Well, towards the end of October I tool a little trip from Seattle to the east coast... Sure, I did some business while there (which made it cheap to travel), but I made it up to by far the greatest Four Winns dealer that I have ever contacted (for more details on who, you can PM me).
It's not like I didn't TRY to buy a boat from the local dealers in Seattle.... I really, really tried. But when the price difference was as high as it was (we're talking close to 10k when it's all said and done) -- I was left asking myself - am I stupid?
So I hunted around a bit.... came across another dealer... and had a fantastic experience. It was a little rough that the dealer I discovered happened to be across the country. But I figured heck - is there that big a difference whether it's 1k miles or 3k miles? Other than an extra couple hundred for shipping, not so much. The boat was ordered and delivered out east... I made it out personally to take the boat for a spin... sign papers... and proceed to buy a whole bunch of extra "stuff" that I know will come in handy during the summer. I found a shipper on
http://www.uship.com.... and bam - a couple weeks later, boat is in my driveway.
The boat made it through the 3000+ mile trip gloriously... the shipper actually towed the boat on the trailer - and they noted that it was the best trailer/boat combo they had ever towed (out of 300+ tows). The dealer winterized everything, dropped the arch down, and shrink wrapped the heck out of it. All seems to look good - no damage during shipping that I could tell.
I wish I could post some pictures, but it looks like that feature is still shut off currently.
So... moral of the story --- the "service" that your local dealer offers is always a consideration -- but as a buyer you have to balance the "service" with the added cost sometimes. What makes it easier for me, is that the local service dealer also isn't really that great -- I have a local custom shop who is VP certified that will be doing my work... and as for warranty work that I may need the local dealer for -- well, that's what customer surveys are for if I have any issues.
As buyers -- don't get burned... some sucker is going to pay $$$$$$ way more for a leftover 07 Horizon 240 than I paid for an 08 with more options. Maybe I should post a sign at the boat show in January....
Now if April would just get here.......
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