Dealer won't take my boat in on trade because of upgrades???

[JWAT]

Wanting to see if anyone else has come across this...

I currently have a 1997 Super Sport that I basically turned into a Super Air (1800 lb auto ballast, perfect pass, oem tower & board racks, etc, etc, etc). I recently found a newer boat at a local Nautique dealer that I was interested in. I told them about my boat and all of the upgrades to get an estimate on a trade-in value. They wrote me back asking if I installed the upgrades myself and when I said yes, they wrote back saying they would not take my boat in on trade because of liability issues when they went to sell it again.

They gave me a long answer about how that year of boat wasn't made to have a tower mounted on it and the ballast could leak and flood the boat, etc. Has anyone else had this issue before when trading in a boat? I can't believe many dealers do this seeing that a TON of people add towers to their boats plus other options these days. I asked them "if I would have lied and said that a dealer did everything, would they have taken it in on trade,"...but they never answered that question.

Anyways, just wondering what other people's thought are. Seems kind of funny to me, because I'm pretty sure if I were to take a bare bones 1997 super sport into their dealer and ask if they would put a tower on it, they would take my money and do it in a heartbeat...maybe I'm wrong though???

[SkiTower]

Re: Dealer won't take my boat in on trade because of upgrade

I'm pretty sure if I were to take a bare bones 1997 super sport into their dealer and ask if they would put a tower on it, they would take my money and do it in a heartbeat...maybe I'm wrong though???

When I got my first (2006) it was stressed to me that the boat was NOW built to accept a tower. I seem to remember them saying they would NOT put a tower on a boat not built for it.

With my engineering experiences and experiences with the general public, I don't blame them. I shy away from modified things like that, but that's just me.

[snowboardcorey]

I've never not taken a boat on trade because of customization but I have had our guys repair some jobs that were not installed correctly
-Home made tower that was made of unpainted steel
-ballast intake robbing water from engines cooling system
-ballast intake with no shutoff valve and PVC piping
-cracked engine block

Typically we account for the cost of the repairs that we will need to complete and deduct if from the trade value.

I did decline to take a boat on trade that had sustained massive damage that had been incorrectly repaired (the rudder port was gone from a massive impact and a metal plate had been screwed/5200'd in place over the hole) The cost to repair the boat exceeded the value so we declined.

[Nautiqueman]

Shoot, my dealer quit taking any trades at all, no matter what, last year. You paid cash or financed the new boat and you had to sell your old one your self.

[WakeSlayer]

-ballast intake robbing water from engines cooling system

Really? Hmmm, I wonder why they wanted to trade it.....

[Nautiquehunter]

Shoot, my dealer quit taking any trades at all, no matter what, last year. You paid cash or financed the new boat and you had to sell your old one your self.

The new boat sales must be great . Not selling used throws out 1/2 the boat sales.

[AuMDLST]

Local dealer would not install tower on a 94 SNOB - "boat was not designed for tower"
I asked about after market and was told "I wouldn't do it - too many issues with strength"

I'd be surprised if a dealer would install a tower on a CC pre tower years.

[Nautiqueman]

Shoot, my dealer quit taking any trades at all, no matter what, last year. You paid cash or financed the new boat and you had to sell your old one your self.

The new boat sales must be great . Not selling used throws out 1/2 the boat sales.

No, neither used or new sales were good. I suspect the floorplan had something to do with it, in addition to the financial devastation most dealers have gone through in the past 2 years.

[mcbridek]

When you trade it in you lose 20 - 30%, if your willing to take that by trading in, then post the boat for sale yourself at an aggressive price on this site, onlyinboards and boat trader.... In this economy, I think the lower price (older) boats have a better chance at selling. Other problem you have is it is Winter in IN, tough to sell this time of year - how do you give a test drive when the lake is frozen over ?

[Nautiqueman]

When you trade it in you lose 20 - 30%, if your willing to take that by trading in, then post the boat for sale yourself at an aggressive price on this site, onlyinboards and boat trader.... In this economy, I think the lower price (older) boats have a better chance at selling. Other problem you have is it is Winter in IN, tough to sell this time of year - how do you give a test drive when the lake is frozen over ?

The added problem in this market for used boats is the book value (NADA) has dropped so much most people who own boats don't want to sell them at a price the new buyer can get financed, if the new purchaser can even qualify. Also, last year from fall to spring, book values dropped about 20%, so if you held boats over from the winter to sell in the spring, you may be "under water" on what the boat would sell for in the spring. Couple this situation with tighter credit and that is TOUGH for any dealer or seller!

It is the scenario above that is making the market so hard for owners and dealers.

[Mikeski]

Maybe the dealer's answer should have been: "we will not take your boat in trade because we have no way of knowing what it is worth"?

In my opinion everything you have done is an upgrade. I made those very same upgrades plus a pretty serious stereo system to my 1995 Ski Nautique and never considered trading the boat in to the dealer because I knew I could sell the boat for more myself. That said, the buyer of my 1995 Ski Nautique was a slalom purist and viewed my "upgrades" as downgrades. Even in that case he still bought my boat because as he said it was by far the cleanest used boat he had ever seen. He paid me $17,500 for that boat in 2004, only $1,000 less than I paid for the boat in 1998.

I have a couple friends that previously worked at new boat dealerships that went out of business. They are currently feeding their families by buying and reselling used boats since new boat sales in California are so slow. If you would like me to share the details of your boat with them feel free to forward it to me at mikeskiw@gmail.com. I must warn you, the used boat market is flowing with repo boats this has dropped the market to a painful price point.

If I were in your shoes, and I could swing the financing/storage, I would buy the new boat now, keep both boats until April, then market the 1997 or whenever people in your region start thinking about boating as mcbridek has outlined.

Best of luck.

[JWAT]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I know right now is not the best time to be selling a boat and a lot of times all of the upgrades don't matter a whole lot to some buyers. I guess I was just surprised that the dealer wouldn't even consider taking it in on trade.

I'm wasn't originally even thinking about selling my boat, but I did end up listing it on onlyinboards.com to see if I would get any interest. The price I have on it may seem high to some, especially at this time of year, but I honestly think it is worth it considering the condition of the boat and all of the additions I have made. I would put my boats condition, wake, accessories up against many newer boats these days.

Anyways, if anyone is interested in even taking a look at the boat, below is a link.

http://www.onlyinboards.com/Details.aspx?ID=818752

[mcbridek]

I am planning on putting my boat up for sale, but after reading these comments, sounds like a tough market to sell. After reading the NADA comment, I looked at the NADA prices and they are all over the place, I guess caused by the repo's. I have a 99 Sport the NADA for a 97 Sport is higher than a 99, which makes no sense.

[bchesley]

I think that dealer is smoking crack. My dealer would love to have your trade in. Used boats usually help the dealer get a future client that will want to upgrade.

Having said that I would probably never do a trade cause you will always get more for your boat selling it outright.

[WakeSlayer]

I am still trying to figure out how you would annex the ballast system to the cooling system. Think about it. That is just one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of doing with your boat. How would it even work?