Hello, newbie here. I’m about ready to buy either a used boat from a private seller or a new boat from a dealer not in my area. I’ve had a boat on order from my local dealer since Sept 2021 and still no real visibility if I will ever get that boat and don’t want to miss another summer hoping and waiting.
My question for the group is do you think a local dealer will service a boat not purchased from them? Lord knows I tried going local but I just don’t want to risk it but not sure if the local dealer will see it that way. Nothing else around me unless 4 hour drive.
Thanks.
You can get service if you buy a boat from another dealer. I was in a similar situation so maybe this will help.......
First, Yamaha sent an email to all of their dealers back around August 4th telling them no more 2022's would be delivered. If a boat wasn't already on their lot, they weren't getting them. They were told all orders would be voided and customers could apply their deposit towards a 2023 but at the new '23 pricing.
Your dealer should have told you this months ago. If you ordered a '22 in September 2021, you aren't getting that boat. They should have told you and offered to refund your money or roll it over as a deposit on a '23 boat. I would be a little leery of this dealer if they did not disclose all this to you by now. There were a few guys on here who ordered August 2021 and their dealers called them back in August '22 and said their orders were cancelled after waiting 12 months.
I was looking for a boat late last July when a dock I was on the waitlist for came open. We wanted a 275SD and I'm down in southwest Florida. There wasn't a boat to be had in the southeast. The local dealer wouldn't even take my money for a deposit because deliver was a mess and pricing was going to be changing significantly.
I started looking around the country and found a 275SD in New York with a trailer that had just been delivered. Someone was going to buy it and backed out so I jumped on it. That is when the dealer told me about the email they got from Yamaha. My sales guy had to tear up $600K in '22 boat orders... some placed 10 - 12 months before.
The local dealer called me back after the dealer meeting in mid-August and told me he could order me '23 275SD and he would get it in a few months. I told him I had just bought a '22 from anothewr dealer but asked if they would do my service. They said they would but they would put on a lower priority than their direct customers. I told them I would buy the YES warranty from them so I would be a customer. They said that would be great and I bought the YES warranty from the local dealer in December before prices increased.
Then hurricane Ian hit and took out our marina. I have property back in PA and fortunately I had the boat stored there while I was out west on a motorhome trip. But here we are 5+ months later and I'm in Florida and the boat is in PA while I wait for a place to dock it.... the boat has 1/2 hour on it from the dealer shake down cruise.
In the end I might have been better off ordering the '23 but I would have paid $10K more. I still have to trailer it 1200 miles to get it down here so that is also a bummer. Who could have known a major hurricane would hit us straight on two months later?
I would call your local dealer and tell them you heard '22 production stopped last July and any open orders for '22 boats were cancelled. Tell him you want your deposit back but you want service from them if you buy a boat elsewhere. If you buy a new boat, buy the YES warranty from the dealer you intend to use for service so they know you are trying to do business with them so they give you good service when you need it.... if you still trust that dealer.
