New to the forum, new boat/jetboat owner (almost) have some questions

[UnfixedPyle]

Hi all,

First off I want to say that I have been lurking here for a little while trying to gain as much knowledge as I can before I get my boat. There is a ton of information here and I have learned a lot. So thank you all for that! One of my biggest worries about getting a boat is whether I had access to knowledgeable people outside of the dealer, and clearly through here I do.

I'm going to be picking up my 2022 Yamaha 212XE next Friday and have a few questions about the Yamaha financing and also the YES warranty.

For the YES warranty, from what I see on this forum and also a price sheet I got from a different dealer that was not able to get me a boat is that the 48 month extended warranty should be $2000 for a 21'. Those prices were from August of 2020. Is that still a good price? The dealer I am buying through is trying to offer me a third party extended warranty that is more expensive than that. They have stated that the YES warranty is $3500, but did not show me a price sheet.

Second, on the financing side, they said I only qualified for the tier 2 financing rate even though my credit score is 809???? I know sometimes its not all credit score (debt/income ratio etc.) but I am curious if the dealer has incentives to push the interest rate up higher and make more money? I plan to call Yamaha Finance directly tomorrow, but I am curious what other peoples experiences are.

Up until I went to the finance department my experience with this dealer has been great and since these boats are hard to come I can't really shop around. I have seen the shenanigans that go on in car dealership financing departments and am just trying not to get ripped off. Thanks in advance.

 

[Bizywk]

Wish I could help. Someone on this chatboard should have a recent experience to help you with.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Research back end surplus on financing , if they rip your lungs out they get to keep them.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Hi all,

First off I want to say that I have been lurking here for a little while trying to gain as much knowledge as I can before I get my boat. There is a ton of information here and I have learned a lot. So thank you all for that! One of my biggest worries about getting a boat is whether I had access to knowledgeable people outside of the dealer, and clearly through here I do.

I'm going to be picking up my 2022 Yamaha 212XE next Friday and have a few questions about the Yamaha financing and also the YES warranty.

For the YES warranty, from what I see on this forum and also a price sheet I got from a different dealer that was not able to get me a boat is that the 48 month extended warranty should be $2000 for a 21'. Those prices were from August of 2020. Is that still a good price? The dealer I am buying through is trying to offer me a third party extended warranty that is more expensive than that. They have stated that the YES warranty is $3500, but did not show me a price sheet.

Second, on the financing side, they said I only qualified for the tier 2 financing rate even though my credit score is 809???? I know sometimes its not all credit score (debt/income ratio etc.) but I am curious if the dealer has incentives to push the interest rate up higher and make more money? I plan to call Yamaha Finance directly tomorrow, but I am curious what other peoples experiences are.

Up until I went to the finance department my experience with this dealer has been great and since these boats are hard to come I can't really shop around. I have seen the shenanigans that go on in car dealership financing departments and am just trying not to get ripped off. Thanks in advance.

First of all, you should shop around the interest rate. A credit union can get you financed in a couple hours, they really want your business. YES, dealerships get incentives for selling you the higher rate, don't let them tell you otherwise..... They will never admit it to you. It is no different than how mortgage companies work, sort of. The higher the rate the more the wholesale/underlying lender kicks back in yield. Yamaha may or may not talk to you about the financing and rates, they want the dealers to be the conduit and typically won't circumvent them directly.

I am not a big fan of third party warranties, some how they always find a way to not cover something. I personally got the YES warranty. I didn't buy it at close. Yamaha will start to market you during your first year with emails and such about buying the YES warranty. I got a discount the longer I waited, I bought mine directly online at 10-11 months after purchase. Price was under $2k I would wait and just get it directly from Yamaha if I were you. You get the 1st year from Yamaha on all new boat purchases.

 

[tkeru408]

I think Yamaha considers tier 1 financing to be 800+. You mentioned your score was 809, but was that through the credit reporting agency Yamaha used or from a different one. Perhaps your score was 809 at one agency but <800 at another. It's not uncommon for there to be a 10+ point difference between one credit reporting agency and another. If 809 was the number you received from Yamaha (I think they have to show you the score they used to make their decision), I'd look at alternative financing options to see if you can find a better rate elsewhere. There's no special benefit to you for using Yamaha financing (and some would say it's harmful to you since they're a PITA to deal with).

As HangOutdoors mentioned, there's no need to get the Yamaha YES warranty at time of purchase. You can get it anytime within your first year of ownership, so you have time to decide if you really want it or not. The only downside being that you'd have to pay for it out of pocket at that time rather than being able to roll it into the loan at the time of purchase.

 

[2kwik4u]

Second, on the financing side, they said I only qualified for the tier 2 financing rate even though my credit score is 809???? I know sometimes its not all credit score (debt/income ratio etc.) but I am curious if the dealer has incentives to push the interest rate up higher and make more money? I plan to call Yamaha Finance directly tomorrow, but I am curious what other peoples experiences are.

Welcome aboard and congrats on the new boat. Don't the below ramblings sway you from the boat. I love my Yamaha as a product, and sing it's praises whenever given the chance. I'll never finance anything through them again.

In reference to the second point. I got the same story in ay of '17 when I bought. Had a score well into the 800 range and was told I was tier2 with a less favorable interest rate. I went ahead with financing through Yamaha (Synchrony Financial) at the time and regret it. Yamaha moved all of it's loans from Synchrony to in house management, and now to 1st Associates over the last 2 years. The Synchrony loan you had to pay by mail or phone. The Yamaha loan you had to pay through the worlds jankiest website, and now 1st Associates has it, and the website is better, but still not really confidence inspiring. It's been a shit show for some guys who have sold a boat in the middle of this with a loan for them to get the lien release and title work to the new owner. Some have been fortunate and it's been no big deal. Best I can tell it's luck of the draw at this point.

The part that really chaps my ass over the whole "not a tier 1" thing, is that I have other lines of credit through Synchrony with exceptional repayment history on all of them. So when I found out Synchrony was working in the background to support the loan it makes ZERO sense to me. Not only did I have what I would consider "well qualified" credit, I had history with the company. Hell, I have a "Synchrony Home" card from buying a couch a few years ago that has zero percent for 48mo on purchases over $10k, and a $25k limit on it. I could have damn near bought the boat with that, and not had to jump through the hoops. It seriously felt like a slap in the face to a brand new customer when I was sitting there in the dealership on a Saturday afternoon and they told me that.........In hindsight, I should've walked and found my own financing elsewhere.

I've been saying for years that the financing at Yamaha is borderline bait and switch sales tactics, and because of that, I'll never finance anything through them again. I'll be getting the next boat loan (assuming I don't win the lottery and pay cash), through my local credit union or other financial institution, and I'll walk in with a check for the bill of sale amount when I pick it up. I've bought plenty of cars this way, including one from Canada that I imported into the US. Flew in with a check, drove home with a car. No reason to treat a boat any different.

 

[UnfixedPyle]

Thanks everyone for the info and advice. I picked up the boat today and got it out on the water. I did not go for the dealers extended warranty, but I did end up financing through Yamaha. I had some very interesting conversations with Yamaha Finance on the phone and never did get satisfactory answer. However, I shopped around and couldn't find anything else quick enough that was lower interest rate. Like 2kwik4u says, feels like bait and switch and I probably won't ever go through them again, but the boat was here.