Visited my dealer today - sad day

[GoBig]

I went by my dealer today to pick up a few odds and ends for this weekend. This is a dealer that typically has a parking lot full of beautiful new CCs and maybe a couple Grady Whites. There was not a single Nautique on the lot. Those CCs have been replaced with I/Os, some aluminum river fishing boats, and a couple of VLX BUs. After talking to their sales manager, they didn't order a single CC this season, "just too expensive." He mentioned that he took two custom orders for a 230 and some other model, but thats it. In any case, just bummed to see that happening. I used to love to cruise by to see the latest, and their lot sure looked sweet from the road when driving by...such is the times I guess. On the bright side, at least they're still around, most other dealers in our area folded early last year.

[migs]

You went to Central Valley Marine? I did the same thing last week while I was in the area - just to drop in and say hello to Mike & was hoping to jump into a new 230 or 210 and nothing on the lot at all. Prob makes sence to just take the order, but if I were in the hunt for a brand new one, it would suck to not be able to sit in one and feel it out. I remember when i picked up my 210 a year & a half ago - there were soo many to choose from - was great!!!! It was also nice to have the Vlx's & LSVs sitting right next to the SANS - it was very easy & clear to see/feel the difference in quality between the CC's & Malis. NO comparison.

[RLS]

I am not sure anyone in California has ordered one except custom orders. I am not sure what CC is thinking. Last week I went to a surf contest and there was a Supreme 226. It is 22.5 feet long. It was a very nice boat and the surf wake looked great. Size wise it fits between the 210 and 230. It was not as nice as a CC but I could not see $30,000 dollars difference. There was a Tige RZ2 there also and they have gone off the deep end. They want about $80,000 for that boat. I am not sure who would spend that money on it.

[JohnE]

Just a terrible time to be a boat dealer, period. Probably can't get financing to put them on the floor. I imagine that if they could put a few there they would. And it won't get much better soon.

[cedarcreek216]

This is certainly not the case around the Dalals area. Buxton is buying every unit they can get their hands on, mostly from other dealers since CC is not making many units this year. They only have about 4-6 2010 models left before they're totally out of new boats and will have to start buying from other dealers, mainly CA dealers he said.

I guess this is good news for those of us who already own a CC and in the future may want to sell, used market is going to be great around here.

[TRO]

There was a Tige RZ2 there also and they have gone off the deep end. They want about $80,000 for that boat. I am not sure who would spend that money on it.

Seems like Tige's are way overpriced these days.

[highrock]

Seems like Tige's are way overpriced these days.

Yeah...Tige is crazy in my opinion

[TRO]

it seems like Tige is trying to make itself a top of the line boat to compete with Nautique and Mastercraft by just tossing a premium price tag on its product. unfortunately for them, it doesn't work that way.

[hourglass]

so to become a nautique dealer how many boats do you have to purchase to put on the lot?

[GoBig]

Yeah Migs, CVM. I totally agree with you, and on top of that, we lost our boat show in Pleasanton. Where are you going to be this weekend? We're heading up to Berryessa.

[etang789]

Well the dealer over in HK all only sell by custom orders, we dont have the luxury that you guys had. Doesnt matter I prefer custom orders anyways.

[2gofaster]

Sign of the times. When your floorplan financing costs you .5-.6% of the cost of the boat per month, you don't want boats that cost 60-70k sitting around for very long. A strong dealer with a good cash position and a good floorplan credit limit can do it. But your average dealer can't do that. CC does have a very nice demo program for their dealers, though, to offset the high costs of floorplanning a $70k demo boat or boats. They will pay the floorplan costs up to 6% for 4 months on a boat the dealer marks as a demo. The problem some dealers have is that demo boat then reduces their available credit line with the floorplanning company. To some dealers, it doesn't make sense to floorplan a demo $70k cost wakeboard boat, when they can floorplan 4 or 5 pontoon or runabouts that are easier to sell.

hourglass: There's no stock requirement that I rememeber, although they would like a dealer to have demo's or some stock. But they do require a certain number of boats sold per year. It depends on the area, but in my area I think they wanted to see 15 sold in a year.

[migs]

Gobig - ill be in vegas this weekend, so the 210 gets to rest this long weekend. Have fun in Berryessa - should be great weather all weekend long.

[GoBig]

Nice! We'll be passing each other then...I'm off to Vegas the following week. Yeah, weather looks stellar for this weekend (finally). Should be good. Enjoy! -Big.

[swc5150]

Seems like ancient history, but when I sold MC's in college, we were required to order 8 boats for inventory. Of course, that was 13 years ago, and things certainly have changed - one being tow boats weren't $80k+ back then.