New Boat Negotiations

[tarmand]

I''m a newbie here so if this topic has been covered before, please accept my apologies... Question: what is the custom/protocol for negotiating the price of a new boat with a dealer? I''ve purchased many a used boat, and am quite familiar with the offer/counter offer dance. However, with a new boat it seems like the dealer just throws the "order form" at you, and that''s that. Is it as simple as looking at the order form, rounding down 10% in your head and saying "OK, I''ll give you x for it"? Any advice would be appreciated!

[Benesail]

Good question. By the time we knew what we wanted, we were getting near to the fall Annapolis Sail show. The salesman I was working with told me that the dealer had one boat left in his inventory that he was interested in getting rid of before he had to carry it for the winter, so I told him to be ready to sharpen his pencil at the show. He did, I got a few thousand off and they threw in a few extras because of the show. I don''t know how it works in the spring. You might try comparing two dealers of the same boat if they are both close enough.
Good luck.