How come no special finance on boats?

I was asking myself this today. How come boat manufactures have not decided to secure special finance rates for their customers to stimulate sales. You look at auto manufacturers offering 0% APR and no payment fo 3 months or more. I would think boat purchasing would be a far lower priority purchase fo most consumers than a car. With the economy tanking as it is, one would think boat manufacturers would try to set up some special financing rates to move inventory. I think sales for these boats are going to tank worse than automobiles during these tough times.

no bank wants to be left holding the bag on a 20 year note and no interest being made on it. auto manuf. usually only offer zero financing on in-house loans not from outside financing and most boat companies are not in the business of being banks.

keep in mind the auto manuf. are not offering cash off AND zero financing. choose 1 or the other. there was a cnn article a few weeks ago talking to do the math. in some cases a low interest note from a bank/cu AND cash back will be cheaper in the long run than msrp AND zero%.


as an example, show me a chevy dealer offering zero for 72 months AND 20% off on a truck. I'll show you a dealer that will be out of business in 6 months or less.

there is no free lunch.

I was at the dealer yesterday and the service guy said they had sold 20 boats in April.


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I received an email from a Moomba dealer a couple weeks ago touting Zero Down and the summer months (presume 3 or 4 payments) paid by the shop/financing arm.

I'm not suggesting 0% APR but a more attractive APR that may get some people off the fence. 3.5% -4% on a 20 yr loan is not a stretch considering the average is around 5%, but if someone was looking at upgrading but decided to put it off another 1-2 yrs due to economic uncertainty, a low APR may be enough to convince to buy since you may not be able that get that low APR on a boat again. Furthermore, most discounts on a boat are negotiated with the dealer, Supra currently has 2500$ in free upgrades ,but my dealer offered far more than that, and they would not care if in addition I got a low APR. Heck, they would very much like to have a low apr to offer their customers in addition to their dealer discounts, they just want to move inventory. I'm sure they make a significant portion of their revenue through their parts and services dept. The more boats, more services. I would rather have low APR than the 2500$ directly from Supra.

I see the GESA Credit Union has 60 month for 2.99%. Their checking account was 3% interest until recently and down to 2%.


https://www.gesa.com/borrow/vehicle-...e-and-rv-loans

Supra builds were sold out this year and I don’t think boat sales are slow everywhere.

I tried to build a late 2020SA and the incentives just were not there. SC would have built it, but no deals compared to 2018.


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this downturn is much different than the last one in 2008ish. buddy at work has been shopping for a c6 or c7 vette and cars are selling in a few days/weeks and dealers here are reporting sales have not slowed much at all.
not surprising at larry's comment on boat sales not slowing down. I don't think that most making the kind of income these boats require were impacted by the covid and frankly most probably saw a boost in spending monies from not commuting and working from home...

that said I believe there is going to be a housing recession end of this year/beginning of next as those that have been impacted are at the end of the 12 months of forbearance and don't have any way to pay the mortgage. foreclosures end of 2020/beginning of 2021 I expect to jump.

I predict 21 might actually be a slower boat buying season than 20, most boats were ordered before pandemic hit.

I will say with the lack of travel options, boating is one of the best family things available right now.


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Originally Posted by zabooda

I see the GESA Credit Union has 60 month for 2.99%. Their checking account was 3% interest until recently and down to 2%.


https://www.gesa.com/borrow/vehicle-...e-and-rv-loans

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that is a freakin low rate on a boat!


I too think/hope there will be some good deals to be had on used or new boats towards the end of the year or early next year.

That’s an amazingly low rate. We got 4.99 with credit over 800 and that was the best we could find without putting a massive amount down


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Michiganders can still get 3.49% for up to 20 years


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Originally Posted by larry_arizona

Michiganders can still get 3.49% for up to 20 years


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Yeah, go ahead and rub it in:x

I just got 4.74% on an SL 400 using newcoast financial, underwritten by US bank. It did require a sizeable down payment though. And freakin' a banks have a lot of rules and stipulations before they approve a boat loan these days!. My dealer said he see's it all the time. PITA. Oh well, I'm picking her up tomorrow. Hoping for nice weather.

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Originally Posted by gtsum2

That’s an amazingly low rate. We got 4.99 with credit over 800 and that was the best we could find without putting a massive amount down


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What is a sizable down payment 25%, 50%? Just wondering if you want to share, thank you.

We put 15% down and got 4.99%. We were limited as we also got a seasonal place at the lake for our fifth wheel, so there were only so many funds in the jar available if you know what I mean:). I think banks get a little tight once they’ve lending over 150k on an inshore pleasure boat?


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10%


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I was quoted 4.24% with Vantage Recreational Finance. They’re in Florida and I’m in MN. I thought that was a pretty great rate…but are there better rates out there? Hearing others in the 3’s is surprising. I’m looking at 15/20yr rates. Everyone’s in different positions and I’d love to do a 5yr…but I don’t think my family would grow tired of 60months of Ramen noodles. Haha

4.24 is really good, I would jump on that.

I know the 3.5% rate in only good for Michigan residents.


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