Feedback for New Season

[Boatinmama14]

So I am a marine manager in Florida and sell Scarab and Yamaha jet boats, after going through threads and seeing comments about different dealerships and issues from around the country I had the idea to go straight to our jetboating community to get feedback to help the season ahead. What I would like to know from anyone that has purchased in the past, from a dealership, what made your experience great, easy, unpleasant, or hard. What are things that you wish you would have seen done or not done? I have a passion for boating, I am in love with jet boats themselves and would love to have yalls ideas for making a better buying experience. Ps I cant make everything cost less haha

 

[Inthrustwetrust]

Having a knowledgeable friendly salesman that wasn’t pushy was nice. I’m assuming part of the not being pushy was that I bought at the beginning of COVID crisis and watercraft were starting to fly off the shelf. My salesman straight up told me all their boats will be gone mid summer, so he was in no hurry to make the sale if I wasn’t ready.

Knowledgeable/honest-this was my first new boat, my salesman was a boat mechanic for 20 years, then a salesman for 15, again, he explained everything well, and I feel gave me honest pro and cons with Jets vs I/Os, and not the bs about why anything but a Yamaha is garbage, so buy the Yamaha now! This is key for me, I know sales have a job to do, but I want the truth, IE-yes, jets are safer and less maintenance, but you can suck up stuff, so Yamaha added these cool clean out plugs to help ya out, and yes, your top end might be a couple miles on hour slower than a I/O but it’s a trade off, you have 2 motors just in case, a better whole shot, more real estate and swim deck etc. I value the honesty.

Not being pushy-it’s extremely irritating. Making a $60k purchase is a big deal, I’m probably not going to sign paperwork 10 minutes after walking in the door the first time. Don’t call me 4 times a week, give me your card and maybe one call a couple days later. Don’t keep bothering me.

 

[Julian]

Being knowledgeable and honest is the key. Steer people to the boat they need, not the boat in your inventory that most closely matches.

 

[I_squared_r]

This is my biggest gripe with any salesperson. I've never bought a new boat, but i've ran out of car dealerships as soon as the silly salesman lines come out. I know their #1 job is to make a sale, but they always misjudge me as a clueless young guy that doesn't know anything. But i've been around jets for a long time, a former automotive mechanic, and an engineer and it's likely that I know more than the salesman. So I can sense bullshit before it comes out their mouth. If I walk into a dealership, it's because I already know what I want and have done my research. The salesperson should be there to help me through the process and show the product. Not tell me what they think I want to hear. If I could sum it up into a easy to remember sentence, it would be this: "Don't just act friendly, BE friendly."

 

[Canuckjetboater]

So I am a marine manager in Florida and sell Scarab and Yamaha jet boats, after going through threads and seeing comments about different dealerships and issues from around the country I had the idea to go straight to our jetboating community to get feedback to help the season ahead. What I would like to know from anyone that has purchased in the past, from a dealership, what made your experience great, easy, unpleasant, or hard. What are things that you wish you would have seen done or not done? I have a passion for boating, I am in love with jet boats themselves and would love to have yalls ideas for making a better buying experience. Ps I cant make everything cost less haha

It is exceedingly difficult to get an informative answer from many Yamaha technicians and indeed Yamaha main office on basic issues that there should be immediate answers for. Examples: Are the hulls of Yamaha Jet Boats painted or gel coat - I have gotten different answers from Yamaha USA, Yamaha Canada and various dealers. I STILL don't know if the hull of my 2020 SX195 is painted (marine epoxy?) or gel coat. What is the proper torque for spark plugs for the Yamaha SVHO 1.8L supercharged engine. Answers were all over the place. Best answer was not from ANY Yamaha representative or "regular" dealer but from Riva Racing who said use a torque wrench set to 18 pounds and do not use thread ease - the tech from my dealership used a drill to tighten the spark plugs - I was lucky he didn't strip the threads. Many dealerships have no idea how to grease the housing bearing at the 10 and 100 hour intervals - in fact many don't even do it as they are not aware of the requirement. Mine said it no longer had to be done - incorrect! It is very unnerving for a customer to have to tell a dealership's technicians how to do a job. I have been boating for decades and Yamaha, in my opinion, does the worst job of providing technical support/advice to their technicians at dealerships and even worse for owners. As a comparison, Mercury/Mercruiser has awesome customer helplines and mandatory service tech training - you would never see a Mercury/Mercruiser technician install spark plugs with a drill. The ONLY SAVIOUR for me has been THIS FORUM whose members, IMO, are FAR more knowledgeable than most of the salespeople and technicians I have encountered at Yamaha dealerships. Thank GOD for this forum!!!!!

 

[Boatinmama14]

Having a knowledgeable friendly salesman that wasn’t pushy was nice. I’m assuming part of the not being pushy was that I bought at the beginning of COVID crisis and watercraft were starting to fly off the shelf. My salesman straight up told me all their boats will be gone mid summer, so he was in no hurry to make the sale if I wasn’t ready.

Knowledgeable/honest-this was my first new boat, my salesman was a boat mechanic for 20 years, then a salesman for 15, again, he explained everything well, and I feel gave me honest pro and cons with Jets vs I/Os, and not the bs about why anything but a Yamaha is garbage, so buy the Yamaha now! This is key for me, I know sales have a job to do, but I want the truth, IE-yes, jets are safer and less maintenance, but you can suck up stuff, so Yamaha added these cool clean out plugs to help ya out, and yes, your top end might be a couple miles on hour slower than a I/O but it’s a trade off, you have 2 motors just in case, a better whole shot, more real estate and swim deck etc. I value the honesty.

Not being pushy-it’s extremely irritating. Making a $60k purchase is a big deal, I’m probably not going to sign paperwork 10 minutes after walking in the door the first time. Don’t call me 4 times a week, give me your card and maybe one call a couple days later. Don’t keep bothering me.

I completely agree, honesty from the start and i you dont know just say it. I wasnt in sales my whole life like a lot of them out there so I have a different view. Buying a boat should be at the pace of the customer. I have some people that come in once and want the boat same day haha, and others have no clue what they want and thats my job to take the time to get to know them and what their family is looking for to help them make the best informed decision.

 

[Boatinmama14]

This is my biggest gripe with any salesperson. I've never bought a new boat, but i've ran out of car dealerships as soon as the silly salesman lines come out. I know their #1 job is to make a sale, but they always misjudge me as a clueless young guy that doesn't know anything. But i've been around jets for a long time, a former automotive mechanic, and an engineer and it's likely that I know more than the salesman. So I can sense bullshit before it comes out their mouth. If I walk into a dealership, it's because I already know what I want and have done my research. The salesperson should be there to help me through the process and show the product. Not tell me what they think I want to hear. If I could sum it up into a easy to remember sentence, it would be this: "Don't just act friendly, BE friendly."

I think some salesman have a hard time being able to see that. If I can see you know more than me, I say shoot school me, I would love to learn from you as well. What sucks is that some just learn bad habits from the start. Im going to take that sentence and use it! People can feel when you arent being real for sure.

 

[Boatinmama14]

It is exceedingly difficult to get an informative answer from many Yamaha technicians and indeed Yamaha main office on basic issues that there should be immediate answers for. Examples: Are the hulls of Yamaha Jet Boats painted or gel coat - I have gotten different answers from Yamaha USA, Yamaha Canada and various dealers. I STILL don't know if the hull of my 2020 SX195 is painted (marine epoxy?) or gel coat. What is the proper torque for spark plugs for the Yamaha SVHO 1.8L supercharged engine. Answers were all over the place. Best answer was not from ANY Yamaha representative or "regular" dealer but from Riva Racing who said use a torque wrench set to 18 pounds and do not use thread ease - the tech from my dealership used a drill to tighten the spark plugs - I was lucky he didn't strip the threads. Many dealerships have no idea how to grease the housing bearing at the 10 and 100 hour intervals - in fact many don't even do it as they are not aware of the requirement. Mine said it no longer had to be done - incorrect! It is very unnerving for a customer to have to tell a dealership's technicians how to do a job. I have been boating for decades and Yamaha, in my opinion, does the worst job of providing technical support/advice to their technicians at dealerships and even worse for owners. As a comparison, Mercury/Mercruiser has awesome customer helplines and mandatory service tech training - you would never see a Mercury/Mercruiser technician install spark plugs with a drill. The ONLY SAVIOUR for me has been THIS FORUM whose members, IMO, are FAR more knowledgeable than most of the salespeople and technicians I have encountered at Yamaha dealerships. Thank GOD for this forum!!!!!

Well I cannot speak for service thats for sure, sometimes its the techs, the reps, all of the above. I do agree because of how big yamaha is it should be easier to get information.
As far the hull, there is a marine epoxy but its under the gel coat. The gel coat is the last layer.

 

[jgourlie]

I thought my dealership/salesman was great right up until they got my money. The time between receiving my payment in full and when I picked up the boat there wasn't follow through, some things I had asked for on pickup day (came 3 hours from out of town) e.g. boards, ski's etc to be set inside the boat ready to go wasn't done, I bought before the pandemic and I had a feeling they would be selling lots of stuff. It would have been good to receive a call saying "hey we are selling lots of boats and the accessories are going fast, do you want me to set aside some more items for you?". Day of boat pickup their cupboards were very bare. It was great service and then as soon as they had the money it was on to the next customer and I felt it. I am still happy, but they had the chance at customer for life 99% of the time but dropped the ball just at the very end. Now I am just a satisfied customer, but could have been an over the moon customer.

hopefully that makes sense,

 

[ourlee]

I want 100% logistics from a sales person. I’d be super irritated waiting for deliverables after I paid. I’d also be pissed about getting ghosted. If the AR250 has rear loungers and sub 5% increase over 2020 I’m buying one. I have a “relationship” with 3 guys. One local, one local to my retirement locale (3-4 yrs from now) and one who was super professional after a boat trader inquiry. The guy who follows up, responds to emails and gives the most freebies will be my guy. I’m enjoying the process so far. LOVE this group, such a valuable resource.
cheers,
Rick in NJ

 

[Canuckjetboater]

I thought my dealership/salesman was great right up until they got my money. The time between receiving my payment in full and when I picked up the boat there wasn't follow through, some things I had asked for on pickup day (came 3 hours from out of town) e.g. boards, ski's etc to be set inside the boat ready to go wasn't done, I bought before the pandemic and I had a feeling they would be selling lots of stuff. It would have been good to receive a call saying "hey we are selling lots of boats and the accessories are going fast, do you want me to set aside some more items for you?". Day of boat pickup their cupboards were very bare. It was great service and then as soon as they had the money it was on to the next customer and I felt it. I am still happy, but they had the chance at customer for life 99% of the time but dropped the ball just at the very end. Now I am just a satisfied customer, but could have been an over the moon customer.

hopefully that makes sense,

@jgourlie .....isn't it funny (not) how things change after that final check arrives!

 

[jgourlie]

@jgourlie .....isn't it funny (not) how things change after that final check arrives!

Sad but true

 

[JohnB]

To me, there are two different phases and I want them handled differently.

When looking / deciding, I want someone that will provide information at my pace. Typically, it's give me access to see the different boats, then answer my questions. I've already done my homework, so the standard pitch isn't needed. Give me some insights, comments and ideas that are a level deeper (kinda like the info you can find here).

The second phase, is the transaction itself. Make it quick, simple and efficient. Stick to your word and deliver on it. I don't want to be stuck in the dealership for hours to get the paperwork or hunt down things. Last, have one of your experts go through the boat and check it over for minor items and correct them before I get it. Kinda a downer to get a brand new boat and have a last that doesn't work or similar.

 

[Canuckjetboater]

Well I cannot speak for service thats for sure, sometimes its the techs, the reps, all of the above. I do agree because of how big yamaha is it should be easier to get information.
As far the hull, there is a marine epoxy but its under the gel coat. The gel coat is the last layer.

@Boatinmama14 .....I should add if a dealership does not know the answer to a question say so and then find out FAST. A salesperson or dealership employee would have a hard time BSing anyone on this forum as most of us know as much and likely more than they do - yet they keep trying!!!!

 

[Boatinmama14]

Right! I’ve done it plenty of times, I don’t know that myself but I bet I know someone that does. That was one of the reasons I joined the forum I’ve heard so many good things and the resources here are endless. I don’t know why I waited so long haha

 

[Canuckjetboater]

Right! I’ve done it plenty of times, I don’t know that myself but I bet I know someone that does. That was one of the reasons I joined the forum I’ve heard so many good things and the resources here are endless. I don’t know why I waited so long haha

@Boatinmama14 .....for example the salesman told us during the water test not to turn the battery selector OFF if we left the boat in the water as that would also turn the bilge pump off...I said respectfully you are incorrect. He made a number of other errors. Not a big confidence builder in your dealership as IMO it indicates either a lazy salesperson, who has not read-up on what he sells and/or a dealership who that does not assess the competence of their front line people, both bad indicators to me.

 

[grywlfbg]

I had done my homework and knew I wanted a 242X. My salesperson kept trying to downsell me into an AR240. Not sure why but it was funny.

For me it was all about the test drive. I had done my homework and felt that a jet boat was the right choice for me but I had never driven a jet boat. Had some PWC experience as a kid. My dealer wasn't willing to get a 242X wet but they did let me take an AR240 out for a spin on a local lake. That was key for me to get the confidence that I could operate the boat. Salesperson even let me load it onto the trailer at the end!

 

[Canuckjetboater]

I had done my homework and knew I wanted a 242X. My salesperson kept trying to downsell me into an AR240. Not sure why but it was funny.

For me it was all about the test drive. I had done my homework and felt that a jet boat was the right choice for me but I had never driven a jet boat. Had some PWC experience as a kid. My dealer wasn't willing to get a 242X wet but they did let me take an AR240 out for a spin on a local lake. That was key for me to get the confidence that I could operate the boat. Salesperson even let me load it onto the trailer at the end!

@grywlfbg .....any good dealer should allow a water test. I made it conditional (as many boat dealers do to avoid post sale trouble) so the Admiral could "hear" the difference (louder) that a jet boat is and try the ride (less deadrise than many I/Os). She said the jet boat was a bit louder but she still liked the no I/O drive hanging off the back so I cut a check.

 

[cpthook]

@grywlfbg .....any good dealer should allow a water test. I made it conditional (as many boat dealers do to avoid post sale trouble) so the Admiral could "hear" the difference (louder) that a jet boat is and try the ride (less deadrise than many I/Os).

I agree 100%... However in some areas of the country this option is not so easy. Since inventory is so limited, dealers can skip any buyer who insists on this request and move on to a more aggressive buyer w/o having to worry about stale inventory piling up. Meanwhile by the time you do get an appointment for a water test boats are selling out.

 

[Robconn]

Purchased my boat new 6/16, Rick the sales manager was great. I called him twice for help and each time he came through. First time was at launch with a friends truck. Trailer brakes engaged and would not release. He explained the difference with 7 wire vs 4 wire setup. Once explained problem solved, second time he left his office to help me dock boat when I was solo and wind and current was a challenge. My only issue is more with Yamaha not honoring 5 yr trade up. Looking for 24 ft. Rick’s explanation was that there was little interest in program.