Vandevere Marine no longer selling CC....

[nautique06]

Why can't Ohio keep a Correct Craft dealer longer than a few years?? Very frustrating when every time you need to take your boat in for service you have to take it somewhere else. It is nice to build a relationship with the employees and know them when you walk in the door. They have only been selling CC for about 3 years I think and recently began selling Malibu's...any insight on why this happened?

[hondaprlud]

I don't know. I take my boat to Boathouse marine in Rootstown. These are the guys from the old Ron's Marine. They are honest, friendly and know inboards inside and out. They're not a CC dealer but they have been able to fix anything I've needed.

[chuckc983]

I don't think they are just dropping correct craft - they are leaving the boats all togather. They have some of the best deals in the country if you are looking for something they have. I considered buying a Malibu they were selling at cost and I think they still have a 07 236 for sale. Not in my area though.

[Latonkaboarder]

They used to have a guy buy the name of Jason run the boat department (great guy BTW). He decided to move south and work for a dealer in NC (I'm assuming more money). Jason used to do all the work pretty much by himself when it came to the boats except for the service work. He pretty much started the boat side when the picked up the line and grew the dealership into one of the top ten in the US. I think he got burnt out on all the hours and that he didn't have any help. He went to all the dealer meetings, did the ordering, sold boats, completed the financing, end of sale paperwork, and anything else. That would be a lot on any person when your one of the top ten dealers in the US. They sold a lot of boats at Vandevere. I bought two boats from them. When Jason left I heard rumor they were going to close so I called over there and talked to the owner.

For any of you that don't know about Vandevere they are a car dealership that is owned by watersports enthusiasts. They sell a lot of cars a month as well. The owner told me he was dropping the boats because he had to expand his Kia showroom and it was either spend millions on new property and showroom or use the existing showroom they had for the boats. He said since he sold 60+ Kia cars a month it was drop the boats because he didn't want to spend the money on a new showroom. I think it was a bad move. With a few more years of selling boats they could have been in the top five for CC and Malibu dealers in the US if they would have put the right PEOPLE (more than one) to replace Jason when he decided to leave, instead they decided to close. I am not sure who the dealer is going to be in the area but I hope they get one soon. I wish I had enough capital I would love to own a boat dealership and promote what my family and myself love to do as a hobby.

[saceone]

**** you guys aren't lucky with dealers...

[midohiowatersports]

There are many reasons why a dealer can't survive in the Ohio market. The manufactures play a big part in this failure.....and I don't just mean Correct Craft. I would tell anyone that wants to start a dealership the same thing I told Mike at Vandevere's that he was nuts when he started his business but we all think that we have a better plan and can make it happen....myself included. WRONG...you will loose money. I know that Mike now agrees with me. Sad but true.