The Boating Forum - Equipping discounts

I read the post and responses to the query on boat show discounts. Rather than responding to that particular post, I thought it might be helpful to boat purchasers in general to advise you of West Marine's New Boat Owner discount. They offer a discount card good for 30 days after a boat purchase (new or used)with a general 10% discount and 5% discount on electronics. Your broker (hmm, good ones that is)should have these cards to distribute to clients.

We just bought a new BW Montauk and the broker told us his prices would be better than our discounted ones. NOT. So if your broker doesn't have the cards to distribute, ask him/her to get you one or use the knowledge as leverage in their pricing.

No affiliation with West Marine, but I do give out their discount cards to my clients who purchase.

WOW, I received several alerts on this post. http://thehulltruth.com/infopop/images3/topic_alert.gif


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Wet-n-Wiley

West Marine couldn't get close to the prices I got from Consumers Marine and others when I outfitted my boat. That 5% discount on electronics is no great deal. I did use their outfitting discount for some other items, but I could still have beaten those discounted prices if I had taken the time to shop around.

Ed

Best Advice Shop Around
You might be surprised by who will give you the best overall price.
I bought my current boat from a Brewers yard and wanted to outfit the boat my way, I had a budget of about $6,000. So I put a complete list together including manufacturers and part numbers. First fax stop was the brokers yard, second was BoatUS outfitting department, West Marine, Defender and several other suppliers.I hit numerous suppliers in one afternoon and never left the office.
Believe it or not the broker beat everyone's overall price, some items where more, some less but overall he had the best package price.
So take a few minutes to shop around and save yourself some bucks.
Dave

ALBEMARLE 28

Wouldn't you all agree that it's kinda tough to go out and buy all you electronics at a discount...and then ask the yard to install? I know they get an hourly rate plus a little profit on the parts. What are your thoughts? Thanks. http://thehulltruth.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

http://www.fishingworks.com/Users/UserFolders/Mumblerone/PhotoImages/ACF8CF.jpg http://www.binaryrhyme.com/ubbicons/usa.gif http://www.binaryrhyme.com/ubbicons/uk.gif Boston Whaler, "MUMBLER", 24' Outrage (1996), twin 175 HP Evinrude Ocean Pros. http://www.binaryrhyme.com/ubbicons/cat.gif Snowball, the cat...

Mumbler, I am with you. I think the one stop approach is best. Fewer hassles upfront, and if something doesn't work down the line, no finger pointing about who should take care of it.

My dealer has always been competitive on electronics pricing. I would think that most who do a lot of rigging are.

When I outfitted my new boat in 1999 I got the new boat discount from West.

It was extremely good. Over 40% on many hardware items. Wire, spare Al prop (60.00), horn, wipers, switches etc...

They were very clear that the electronics were very competitive and they could not discount beneath "sale" price.

The other great buy, I got was on an epirb. I asked Boat US to match a price I found in a National Fisherman ad + I had a 10 % discount off my purchase. The 406 MHZ ACR ended up being less than 500.00

If you take your time and talk to store managers, you can save big.

HP

On a new boat I would have the yard install everything no doubt, but in this case it wasn't a concern of mine. Most of it was take out old and install new. To me installation of equipment is a part of the overall enjoyment I get from being a boat owner, besides that, I know how each piece of equipment is installed and how it functions. As the saying goes, Nothing like just messing around on boats or something like that.
Dave

ALBEMARLE 28

We give out West Marine cards too. For most people it is an easy way to get a decent discount. Of course, if a little shopping is done it is easy to find even bigger discounts. The first thing most boaters do after getting their new boat is visit a store like West Marine to get fenders (bumpers for sailboaters http://thehulltruth.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif) dock lines,life jackets, etc, so the card is great for that stuff. The prices on electronics are terrible at west marine, they can certainly do better in that department. It is nice to be able to pick the stuff up right away though, instead of waiting for it in the mail.

How's business Judy? Good to see you on the forum. I notice you have a few offices now, where do you spend most of your time?

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