I Keep getting offers on my boat

Getting a bit mixed up here.

We have recently bought a new car for Swmbo.

The LIST price, nobody pays.
Go to a dealer, they offer 0% finance, deposit allowance, service package = 10% off.
Broker, same car, no finance thingies = 18% off.

Therefore, true transaction price on this car is about 18% off list price.
Why on earth would I pay more?

It has nothing to do with pride, effort, mortgages, build cost or buying price: it's simply a match between what a buyer (me) is prepared to pay and the seller is prepared to let it go for.

Car is being delivered tomorrow.
 
FlowerPower said:
Getting a bit mixed up here.

We have recently bought a new car for Swmbo.

The LIST price, nobody pays.
Go to a dealer, they offer 0% finance, deposit allowance, service package = 10% off.
Broker, same car, no finance thingies = 18% off.

Therefore, true transaction price on this car is about 18% off list price.
Why on earth would I pay more?

It has nothing to do with pride, effort, mortgages, build cost or buying price: it's simply a match between what a buyer (me) is prepared to pay and the seller is prepared to let it go for.

Car is being delivered tomorrow.
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All you've done is to agrea the brokers price, with no finance, or sevicing.

Which is fair enough.

Did you try to get another 30% off??
 
jonic said:
I have taken all this to heart and have just got back from Tesco.

I bought the weekly shop and at the till, once I had the total, said "I'll give you 30% less. I have cash and have a genuine interest in the goods."

The checkout guy pointed out I had already qualified for the two for one offers that were clearly marked and would also be getting 5p off my petrol and points on my card. I pointed out that was all well and good but in the current climate would not be buying unless I got an incredible deal. in fact if he didn't discount as I demanded I would just walk away.

The checkout guy removed the goods from me and escorted me out.


I thought this rude and short sighted. How was he to know I didn't mean it?
I may well have done a deal at 25% off for all he knew, but he just couldn't be bothered to find out. If I was the manager I'd sack him.

I'm off to Asda and may pay up to 20% off now.

No doubt another shopper will be along soon for the lazy Tesco checkout guy.
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Very good and point taken :)
 
hlb said:
All you've done is to agrea the brokers price, with no finance, or sevicing.

Which is fair enough.

Did you try to get another 30% off??
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The car business model is entirely different to the boat business model.

The volume difference is enormous for a start.

I once worked in a dealership for new French production boats. The dealer margin was between 11 and 15 % of the list price depending on the time of year and number of boats sold. From that had to come all staff, office, marina, boatshow and advertising costs plus the warranty work.

Boats had to be purchased as stock via a loan from the bank so the interest payments also had to be covered out of the margin.
 
henryf said:
One of two things has probably happened here.

The owner has set a base price which is far too high. In this case a good broker will find a way of acknowledging your offer as being fair whilst still representing their client.

The boat was well priced and you have been a bit rude with your offer.

30% off some boats makes them still too expensive, the asking price of other boats is a positive bargain.

As a buyer you need to understand and know your prices so you can be aware of just how cheeky your offer is. If you come in too low you do run the risk of not being taken seriously. There comes a point at which a dealer would buy the boat, no messing, no broker's fees, no having to clean it up and take lots of pretty photos.

It's exactly the same in the used Porsche world. I often hear people discussing a car's value and they are miles out. I would pay more as a dealer.

I have no knowledge of the boat you were looking at Greg nor it's true value unless it is either a Princess P42, P50 or P54 :)

We had a chap come to look at a car the other day. A limited production car and quite desirable. Spent a few hours with him and his wife, took him out in a couple of different cars as he asked so he could see the differences. He talked of wanting an inspection if he was going to buy it. Acknowledged the car was superb and he couldn't fault it, then bid me £3k less than I'd paid for it !!! You might argue a grand here or there on some of our prices but had he have told me what he was going to offer, (and he knew before he even came to look at it), I could have saved him a journey and certainly wouldn't have had the lads running round making cups of Earl Grey tea, going out on test drives and so on on a busy Saturday. It can be testing at times.

Someone said you might have to wait a while before you find a vendor in a position to be able to sell a boat for what you want to pay. That will never happen when there are people out there prepared to pay more than you and I think we probably all need remembering that we are not the only ones with cash from time to time. I think the time for the bargain boat was a year or two ago.

I wish you all the best on your hunt and if necessary do the leg work yourself, don't wait for the broker to get back to you, chase them down and drive the deal if it's a boat you want.

Henry :)
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Interesting parallel actually. Broker says he told us what the owner wanted to achieve, our recollection (three of us) was that we were given the impression that the seller was open to offers and needed to sell. Without getting bogged down in the who is right in their recollction debate the bottom line is that we made our offer based upon the situation as we understood it.

We now know what the sellers expectations are and are in a position to negotiate accordingly. We are prepared to negotiate in good faith and are prepared to compromise and if the seller has the same approach we may we'll do a deal. If not then I guess we won't get A satisfactory conclusion for either party.
 
DAKA said:
I also got an email from Andy at Boatsheds asking if I would like more detail.
I responded to the effect I was just browsing and not currently in the market for a P35 adding that I thought the dinghy / oars /extended range oil drum photo wasnt my favourite.

I received an immediate response to the effect the photo was removed yesterday !

Andy at Boatshed is responding to me (a self confessed time waster in this instance), clearly working very hard for Haydn and I wish them both good luck with a sale soon.

Well done Andy @ Boatshed :)
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Actually, my experiences with Boatshed have nothing but positive. They were very fair when I listed my boat with them but within a week or so sold to someone who had viewed privately prior to going with Boatshed. No quibbles from them as they accepted that no commission was payable. They may have missed out then but I will use them again so ultimately they will gain.
 
jonic said:
Its meant to be funny, not nasty in any way. :)

I'm just trying to illustrate that unless someone is in deep trouble- or is wealthy enough not to care- 30 % off is seen as crazy.
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Definitely didn't take as nasty. Taken as humerous but with a pertinent point :)
 
Greg2 said:
We now know what the sellers expectations are and are in a position to negotiate accordingly. We are prepared to negotiate in good faith and are prepared to compromise and if the seller has the same approach we may we'll do a deal. If not then I guess we won't get A satisfactory conclusion for either party.
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And that is the essence of a good deal. Please come and buy one of my boats.

This one has been heavily discounted and is an excellent bargain, but its priced and marked accordingly.The seller is travelling overseas on business and wants it sold.
 
jonic said:
And that is the essence of a good deal. Please come and buy one of my boats.

This one has been heavily discounted and is an excellent bargain, but its priced and marked accordingly.The seller is travelling overseas on business and wants it sold.
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Wow, lovely yacht. Unfortunately a bit beyond my price range and not the direction we have decided to take :)
 
jonic said:
And that is the essence of a good deal. Please come and buy one of my boats.

This one has been heavily discounted and is an excellent bargain, but its priced and marked accordingly.The seller is travelling overseas on business and wants it sold.
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You say that one is 'priced to sell'

Does that suggest your others are all priced - well, to not sell? Sit for ages gathering dust? Surely everything is priced to sell otherwise what's the point?

Or do you mean 'thus, in our opinion, is cheap and the owner won't take much less so don't bother asking', in which case why not just say that?
 
Whitelighter said:
You say that one is 'priced to sell'

Does that suggest your others are all priced - well, to not sell? Sit for ages gathering dust? Surely everything is priced to sell otherwise what's the point?

Or do you mean 'thus, in our opinion, is cheap and the owner won't take much less so don't bother asking', in which case why not just say that?
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They are all priced to sell. I don't want to pay to advertise boats that won't sell.

The term in the listing is generally taken to mean it has been discounted by a significant amount to sell now, and yes the owner will not take much less. It was first listed by another broker last year at over £350k.
 
jonic said:
Its meant to be funny, not nasty in any way. :)

I'm just trying to illustrate that unless someone is in deep trouble- or is wealthy enough not to care- 30 % off is seen as crazy.
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There's a fundamental error there Jonic. An offer of £50K on a boat you have listed at £75K isn't 33% off at all - it's simply a gap of £25K between two arbitrary numbers. The ONLY price that matters is the agreed price that leads to the sale. All other numbers are just figures in the air, be it offer or asking prices. Whether that gap can be closed has nothing to do with the size of the gap and everything to do with the willingness of the two parties to close it.

See the situation from my point of view as a buyer - I may have a limited or no ability to do any research on the seller so I have no idea if he's just flying a kite to see if he can get a good price or if he's desperate to sell for some reason and will take a haircut if need be. From my perspective it's difficult for me to lower my offer if I find I've come in too high - but what is too high? In this market it could be anywhere.

Buyers make the same mistake though - how often do you hear someone say "he's taking the pee at that price" and just dismiss it out of hand instead of getting in there with an offer and using negotiating skills to get an acceptable price...

Boats are absolutely no different to any other asset that is the subject of a negotiated transaction between two parties. The unique skills a broker brings to the table are product and market knowledge but a salesman is a salesman - a good broker needs the specialist knowledge and to be a good salesman but he should be able sell anything.
 
Whitelighter said:
You say that one is 'priced to sell'

Does that suggest your others are all priced - well, to not sell? Sit for ages gathering dust? Surely everything is priced to sell otherwise what's the point?

Or do you mean 'thus, in our opinion, is cheap and the owner won't take much less so don't bother asking', in which case why not just say that?
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Geez, you weren't actually looking for sensible answers with such questions, were you?
Then again, Jonic did give you some... Unbelievable, innit? :)
 
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