Sierra048]

Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
I have never owned a boat without a trailer. There are used boat auctions and a trailer will be needed for most of them.

I suggest looking at a 24 foot and maybe one with 3 pontoons so the kiddo's can water ski.

Rod


The new pontoon boat was indeed a Tritoon. Was getting it to help with pulling the kids and grandkids on tubes.

 

[Sierra048]

Originally Posted by Schmoe
When trading in boats, typically dealers low-ball you on trailers anyway. The MOST I've seen trading in a boat with a trailer was about 4-500 dollars. Look up NADA and see what your boat is worth, they also give you an idea on the trailer too.


Schmoe,

The initial trade-in value was calculated via NADA, and was valued without a trailer. That's why this seems so absurd. All he accomplished by this nonsense is lose a sale.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Sierra048
Sorry to check back in so late. Had a long conversation with the salesperson/owner this morning...


Even with that they didn't come up any on the trade-in allowance?

I would have figured they would be calling you back in a day or two with a counter offer.

 

[zrxkawboy]

Originally Posted by Sierra048
Had a long conversation with the salesperson/owner this morning. I asked him what in the world would make him believe I would voluntarily agree to buy a new trailer for the boat, only to get my trade-in value up to the trade-in value without a trailer.


What was his answer?

 

[Sierra048]

Originally Posted by zrxkawboy
Originally Posted by Sierra048
Had a long conversation with the salesperson/owner this morning. I asked him what in the world would make him believe I would voluntarily agree to buy a new trailer for the boat, only to get my trade-in value up to the trade-in value without a trailer.


What was his answer?


Don't laugh please. He agreed with me. He said he understood my concerns.Then went on to say it would be hard to sell a boat at the slow time of the year without a trailer. What??? The marina is basically on the lake, with a dock they let people dock their boats at for service pick-up. They have five used boats on some type of boat mounting blocks now without a trailer out front for sale. And what really hurts is that not one of those five boats are less than 15 years old, and they look every bit the part. Here I am willing to take a small loss on the trade-in and offer them a practically new, low hours 2017 model. It was hard but I politely thanked him for his time and left. They have the most skilled mechanics in the surrounding area so I don't want to lose that relationship. And, I do like the ease of dropping our boat off at their dock for service.

It's obvious they didn't want to sell a boat at this time. That's OK. We still have a perfectly good boat to use and it will fit our needs about 80% of the time. I'll be getting it ready for winter next week and once I'm done I'll go ahead and stick a for sale sign on it. Didn't want to go this route but not seeing any other option right now. At least it will be easy to give someone a test drive since it stays in the water.

 

[zrxkawboy]

I think you're doing the right thing.

 

[Cujet]

I'm not at all sure there is a difference between the hassles with dealerships and the hassles with private sales. It's really not hard to weed out tire kickers with a well written Craigslist ad, and filtering the emails.

 

[RTexasF]

I was in powerboat sales for almost two decades. That stunt they pulled on you, or tried to, was really below the belt/waterline. It's a shame that there is only one other dealer in your area. At the larger dealerships I worked for spare pontoon trailers of several sizes were available to bring trailerless pontoons in for service. The customer paid for that but it wasn't some outrageous fee. It does cost money to sit on a trailer for service along with a truck, diesel fuel, one or two people to fetch it, insurance, etc. Then the same over again for delivery.

Perhaps that other dealer offers such a service?

 

[ironman_gq]

I'd say 90% of the used pontoons I see for sale do not include a trailer. In our area everyone rents or borrows a trailer from the resorts or private landings and the boats are bought and sold without trailers, both private party and dealer sales.

 

[Sierra048]

Originally Posted by RTexasF
I was in powerboat sales for almost two decades. That stunt they pulled on you, or tried to, was really below the belt/waterline. It's a shame that there is only one other dealer in your area. At the larger dealerships I worked for spare pontoon trailers of several sizes were available to bring trailerless pontoons in for service. The customer paid for that but it wasn't some outrageous fee. It does cost money to sit on a trailer for service along with a truck, diesel fuel, one or two people to fetch it, insurance, etc. Then the same over again for delivery.

Perhaps that other dealer offers such a service?


My wife and actually visited the other dealership. They had several 2019 pontoon boats with a 115 hp sitting on the lot. We picked one out and decided to try and swing a deal. This pontoon boat has been sitting on the dealers lot since last November. We found this out after I asked for a list of the standard features and any additional options. They handed me some type of build list that showed the options added, and the sheet showed this particular boat was delivered 11/2018. So knowing this, I thought they might be motivated to move this older inventory to make room for the new year models. It already had an advertised sale price lower than their posted MSRP by a couple of grand. Boy were we wrong. We were surprised that they just would not budge on their listed sale price for an almost year old boat. We were OK with buying a new almost year old pontoon boat as long as there would be some additional savings involved. And we certainly weren't asking for it for free. We were willing to pay a fair price for it. We don't normally sell/trade every two years on any vehicle we own. This whole exercise was predicated on needing the extra room and power due to our both of our sons moving within two hours of us along with the wives and grand kids. At least they didn't try to charge me for a trailer, in order to give me a trade in value, with no trailer. I guess that was a small victory.

 

[RTexasF]

Now that I've thought about this for a while I've had second thoughts. This entire ordeal may have been a blessing in disguise.

Here's why: A triple pontoon with only 115 Horsepower is very marginally powered. 150 would be the minimum for a family loaded boat in the summer. I would advise buying the max HP that the boat is rated for. If it will allow 200, and the budget allows, then go that way without a second thought. An underpowered pontoon will struggle to do its job especially when loaded down which is darn near every trip. Cough up for the largest engine available and you will never regret it. Initial cost is up but operating costs and performance will satisfy you from now on.

Once you realize that you have purchased an underpowered boat the cost to upgrade the engine is enormous. Get what you need from the get go. Some folks just won't listen.......they know better until they realize I was right and it's too late.