Question about buying a new boat

[alw041]

I plan to purchase a new boat in the off season to try to get a better deal. My local dealer usually carries pretty much exactly how many boat they sell for the year, and they normally only have a handful left. I live in Shreveport, LA and the second closest dealers are about 190-230 miles away. I know there are a couple dealers in the Dallas, TX area. My question is about buying new. One advantage to buying new is so that the dealer can fix any warranty issues. If I can't find one locally or get a better deal 200 miles away, is it worth the distance for warranty issues? Or would it pretty much nullify the advantage of buying new?

[slidin_out]

I may be wrong here but I believe even if you purchase it at a dealer far away you can still get the warranty work done by your local dealership. The dealership gets the money from the manufacturer to work on the boat. I would think they would be happy to have more business even if it's just warranty work.

[jjaszkow]

My dealership is a bit over 200 miles away due to a lack of a local Axis/Malibu dealer. I have been very satisfied with the relationship, and the dealer is top notch. However, if there was a local dealer, I would have gone there first, and purchased locally unless they were either way off on price or their customer service was poor.

My experience has been that holdover deals can be had, but new inventory is pretty much gone by the end of the season. It's probably better to decide on what you want and then negotiate prices during the boat show season (Jan-Feb) if you are going for a new boat. Slightly used, I would go for the end of the season for sure, prices on used seem to be WAY better then.

[ridininmd]

Boat dealers have sales areas assigned by the manufacturer and can only sell new boats within their area. This doesn't apply on used boats or last years models once the new ones have come out.

[alw041]

I want to keep my business locally, unless they just have nothing available around Dec.-Jan. I just want to confirm that I can get warranty work done locally even if I don't buy it there.

[ridininmd]

They will probably still do it, but I wouldn't expect it to get done fast. They're going to work on the boats that were bought from them first.

[alw041]

Bayou Outdoor Supercenter is the only dealer in my area (Shreveport, LA). Anyone on these boards have any experience with them?

[jjaszkow]

Dealers should do warranty work even if you don't buy from them, but as ridininmd mentioned, you might not get the same treatment as you would as a customer. This was my biggest concern when buying remotely, and turned out that a dealer that sold a competing brand would be able to perform engine and v-drive warranty work (my two areas of biggest concern), and everything else would have to be done at the nearest dealership (which was who I bought the boat from).

[Poison]

Bayou Outdoor is "ok" to buy from. You can typically get a better deal in Dallas or Austin.

As far as service goes, everyone I know goes out of their way to NOT take their boat to Bayou. I think they do good work, but be prepared to have your boat in the shop for 2-3 months minimum regardless of whats wrong with it. They get very backed up from Spring to Fall. I drive by there every day on my way to work and see the same boats parked out back waiting to get serviced for very long periods of time.

I had a check engine light come on two years ago and it sat there for a month. I finally got tired of waiting for them just to pull the code (not counting repairs) so I wound up picking it up and taking it elsewhere.

[alw041]

[FunkyBunch]

alw041 I don't have any experience with your local dealer but I have seen multiple people from Shreveport buying and or servicing there boats at my dealer in Lewisville.

[alw041]