New Boat used for demos/test rides

Since we don’t have many dealers in my area that will do test rides, I’m not sure how to handle it.

If you are buying a “new” boat that was used for customer test rides.

1) How much would you expect the dealer to discount a new boat used for test rides.

2) Would you be concerned about the dealer not following the recommended break in procedure.
– This is my biggest concern, customers putting the boat/motor combo through it’s paces,
before the motor is properly broke in.

Thank you everybody for all the input! This is BIG purchase, much more than my Alaskan so I’m a little apprehensive.

You don’t get a discount on a car that is used for test drives (aka all of them), and I wouldn’t expect it on a boat, either, unless it was heavily used.

Have them pull the hour/RPM info off the motor, that will tell you a lot right there.

That’s a good point, they don’t discount cars. Just seems to me that outboards have more stringent break in processes, with said I’ve only owned 1 new 75 hp Yamaha, so I don’t have a lot to base my thought on.

We got a boat that was a dealer demo. It’s been great in the 2 years that we have had it. They did discount a little because of it.

gregl2017 wrote:

Since we don’t have many dealers in my area that will do test rides, I’m not sure how to handle it.

If you are buying a “new” boat that was used for customer test rides.

1) How much would you expect the dealer to discount a new boat used for test rides.

2) Would you be concerned about the dealer not following the recommended break in procedure.
– This is my biggest concern, customers putting the boat/motor combo through it’s paces,
before the motor is properly broke in.

Thank you everybody for all the input! This is BIG purchase, much more than my Alaskan so I’m a little apprehensive.

Greg, there really isn’t a blanket answer to your good questions. In our case it varies based on if it was driven once or all year. A dealer demo can also mean it was used by a person like myself for an entire season.

Customer drive hrs concern, I wouldn’t be concerned too much with that as they are typically very brief and a dealer staff will be in the boat while the test drive is taking place.

I encourage you however to test drive any boat new, used, demo regardless so you minimize your concerns.