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Dealership Negotiation- How far did you haggle?


a1costly

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We have moved into exploring either brand new 18 or 19 model 22 or 23 Lsvs. We’ve heard that you can typically negotiate down from their “dealer” price. (1 person I spoke to said 43% down which seems insane). For those new boat buyers out there that were able to negotiate, what were your experiences? We will be dealing with a Texas area dealer most likely and understand it may vary by boat/time of year/sales person/area.

Any input is helpful!

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This topic has been beat to death.  Using the search function should help find loads of information. 

With the economy doing pretty well, and being springtime, your negotiating power is a little bit limited.  43% would be a steal.  Boat dealers also might be able to make up their own MSRP, so that doesn't help much either.  

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I had a hard time finding a thread when I did search, maybe just bad search skills. Any idea what keywords to search? Maybe I need to expand my vocabulary!

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Here is the thread  https://www.themalibucrew.com/index.php?/forums/topic/67059-new-24-mxz-price/&... and I think this is the general thinking on TMC (from that thread): "A simple google search on Malibu boat pricing will take any potential buyer to numerous TMC threads that all state basically the same thing; MSRP minus: 20% = decent deal; 25% good deal; 30%  great deal; 30%+ = desperate dealer, year end closeout, buyer/dealer relationship. "

Obviously some people get a much better deal than that (I had a few dealers offer my over 30% on leftover 2018s when I started looking a few months ago but couldn't find a boat I loved.  As other said... the key is making sure you are starting with the true MSRP/Sticker price generated from Malibu and not with any crazy additions for "Dealer Prep" (freight is real and I believe Malibu standardized the cost for all dealers based on their zip code... but I can't confirm that.)

 

 

Edited by gregtay
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6 hours ago, gregtay said:

Here is the thread  https://www.themalibucrew.com/index.php?/forums/topic/67059-new-24-mxz-price/&... and I think this is the general thinking on TMC (from that thread): "A simple google search on Malibu boat pricing will take any potential buyer to numerous TMC threads that all state basically the same thing; MSRP minus: 20% = decent deal; 25% good deal; 30%  great deal; 30%+ = desperate dealer, year end closeout, buyer/dealer relationship. "

Obviously some people get a much better deal than that (I had a few dealers offer my over 30% on leftover 2018s when I started looking a few months ago but couldn't find a boat I loved.  As other said... the key is making sure you are starting with the true MSRP/Sticker price generated from Malibu and not with any crazy additions for "Dealer Prep" (freight is real and I believe Malibu standardized the cost for all dealers based on their zip code... but I can't confirm that.)

 

 

Is your bold text the same if you are doing your own build vs buying a boat a dealer already has on their lot?  I know you can do better on a boat that has been sitting for a while.  I would think you could always get a better deal on an in stock boat versus building your own even with comparable specs.

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Let me know if you are going to buy from Texas Malibu - I have an excellent sales contact for you there.  I just replaced my 14 23 LSV that was lost in the Lake LBJ floods with a new 18 and am very happy with the process and my sales guy.  Not a lot of new 18s left that I could find.

I also have a contact at Waterski America in the Dallas area if you prefer to buy up there for some reason.

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5 hours ago, Hemmy said:

Is your bold text the same if you are doing your own build vs buying a boat a dealer already has on their lot?  I know you can do better on a boat that has been sitting for a while.  I would think you could always get a better deal on an in stock boat versus building your own even with comparable specs.

Yes.. as long as the dealer has order slots available they would much rather sell a boat they don’t have to floor on their lot, market and carry cost on. Ordered boats have the absolute lowest cost for a dealer.

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6 hours ago, Leftlane said:

Let me know if you are going to buy from Texas Malibu - I have an excellent sales contact for you there.  I just replaced my 14 23 LSV that was lost in the Lake LBJ floods with a new 18 and am very happy with the process and my sales guy.  Not a lot of new 18s left that I could find.

I also have a contact at Waterski America in the Dallas area if you prefer to buy up there for some reason.

+1 for Texas Malibu.  Just bought a '19 25 LSV and they were great.

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11 hours ago, Hemmy said:

Is your bold text the same if you are doing your own build vs buying a boat a dealer already has on their lot?  I know you can do better on a boat that has been sitting for a while.  I would think you could always get a better deal on an in stock boat versus building your own even with comparable specs.

I actually think it is the opposite, you will get a better deal on an ordered boat versus one on the floor since they have less expenses associated with it.... unless it is a holdover or demo.

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6 hours ago, gregtay said:

Yes.. as long as the dealer has order slots available they would much rather sell a boat they don’t have to floor on their lot, market and carry cost on. Ordered boats have the absolute lowest cost for a dealer.

And the time of year makes a difference too since the factory wants to level load their production in the off-season.

Now that it's May, in a strong economy, your dealer's not bluffing if they say they can sell the boat you're looking at to someone else by following weekend. Unless they screwed up the color scheme.

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Also very possible this time of year that ALL the production slots for 2019 are spoken for.  No new orders.  Wait till 2020.  

1 hour ago, NWBU said:

And the time of year makes a difference too since the factory wants to level load their production in the off-season.

Now that it's May, in a strong economy, your dealer's not bluffing if they say they can sell the boat you're looking at to someone else by following weekend. Unless they screwed up the color scheme.

 

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3 hours ago, ORMailbuboater said:

Also very possible this time of year that ALL the production slots for 2019 are spoken for.  No new orders.  Wait till 2020.  

 

Right. Some dealers may have a few slots left to slide around but there’s only 9 weeks or so of 2019 production left. Then you can get an early 2020 slot for 5-6% more.

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