Cobaltchat.com

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During the factory tour this month, several questions were fielded by Alex regarding their dealer network as well as foreign dealer partnerships.

This boating news article provides a nice summary of the ranked dealers around the country and awards offered in various categories.....

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https://boatingindustry.com/news/2018/1 ... lebration/

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Nice to see The Harbor made Platinum dealer. They are good people!

My dealer Boat Town in Austin is on the Platinum List!!

Driller wrote: Sun Dec 23, 2018 3:42 pm My dealer Boat Town in Austin is on the Platinum List!!

I've bought a few boats that had the Boat Town sticker on it.
Gordys as well also.

Always the devils advocate.

IMO, Purchasing a new boat from the Cobalt dealer network is like playing against loaded dice, and their sales awards come from simple Geography, and not dealership earned sales with fair competition.

The issue is simple. New boat sales are territorial, completely controlled and boundaries respected. That means that no dealer actually has to compete with other Cobalt dealer's pricing and warranty service on new Cobalt boats.. It's great for those of us who live on the fringes of their sales network where sales are not hot and who can negotiate, but unfair for those who live in the hot spots of our country, and must pay what their dealer demands without competition.

It is a double edged sword. It has its downfall, and it's obvious upside as well.. The plan works for Cobalt, and it does insure a solid company with solid dealer sales spread out as fairly as they can..

Tuscany wrote: Mon Dec 24, 2018 7:11 am Always the devils advocate.

IMO, Purchasing a new boat from the Cobalt dealer network is like playing against loaded dice, and their sales awards come from simple Geography, and not dealership earned sales with fair competition.

The issue is simple. New boat sales are territorial, completely controlled and boundaries respected. That means that no dealer actually has to compete with other Cobalt dealer's pricing and warranty service on new Cobalt boats.. It's great for those of us who live on the fringes of their sales network where sales are not hot and who can negotiate, but unfair for those who live in the hot spots of our country, and must pay what their dealer demands without competition.

It is a double edged sword. It has its downfall, and it's obvious upside as well.. The plan works for Cobalt, and it does insure a solid company with solid dealer sales spread out as fairly as they can..

You hit it on the head here T. So the dealer that won the award for best single market dealer was Village marina. Well they are at LOTO. So the average size boat they sell is an R30. Well when your average boat you sell goes for almost a quarter of a million. You are obviously going to have higher sales numbers than a place that sells a lot of 220’s.

I look at the boats they get in on trade and they are always way over priced. But people will pay it because they can buy it and get it serviced right there on their home lake.

Tuscany wrote: Mon Dec 24, 2018 7:11 am Always the devils advocate.

IMO, Purchasing a new boat from the Cobalt dealer network is like playing against loaded dice, and their sales awards come from simple Geography, and not dealership earned sales with fair competition.

The issue is simple. New boat sales are territorial, completely controlled and boundaries respected. That means that no dealer actually has to compete with other Cobalt dealer's pricing and warranty service on new Cobalt boats.. It's great for those of us who live on the fringes of their sales network where sales are not hot and who can negotiate, but unfair for those who live in the hot spots of our country, and must pay what their dealer demands without competition.

It is a double edged sword. It has its downfall, and it's obvious upside as well.. The plan works for Cobalt, and it does insure a solid company with solid dealer sales spread out as fairly as they can..

T You are so right. We here on Table Rock are lucky in that we have 3 dealers that will sell and service Cobalts. So the dealers have to stay competitive.

I think I bought my dealers first ever R7. There are no Cobalt dealers in Buffalo or eastern Lake Erie. The closest is Clemons Marine near Sandusky, OH.
On Chautauqua Lake, its pontoon city to the max, and maybe a couple 220 Cobalts a year. I doubt they were in line for awards, considering sales in western NY are very limited due to weather.
Some dealers are in the right spot, others are not.

Tuscany, I was able to drive to three different Cobalt dealers (two in MN, one just over the border) on various other trips the year before I bought my boat, and there's no doubt I'll go back to Erickson Marine (the one I chose) when I get three-foot-itis. Granted, you probably can't just call them up or internet shop like you can for a car, but nobody wasn't willing to sell me a boat when I walked into their store.

Pros and cons to such a system, but considering Cobalt dealers are held to a pretty high service standard and have a lot of expense in stocking even a handful of boats, the model may make sense for a premium brand.

I remember when I first got the urge to buy a new boat. My local Chap/Cobalt dealer had a new 16’ R5 in the showroom he wanted to move. I wasn’t interested because it wasn’t equipped with options I wanted, wrong color and had a few I didn’t want...and it really wasn’t the model I wanted..

So while learning the in’s and out’s of a Cobalt, I ran across a new 15’ R7 that I thought I might be able to buy right. I had no idea at the time how the network..worked.
It was on Stokleys website, so I called. I told them I was a cash buyer who would buy today if we could meet on price. In an hour they called me back with an answer. The answer was they couldn’t sell it to me at any price, and if I wanted the boat, I had to facilitate the deal through my local Cobalt dealer.
So, I don’t know how I could have been a better potential sale customer, or why they would refuse to directly sell it to me, but that’s how it was. No issue at my end. I contacted my dealer about it, and he told me to just order through him and he would make it worth the wait, which they more than did...

My local dealer also said they respect the same unwritten rule, and had an infringement issue with a dealer in Ohio, who compensated them once they were made aware of the issue.

T It's so different here on Table Rock. When I went to buy my R7 . I received 3 quotes from the area dealers and tried to by from the Harbor who is on Table Rock but they wouldn't match the price of Lake Viking. Lake Viking told me as long as they show that they can service the boats they sell on Table Rock they can sell to me. When I have had issues Lake Viking was here the next day. Plus the Harbor owners own 3 Marinas on the lake so they make way more in slip rentals than boat sales. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

gdane wrote: Tue Dec 25, 2018 9:58 am T It's so different here on Table Rock. When I went to buy my R7 . I received 3 quotes from the area dealers and tried to by from the Harbor who is on Table Rock but they wouldn't match the price of Lake Viking. Lake Viking told me as long as they show that they can service the boats they sell on Table Rock they can sell to me. When I have had issues Lake Viking was here the next day. Plus the Harbor owners own 3 Marinas on the lake so they make way more in slip rentals than boat sales. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

This is good information to know Dane. I’ve got the Harbor looking out for a used R7 for me. They called me a few weeks ago with a 2015 they were getting in but it didn’t have a wake tower so I passed. But the price they quoted me was almost worth taking a look.

tgrace98 wrote: Tue Dec 25, 2018 10:28 am

gdane wrote: Tue Dec 25, 2018 9:58 am T It's so different here on Table Rock. When I went to buy my R7 . I received 3 quotes from the area dealers and tried to by from the Harbor who is on Table Rock but they wouldn't match the price of Lake Viking. Lake Viking told me as long as they show that they can service the boats they sell on Table Rock they can sell to me. When I have had issues Lake Viking was here the next day. Plus the Harbor owners own 3 Marinas on the lake so they make way more in slip rentals than boat sales. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

This is good information to know Dane. I’ve got the Harbor looking out for a used R7 for me. They called me a few weeks ago with a 2015 they were getting in but it didn’t have a wake tower so I passed. But the price they quoted me was almost worth taking a look.

Time to hit up TR he needs to upgrade this year. Lol

Big Block Power wrote: Tue Dec 25, 2018 10:42 am

tgrace98 wrote: Tue Dec 25, 2018 10:28 am

gdane wrote: Tue Dec 25, 2018 9:58 am T It's so different here on Table Rock. When I went to buy my R7 . I received 3 quotes from the area dealers and tried to by from the Harbor who is on Table Rock but they wouldn't match the price of Lake Viking. Lake Viking told me as long as they show that they can service the boats they sell on Table Rock they can sell to me. When I have had issues Lake Viking was here the next day. Plus the Harbor owners own 3 Marinas on the lake so they make way more in slip rentals than boat sales. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

This is good information to know Dane. I’ve got the Harbor looking out for a used R7 for me. They called me a few weeks ago with a 2015 they were getting in but it didn’t have a wake tower so I passed. But the price they quoted me was almost worth taking a look.

Time to hit up TR he needs to upgrade this year. Lol

Believe me I already asked lol. I think Mrs TR would kill Mr TR if he tried

GD/TR, I’m wondering if your territory isn’t enforced because Cobalt took on multiple dealerships during their “growing” years, well before assigning exclusive territory like they seem to do today.. What is the usual discount off MSRP on TR?.