Boats.co.uk no longer Princess Dealer

Mr Googler

Mr Googler

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 Apr 2008
Messages
5,904
Visit site
That seems surprising?

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
Internationally successful dealership and brokerage company Boats.co.uk today announces that their successful relationship with Argo Nautical / Princess Motor Yacht Sales will cease at the end of October 2021. The decision is mutually amicable and Boats.co.uk will continue to provide all service, support and warranty to its Princess customers in conjunction with the Argo Yachting team.
For six years, Boats.co.uk has been a dealer of Princess Yachts under the name Princess East Coast, providing sales, part-exchange and aftercare for Poole and the East Coast of England.
James Barke, Managing Director, Boats.co.uk, commented: “We are immensely proud of the business we achieved with Argo Yachting / Princess and the dozens of happy boaters we helped get afloat. But the time is right for us to focus on other areas of our business which have shown growth during the current pandemic. This includes our used boat business and our luxury Charter business in the Balearics. We are also seeing the boating landscape change as people are looking to the flexibility of charter as a viable option to purchase. This shift further suits the post-pandemic work culture of our client base.”
James Barke also confirmed that his company’s obligations to all current Princess owners with regards to future service, support and warranty will remain unchanged. “We are committed to providing full service and support to our Princess customers for as long as required and will work closely with Argo Yachting to achieve this.”
Max Whale, CEO, Argo Nautical, added: “We have had a particularly successful business partnership with Boats.co.uk. On a personal level I thank them all for their efforts and look forwards to continued close cooperation with our firm friends.”
Boats.co.uk continues to act as sole dealer for Williams Performance tenders, Kawasaki’s PWC range, Parker sport, leisure and fishing vessels and as the East Coast dealer for Sea Ray.
With headquarters in Essex, Boats.co.uk have two further satellite offices in Poole and Cala d’Or – and additionally offer yacht charter in Mallorca and St Lucia.
 
Bought from them in past,wonder if might be worth contacting regards that 20% tax on importing boats from EU to UK due to the becoming more evident by the day disaster of Brexit. :)
 
Never been the need for two dealers in the UK in my opinion however I’d say that Boats uk are better to deal with when taking a part ex , they have always been very good at what they do .
I have many clients who have dealt with them over the years , yes there will always be good and bad feedback but I can only remember more good feedback than poor .
 
We went to look ar a boat at their yard , it was on the hard but it seemed as I was from the north it seemed ,I could not afford the boat we traveled 200 miles to look at , but they are very successful and good luck to them Upton waters loved taking £500 quid Init
 
seastoke said:
We went to look ar a boat at their yard , it was on the hard but it seemed as I was from the north it seemed ,I could not afford the boat we traveled 200 miles to look at , but they are very successful and good luck to them Upton waters loved taking £500 quid Init
Click to expand...

Slightly confused, what does 'from the north' have to do with affording a boat?
 
Have always loved the brand and the way that Princess build quality into their boats, and at the moment they are probably flying of the shelf ( build slots 2023 ?) and to maintain the ( reassuringly expensive ) feel to the brand perhaps Princess don't need Boats UK doing better deals than Princess sales can ?. Having heard of a couple of part ex offers given by Princess it feels like they probably don't need to go the extra mile that Boats UK will go . Hope its not a falling out as the Bark bros are excellent sales guys and Princess make lovely ( mostly ) boats.
 
I was talking to a broker around 6 months ago, and he was bemoaning the fact that Princess were becoing quite “territorial” in their sales network, and that the regions had quite rigid boundaries, which were firming up…

I cant remember the precise details but it meant that, where once all regions were open to all dealers, they now were only allowed to deal with customers in their patch.

Such a shrinkage of potential opportunities may resonate with this decision, despite the PR gloss of the announcements.
 
I think it has always been difficult to justify two different dealers in the UK. I had always assumed that Essex were a sub dealer for Swanwick but I may be wrong.

What Essex brought to the table was a willingness to find a deal when Swanwick might have been a bit more traditional particularly when it came to part exchanges. Without doubt Essex have forced people to get creative and see the value in used boats. I still wouldn`t p/x a boat but then again I sell stuff for a living. Why pay a baker when you make great cakes Yourself?

At the start of the relationship I was sceptical in terms of how Essex would provide back up, I have only heard great things on that score so they deserve continued success. In particular their Cala d`or operation seems to have some VERY loyal supporters.

My contact has always been with Swanwick and I wouldn’t think to play one off against the other, neither have I been approached to try and “Steal” my custom so I genuinely hope both sides continue to prosper and it is just one of those times when things came to a natural conclusion.

I can certainly think of a very interesting option for Essex if they wanted to represent a larger brand in the UK. without treading on anyone`s toes.

Henry
 
henryf said:
I think it has always been difficult to justify two different dealers in the UK. I had always assumed that Essex were a sub dealer for Swanwick but I may be wrong.

What Essex brought to the table was a willingness to find a deal when Swanwick might have been a bit more traditional particularly when it came to part exchanges. Without doubt Essex have forced people to get creative and see the value in used boats. I still wouldn`t p/x a boat but then again I sell stuff for a living. Why pay a baker when you make great cakes Yourself?

At the start of the relationship I was sceptical in terms of how Essex would provide back up, I have only heard great things on that score so they deserve continued success. In particular their Cala d`or operation seems to have some VERY loyal supporters.

My contact has always been with Swanwick and I wouldn’t think to play one off against the other, neither have I been approached to try and “Steal” my custom so I genuinely hope both sides continue to prosper and it is just one of those times when things came to a natural conclusion.

I can certainly think of a very interesting option for Essex if they wanted to represent a larger brand in the UK. without treading on anyone`s toes.

Henry
Click to expand...
I’d guess there is another dealership announcement shortly .
 
Reminds me a bit of the Sealine story
Sealine had (mostly) their own sales offices.
Then Peters took over sales (very interesting after slagging off Sealine for many years when they had Fairline Sales…..things like “built by Kidderminster postmen” which I never quite understood)
Then after only 18 months Ancaster took over sales
then I think back to Sealine Sales (not 100% sure about that) before going bust.

However I think Princess is here for the long term.
 
Last edited:
DavidJ said:
Reminds me a bit of the Sealine story
Sealine had (mostly) their own sales offices.
Then Peters took over sales (very interesting after slagging off Sealine for many years when they had Fairline Sales…..things like “built by Kidderminster postmen” which I never quiunderstood)
Then after only 18 months Ancaster took over sales
then I think back to Sealine Sales (not 100% sure about that) before going bust.

However I think Princess is here for the long term.
Click to expand...
Built by Kidderminster postmen is really quite good. It’s where I come from - although I left home before Sealine arrived - and the town had a statue of one of its sons, Rowland Hill, who introduced the pre-paid postage system- the penny post.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

T
Notices to Mariners - Week 51
Replies
4
Views
787
Shaz77
S

Share this page

Top