Feedback for New Season

cpthook said:

I agree 100%... However in some areas of the country this option is not so easy. Since inventory is so limited, dealers can skip any buyer who insists on this request and move on to a more aggressive buyer w/o having to worry about stale inventory piling up. Meanwhile by the time you do get an appointment for a water test boats are selling out.

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@cpthook .....you are 100% correct. This happened even before C19 with popular models but C19 seems to have brought out the greedy and nasty qualities in some dealers and salespeople. It's a sad reflection on our times and a process that should be fun for all concerned!

I wasn't super happy about the post check treatment either. I felt like, we got your money, moving on to the next guy. (like I'll be doing with the dealer for my next boat). I work in sales, be honest, if you don't know something don't make it up or lie, under promise, over deliver. I asked the sales guy questions that I knew from this forum. Break in? "Nah, good to go." oil change? "Nah, end of season you should be good." OK mr sales guy, RTFM and see what Yamaha states before you start spouting something that contradicts the OEM. And then to be ghosted, hey where is my surf board? "It's in the boat" Hello McFly it's not in the boat. "Oh, you'll have to talk to the parts guy" You go talk to him, I bought it from you not him. Anyway, moving on.

cpthook said:

I agree 100%... However in some areas of the country this option is not so easy. Since inventory is so limited, dealers can skip any buyer who insists on this request and move on to a more aggressive buyer w/o having to worry about stale inventory piling up. Meanwhile by the time you do get an appointment for a water test boats are selling out.

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We will do a water test after the purchase, or atleast after numbers are agreed upon, and paperwork is signed. The reason behind this is no one wants to buy a boat (unless a demo) with hours on it. Also we just happen to have people come in that are not serious about purchasing a boat just want a boat ride.

ctyke said:

I wasn't super happy about the post check treatment either. I felt like, we got your money, moving on to the next guy. (like I'll be doing with the dealer for my next boat). I work in sales, be honest, if you don't know something don't make it up or lie, under promise, over deliver. I asked the sales guy questions that I knew from this forum. Break in? "Nah, good to go." oil change? "Nah, end of season you should be good." OK mr sales guy, RTFM and see what Yamaha states before you start spouting something that contradicts the OEM. And then to be ghosted, hey where is my surf board? "It's in the boat" Hello McFly it's not in the boat. "Oh, you'll have to talk to the parts guy" You go talk to him, I bought it from you not him. Anyway, moving on.

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That is terrible service! We call it a walk around, but unless you have already owned a Yamaha jet boat we always go over flushing, service intervals, and the break in. Since we sell more than just watercrafts, we only let certain salesman sell boats for this exact reason.

Boatinmama14 said:

We will do a water test after the purchase, or at least after numbers are agreed upon, and paperwork is signed.

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lol....and you're serious?

cpthook said:

lol....and you're serious?

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you have to think of it from a business perspective, it puts wear and tear, fuel cost, and of course may put unnecessary hours. If a water test was given every time a person came in your brand new 2021 would already be broken in, have a decent amount of hours on it, might even be close to the first service etc. I have never had a customer question this, they are happy to hear that because one of the questions they ask is, are there any hours on it? No and this is why.
What would be your suggestion to go about it differently?

Boatinmama14 said:

What would be your suggestion to go about it differently?

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Possibly have a a few boats in each class specifically for test driving. Sell test craft at a discount to customers when the new models arrive. Quite simple! I mean really.... just think if a salesman at an RV or Car dealership said you had to purchase the car before you could drive it and verify you're comfortable with it and it fits your liking - preposterous as this potentially could be a 40 - 100k+ investment!!!! IMHO, the ONLY reason boat dealers like yourself can pull this off is due to limited inventory, period! Again... Yamaha does assist with putting customers in contact with dealers who offer watercraft test drives, however it's up to the dealership to have enough integrity to see things not only from a 'business perspective'.

@cpthook You can't compare the car market to the boat market, for test drives and such. It really just doesn't work that way. When dealers only get "X" amount of boats per year I can see why they are not going to burn one up for test rides and possible damage. This is part of the boat industry for the most part. You may run into a dealer who may have a boat, but a "Few" boats in each class is never going to happen.

It goes with the territory of boat buying. I do understand how that would not be great and I just went through a boat purchase a few months ago, so I get what you are saying. But, there are other ways you can test drive a boat. Reach out to forum members for the boat brand and see if you can do a ride along. Members here would do it as well. Then you just don't get a test drive you can get some real world feedback from owners and their trials and tribulations with the boat. You could also rent one.

Perhaps, rather than indicating what you don't like about the process, offer a reasonable solution. My humble advice to dealers would be this.

Why don't you as a dealer keep a list of owners that you sold boats too, or intra dealer lists, who would be interesting in assisting with test rides. These owners would be willing to give test ride's, etc. For a possible incentive such as $100 bucks or other monetary amount, or discounts off of accessories or possibly structure an additional year of warranty for free or free dealer service, etc. Throw in something free like a mooring cover or some watersports accessories for the say 10 test rides over the next 2 years or something to that effect. Everyone wins then. I am absolutely certain if a strong Dealer pitched this to Yamaha to subsidize they would. They can't lose and it makes them more "Customer Centric". Make the list geographical so that potential buyers don't have to drive long distances in order to do a water test/experience/ride along/drive, etc. That way they can see if the boat fits them and they are a good fit for the type of boat. It could be set up on a central repository with scheduling online. You can also include boat usage as a parameter. It would be very beneficial if someone who is looking to do watersports goes out with an owner who does water sports, rather than just someone who cruises a little and sits at the sandbar.

Actually if enough dealers wanted to put some momentum behind this, it could be integrated into an our Watercraft Management Application that is about to go to BETA as soon as legal is done screwing around with it.

Just my thoughts....

How about just don’t be an idiot?

I tried hard, real hard, to buy a chaparral or a scarab. The person at the chaparral dealer was a full on ass hat. I swear she was in love with the boats and didn’t want to sell them. As I drove away from the marina my wife did a search and review after review specifically talked about how awful this person was.

the scarab guys lied about what they had in stock and the boats they had were a filthy mess. Frogs were reproducing in the “glove box”.

Both of these dealerships knew I was coming. Knew exactly what I wanted to see. they literally forced me to go else where.

so on the curve just don’t be incompetent. If you really want to be next level try being informed. You don’t need encyclopedic knowledge, be open about what you don’t know.

honestly at this point it would seem Yamaha boat sales is easier than being a street corner pharmacist.

HangOutdoors said:

@cpthook
Perhaps, rather than indicating what you don't like about the process, offer a reasonable solution. .

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I have in the last response which was "Possibly have a few boats in each class specifically for test driving. Sell test craft at a discount to customers when the new models arrive. "

HangOutdoors said:

It goes with the territory of boat buying. I do understand how that would not be great and I just went through a boat purchase a few months ago, so I get what you are saying. But, there are other ways you can test drive a boat.

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I disagree because like I continue to mention, at least for Yamaha boats, the option to test drive prior to purchase is available. However, it's up to the dealer to come up with a strategy to make it possible. IMHO, dealers should have a entire department dedicated managing test drives for customers prior to purchase. I mean.... why wouldn't they?

Having a few boats in each class I don't feel is a reasonable solution. No one is going to do that. It is a different world than auto and the stock is always limited, especially for Yamaha who doesn't over produce anything. You basically get "X" boats per year and that is all she wrote for the most part. TBH, dealers don't really need to find a strategy, they pretty much sell just about every boat every year that they have, with a few stragglers into next season that Yamaha will subsidize so they can drop the price. Of course in every normal, except this one.

I just don't see it ever happening. But I have been wrong before so who knows.

cpthook said:

IMHO, dealers should have a entire department dedicated managing test drives for customers prior to purchase. I mean.... why wouldn't they?

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Because they don't have to, at least not yet.

Honesty and follow-through are all that matter to me. The rest is negotiable.

@anmut Totally agree. I was quoted a price with some accessories and the warranty term. When I showed up to close, everything was exactly to the penny of what I was quoted, each accessory was in a box for my review and all documentation was presented . I thought the deal sounded to good to be true, but it was exactly what we discussed. They blocked an hour off for me to go over everything that I wanted to and to ask all questions, which I didn't need the allotted time since I found this forum before I went to pick up the boat and I learned a great deal. But I did know which questions I needed to ask.

When I called them up after I took delivery a couple of times they put me right through to my sales guy and if he didn't have the answer he got it and called me right back.

I had a great experience and still have one with my dealer. That is important to me. We have already discussed the 25' and when he has information if I am interested he will order me one and put me up at the front of the line, which I told him isn't necessary since I would not use till after the winter anyhow.

HangOutdoors said:

Having a few boats in each class I don't feel is a reasonable solution. No one is going to do that. It is a different world than auto and the stock is always limited, especially for Yamaha who doesn't over produce anything. You basically get "X" boats per year and that is all she wrote for the most part.

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Understood. I think we can just agree to disagree on a few nuanced points. However you are, 'on the low', reinforcing my exact points from post #27.

-Yamaha only produces limited inventory. The cause is debatable unless we have confirmation, e.g., COVID, production staffing, etc.

-Dealers like the one who created this string seem to seize upon this opportunity due to demand and can move inventory a lot faster with little consideration for consumer concerns. As you can tell, he is not particularly interested in making the concession to allow test driving prior to purchase due to the liability on his boats which sounds utterly ridiculous IMO. The experiences described in posts #17 and #18 of this thread seem to be the exception but does show that dealers, if they have the will, can equalize customer concerns with their 'business perspective'...lol

@Boatinmama14...Great thread! Something like this can really be valuable as long as it's followed through. Share this info with fellow salesman, suggest joining the site, tag them in threads, etc.

Much of the general ideas have already been laid out...honesty, don't be pushy, don't give false information, don't be an a$$hole. From my buying experience, there were just a couple instances that put a sour taste in my mouth:

First, I bought my boat a couple months into COVID so it was very difficult to find the EXACT boat I wanted (2020 Gray, AR210). I quickly realized I wouldn't get what I wanted, immediately, unless I paid full price...which I was ok with. The dealership I worked with has multiple locations within a 250 miles radius of me, closest one (that sold Yamahas) was in Savannah, GA (I'm in Charleston, SC). I initially started working with a salesman at the Savannah location, great guy. There was another dealer who had my exact boat, which was a further drive, that I found (not my salesman). I called my salesman immediately and told him to put a hold on it for me, and he did (I immediately got the charge on the card I used). A few hours passed and I hadn't heard anything. My salesman eventually calls and said that the other dealer (the dealer where the boat was actually located) just sold the boat. I went berserk...I'm like, "How is that possible? I had a hold on the boat. Did the other dealer pull something shady with a walk-in customer?? My salesman did some research, got his manager involved, and found out that the other dealer did pull something shady...sold the boat AFTER I put the hold on it. My manager called their manager and made it right. I ended up getting the boat. Don't do what the other salesman did. Props to my salesman and his manager.

Second, paper signing. Now it was time for the boat to get delivered from the dealer it was located at to the dealer I will be making the purchase from. The dealers basically meet at the half-way point and transfer the boat. Before my boat had even left the origin dealer, my dealer wanted me to sign the sales contract BEFORE the boat was delivered, without me laying eyes on it, test driving it, etc. I was not cool with that. There is a form titled "Acceptance of Vessel" that I particularly did not want to sign. There is a statement that says, "I hereby accept ownership of the Vessel and risk of loss." Didn't like that at all and explained my reluctance to sign with both my dealer and the finance manager. They were actually cool with it and understood my concern. However, what would have happened had I signed it and something happened to the boat in-transit, or something was wrong mechanically with the boat, scratched, damaged, whatever...would I have been responsible? I would like to think not but you never know what may happen in a situation like that until it does. My suggestion, don't push anyone to sign paperwork until they are 100% ready to take it home and are satisfied. If you do have someone sign prior to delivery, I suggest adding some sort of clause that relieves the buyer of any obligation until they are 100% satisfied.