Asking Price on a RT188

[Glenn]

I'm looking at two RT188's, the first being a 2017 with a power pole, asking price is $25,000. The other is an 2018, asking price is not know at the present time, no add on's on this boat. Both boats have aluminum props, no boat straps, basic/low electronics by Lowrance, the 2017 has a Mercury on it & the 2018 has a Yamaha on it, both are 4 stroke motors. How much negotiating room do I have. Thanks - Glenn

[Panama]

It depends on the dealer.... When I bought mine I had a quote on the same boat from two different dealers about 100 miles apart. One Ranger dealer beat the other by about $3000. This same thing happened to a friend of mine where I live with the same two dealers. In the last couple of years I understand that there were some "territory agreements" that could change that though. In a standard situation I would think that you could get about 10% off from what you figured on the website by adding the options to the list price and for a factory MSRP number.....especially this time of year.

[Glenn]

Thanks, One dealer is about an hour away that has the 2017 & the other is a good 3 hour drive. Both are in the state, so that "territory agreement" that you mention may applie here. The 10% I think is low on the 20017 model, but I could be wrong. You would think that they would lower the amount of the rig since its a left over from the current year model. I was thinking something like 13% - 15% on the 2018 with adding options to the rig. I understand they are in business to make a profit, I have no heart burn with that at all. All boats are mark up considerable, for example when I purchase my Triton, I got 18% off there asking price. Thanks again - Glenn

[jeff_3272]

Same doesn't apply for aluminum boats as it does glass boats. No where near the mark up on an aluminum than what there is on glass. A no add on aluminum boat is going to have a 20% max mark up in a competitive market, most times less. Hard to believe a boat that comes out of a mold can be so expensive compared to aluminum which is expensive sitting as a roll. Then need all the cutting, forming and most important a qualified welder to put it together. The leftover cost the dealer more as it has already accrued finance payments, but will cost even more if it continues to sit on the lot.

[slabstacker]

Now that they use the tracker pricing scheme they don't seem to have big discounts anymore. I've been watching prices on 198's and it doesn't seem to work like it did a few years ago. My dealer told me they use the MAP price like tracker instead of MSRP. Difference being MSRP on most brands has a 20%+ margin and then they discount it. Tracker uses MAP where they simply start at a lower % but tell dealers they can't discount current model year.

[Jeff Hahn]

Now that they use the tracker pricing scheme they don't seem to have big discounts anymore. I've been watching prices on 198's and it doesn't seem to work like it did a few years ago. My dealer told me they use the MAP price like tracker instead of MSRP. Difference being MSRP on most brands has a 20%+ margin and then they discount it. Tracker uses MAP where they simply start at a lower % but tell dealers they can't discount current model year.

That's also my understanding about MAP pricing. However, if you are trading in a rig, one dealer might give you a lot more than another dealer...effectively discounting a new rig without violating MAP pricing.