Help. No luck buying new boat

[BadgerBoater55]

14 hours ago, RedOwl said:

If @shawndoggy couldn't do it, I suspect I won't be clever enough to pull it off.

And I need more warm days than white winters...

 

Road trip, I will chip in for gas.  As long as you give me a tow every now and then!

[potterm]

I would recommend going for a brand that has a local dealer that will service it.  If your local dealer is bad and you buy from somewhere else you are going to have major issues when something breaks.  These new boats from any manufacturer have mutiple issues due to all the electronics and tech they have in them.  A good local dealer is in my mind more important than the brand of boat.

[granddaddy55]

On 11/16/2016 at 3:40 AM, The Hulk said:

I used rope hand full of times before getting the hang of it.. but on a 13 it's just so slow.. u could probably upgrade the rams easily..

I'll get figured out if it takes years without the rope, I think I need much more front foot pressure to keep me by the platform on go to side when I come down from foam 

[Cole2001]

Wizard just put an add on Instagram. I still say road trip.30k in rebates! https://instagram.com/p/BM9pan9gmX0/

[DarkSide]

Is that $30,000 USD or $30,000 snow pesos?  

Seriously there are some good deals there

[asp13]

even if its cdn thats still 22K usd savings

 

Edited November 18, 2016 by asp13

[nohlan4]

+1 for Wizard they will be willing to deal hard on the Malibu leftovers they have, well worth the trip I would say. Easy to bring boats over the border.

[skyskier]

In Wizard's ad they say any Malibu dealer will take care of warranty issues. If you search here you will see that is not always true. 

[Koher71]

On November 17, 2016 at 5:03 AM, potterm said:

I would recommend going for a brand that has a local dealer that will service it.  If your local dealer is bad and you buy from somewhere else you are going to have major issues when something breaks.  These new boats from any manufacturer have mutiple issues due to all the electronics and tech they have in them.  A good local dealer is in my mind more important than the brand of boat.

I would buy from my local dealer if they wanted to make a deal. The interactions I've had with them so far just reminds me of sleezy car salesmen. I don't believe the company is all bad. I've heard from other boat owners that their mechanic services are great. 

They have a vlx that isn't bad looking to the eyes, mostly charcoal flake with the burgundy red. Wouldn't be my first choice but beggars can't be choosers but then again  for 80-90k It's my right to be choosey. So I threw a number at them they did not accept; yet. This was last week before I made this post. Since then many of you guys have pointed us towards many great dealers motivated to sell or listings of great deals on slightly used 15/16s. We thank you all. I hope after Thanksgiving we can choose the winner 

[ConnollyCrew]

On 11/14/2016 at 2:26 PM, Ronnie said:

This has always been an issue for the buyer. The dealers do it for several reasons. Prices for new boats are different all over the country. The MSRP is the same but some dealers are of the mind set that quantity equals lower pricing. Some dealers can't do that large of a quantity because the buying population is smaller in their area so they can't afford to discount as much as a larger volume dealer can. If the dealer network allowed a buyer to buy from anywhere, the buyers would go to the volume dealers and not the smaller local dealer, the little guy would soon be out of the Malibu business because they can't compete. It protects the dealer from selling against each other. You'll find if you do buy from an out of area dealer, your local dealer will almost always put you at the back of the line when you need service or warranty work because you went elsewhere and spent your money with the other dealer. The buyers that bought local get the preferred treatment. No use in going to Malibu to complain either. They support the dealer network.

Ronnie, you make valid points but there is the other side of the coin. Many dealers ask higher margins b/c they know many are not creative enough trying buy outside their dealers territory. The small dealers sell for lower prices vs. the larger multi store dealers from what I have experienced. This punishes the smaller dealers and makes them scramble to hit their growth numbers each year therefore selling for lower margins to Maintain their dealer rights for Malibu. 

 

Edited December 18, 2016 by ConnollyCrew

[That Guy]

If I was in the market for a new 'Bu I wouldn't hesitate to consider buying in Canada, hell the guy that bought my boat drove down FROM Canada to buy it.

[Ronnie]

3 hours ago, ConnollyCrew said:

Ronnie, you make valid points but there is the other side of the coin. Many dealers ask higher margins b/c they know many are not creative enough trying buy outside their dealers territory. The small dealers sell for lower prices vs. the larger multi store dealers from what I have experienced. This punishes the smaller dealers and makes them scramble to hit their growth numbers each year therefore selling for lower margins to Maintain their dealer rights for Malibu. 

I hope dealers AND Malibu are prepared for that One guy that gets told " sorry but Malibu will not allow us to sell to you b/c you live in XYZ dealers territory". If someone ever connects the dots one big a** lawsuit will change this. 

So, many dealers participate in 20 groups( best practices and minimum margins). Malibu discourages dealers from selling against each other for fear of falling from good graces and losing their brand. And the  consumer has no right to shop a fair and competitive price. Sounds a lot like the FTC would not like this ......just saying...

It will happen ....

Some of this sort of selling makes you wonder why Boulder Boats, for example, advertises so many New boats on this website. Do they just sell to anyone that responds to their ads or do they respect the regional sales pattern that Malibu follows?

[DarkSide]

Just now, Ronnie said:

Some of this sort of selling makes you wonder why Boulder Boats, for example, advertises so many New boats on this website. Do they just sell to anyone that responds to their ads or do they respect the regional sales pattern that Malibu follows?

Same thing with all the boats on only inboards or boattrader advertising nationally.  Most dealers do this. 

[85 Barefoot]

On 12/7/2016 at 7:36 PM, ConnollyCrew said:

Ronnie, you make valid points but there is the other side of the coin. Many dealers ask higher margins b/c they know many are not creative enough trying buy outside their dealers territory. The small dealers sell for lower prices vs. the larger multi store dealers from what I have experienced. This punishes the smaller dealers and makes them scramble to hit their growth numbers each year therefore selling for lower margins to Maintain their dealer rights for Malibu. 

I hope dealers AND Malibu are prepared for that One guy that gets told " sorry but Malibu will not allow us to sell to you b/c you live in XYZ dealers territory". If someone ever connects the dots one big a** lawsuit will change this. 

So, many dealers participate in 20 groups( best practices and minimum margins). Malibu discourages dealers from selling against each other for fear of falling from good graces and losing their brand. And the  consumer has no right to shop a fair and competitive price. Sounds a lot like the FTC would not like this ......just saying...

It will happen ....

Connolly, 

This has been the case for years.  Thousands of people have been told that.  Geographic territories are not forbidden, and to the contrary, are prevalent in sales.  Dealers have contracts with Malibu and Malibu can absolutely define the scope of a dealer's footprint.  There is no dots to connect and this is common knowledge.  Dealers set their own prices.  Malibu is not discriminating or restricting anything.  Neither are the dealers.  No one has the "right" to buy a boat for the same price as another dealer is offering.  If Malibu were the retailer, selling for different prices directly to consumers based on geography, that might be different.  Thankfully, each dealer can make their own business strategy decisions and they can choose to price how they see fit.  Remember, the boats are bought by dealers when they leave the factory.  Dealers are not a vast floor plan arm for Malibu.  

 

Wizard is an anomaly because they own the boats in inventory but do not have a current contract with Malibu.  So, they can do what they want, it would appear, which makes sense.

Edited December 14, 2016 by 85 Barefoot

[Suggy]

On 11/15/2016 at 9:13 PM, Koher71 said:

Anybody have any info on the 17 21 vlx? The ride? Wake or wave? Compared to a 22. I've got to too look at a few in person. Interior not as bad as I thought it woulda been. Still not the same plushness to the rest of the wakesetter lineup 

I got to ride a '17 21VLX and own a '15 22VLX.  I was very impressed by the wakeboard and surf wake.  I am not a wake/wave fanatic, obviously our 22VLX had a larger wave, but the 21VLX had a great wave for a 21' boat.  One thing to consider is the stereo upgrade in the 2017's.  The wetsounds stereo comes stock on '17 and is WAY better, even on the 21vlx.  You can actually hear the sub and the zone/EQ control is very nice.  Only way to tell though is go and demo yourself.  Do NOT buy without demoing multiple boats.  Don't stick with the 22VLX just because of storage, if it's not the wake/wave you like then get a 23LSV.  Boats are limited at this time, but also probably not moving too fast.  Check out deals at boat shows too.  Any dealer should want to give away any 16's.  Good luck!

Edited December 30, 2016 by Suggy
21VLX not VTX

[TallRedRider]

55 minutes ago, Suggy said:

  Any dealer should want to give away any 16's.  Good luck!

I don't think that is necessarily true.  How much are the costs to keep the boat over the winter?  Let's say the flooring costs (if they don't own the boat outright) are at 5 percent.  If the boat costs 120K, then that comes down to $500 per month the dealer is paying to keep the boat on its lot.   Keep in mind I am confident that they don't pay 120 K for anything except an MXZ, and since I could buy the boat for less than 5% interest, I am sure they can do even better.   Spring is literally 4 months away.  So it costs the dealer to keep a boat from October to March about $3,000 or less.  It does not make sense to give it away financially.  I don't know what my definition of 'giving it away' would be, but I wouldn't be all that impressed if they gave me a 3K discount.  

It is definitely more complicated than that, but the point being that keeping a 2016 on the lot is not a terrible strategy if it means you can sell it for 5K more in the spring than you could in November, which is pretty likely, IMHO.  There are other factors, but cost alone is probably not the biggest reason to give a boat away in the dead of winter.  

[teamerickson]

+1 for the new wetsounds in the 17s! Me likey!

[Sciarkl]

I found that Craigslist is one of the best sources for used, demo and new last year model boats. Also search the dealers current inventory (use the dealer locator on the Malibu site to find dealer websites) and request quotes.  While some dealers don't seem to want to negotiate or sell last years models at discounts there are a lot that want to get rid of inventory and are selling at good discounts.  It typically only costs about $800 - $1200 to ship a boat cross country.  Check prices on U-ship, which I've found to be the best and most reasonable method.  The biggest issue you may have is finding a boat with the options and colors that you can live with.  If your serious about buying, I'd look now, the closer you get to spring, the less likely your going to find people willing to negotiate and dealers have less incentive given the higher demand.

[Koher71]

Thanks @Suggy. I like the idea of the 21vlx but we did not get to demo it tho. We wanted to shoot for a left over 22 before we settled for a 21 or see what spring brought us. My wife and I did end up with a great deal on demoed 22 with 8hrs on it. This is our first Malibu. I've been with nautique for 16 years and really tried to stay with them but since a G series is above the 100k list the 210 was more our range. We had some deals pass us by while we were stuck working but noticed by the end of the season there wasn't many 210s out there and if we did see one they wanted mid 90k for it. Get real I'd tell em. The vlx is probably the closest boat to compare (for malibu) but it's more boat  with way more storage and comfort level for 10k less or so. Ya im gonna miss nautique but this new bu has me drooling every time I open the garage ??? We don't have any great pictures since the day we picked it up it was raining and we broke down the tower and fit into my garage with 7ft tall opening and what a pain. I'll have to build a carport soon for quick hook up n go  times. 

[Koher71]

Sorry photobucket was a pain for whatever reason but better late than ever. Here is our 2016 vlx 22: Although we are enjoying snowboarding at the moment we can't wait for some weather decent enough to hit shasta this winter. Too bad it doesn't have a heater. 

[SCMike]

17 hours ago, Koher71 said:

Sorry photobucket was a pain for whatever reason but better late than ever. Here is our 2016 vlx 22: Although we are enjoying snowboarding at the moment we can't wait for some weather decent enough to hit shasta this winter. Too bad it doesn't have a heater. 

Love the colors!  Congrats!

[obski]

Congratulations.  Beautiful boat.  You should get a lot of fun out of it.