Buyers can no longer choose where they buy their boat!

[Hillside Powersports and Marine 107]

I had an interesting conversation with our new rep for Centurion yesterday regarding the CC dealer territory rules, etc. I inquired about their being rules and territories for dealers now that CC owns Fineline - and yes there are "boundaries" that dealers are not allowed to sell into, or they loose the franchise!

 

Am I the only one that thinks that is absurd? I think everybody should shop local, support their local dealer, and retain dealer support, but to not allow the customer to choose where they spend their money is crazy. Rather than require to dealers to "not sell" to certain areas the OEM's should be concentrating on requiring dealers to stand behind their product and provide service and warranty to owner's regardless of where they purchase, just like the auto industry! I can only see this leading to price gouging sense customers can no longer buy elsewhere, or price shop and eventually a down turn in volume and market share. If a buyer is unhappy with a dealer, he or she should be able to buy elsewhere, its America for god's sake! Not the case today with Fineline. Buyers today are educated, knowledgeable enthusiasts who want to price shop, now they can't.

 

My friends and I all buy our diesel pickups from a dealer in Utah . . . plain and simple it makes sense financially, the prices are better, we can fly out, purchase, drive back and still save thousands. If warranty arises we go to the local dealer and they fix it, service done no question . . . . . . .

 

Sorry end of rant . . . . looking for opinions from my CCC friends.

 

[WakeDoc 471]

We have a Centurion Dealer in Houston that offers 0% support to the Centurion Boat brand, could care a less about service, parts or even selling a boat, you think I would buy a boat from them?

[jester 111]

I agree. It is my money and I should have a say in were I spend it. I have a great dealer and when I was purchasing my new boat the dealer plays a big part in the purchase. If I want to make a drive to a dealer that is my choice. If a customer is willing to drive past another dealer to purchase something they should be looking at why and making sure that other dealer is representing the brand correctly.

[Babylon 23]

I'm confused. How do you enforce this? As a dealer, you don't sell a boat to someone unless they give you a home address with the right zip-code?

[Hillside Powersports and Marine 107]

We have a Centurion Dealer in Houston that offers 0% support to the Centurion Boat brand, could care a less about service, parts or even selling a boat, you think I would buy a boat from them?

 

If you purchased from another dealer, the dealer you purchased from would get pulled (that is what I am being told anyway).

 

 

 

I agree. It is my money and I should have a say in were I spend it. I have a great dealer and when I was purchasing my new boat the dealer plays a big part in the purchase. If I want to make a drive to a dealer that is my choice. If a customer is willing to drive past another dealer to purchase something they should be looking at why and making sure that other dealer is representing the brand correctly.

 

If a customer is driving by their local dealer its probably for a reason . . . to me that is the fault of the dealer, whether its price or customer service, or whatever.

 

I'm confused. How do you enforce this? As a dealer, you don't sell a boat to someone unless they give you a home address with the right zip-code?

 

Warranty registration 1st, then if a problem does arise and the look for help locally, the local dealer then whines to Fineline instead of helping the customer and possibly regaining, or gaining a customer.

 

We sell 6 different boat lines, Honda, Yamaha, and Can-Am Powersports and Power Equipment . . . . all of which can be sold to anyone, or purchased anywhere by the customer, besides Centurion and Supreme!

[Stretch 409]

Spoke with a "distance" dealer today who said they weren't allowed if it was a new boat. Pretty alarming and I didn't like it at all. Currently I have a "local" dealer closest is 2 hours away that is known to be very good and if I stay in this area next year thats all great. But, that's not happening so...

Edited September 18, 2015 by Stretch

[stoked 1,039]

This is absolutely silly. They're telling the customers where they have to shop??? This seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen the first time they drop a dealer for it. They should be happy people are trying to buy their boats.

[Hillside Powersports and Marine 107]

This is absolutely silly. They're telling the customers where they have to shop??? This seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen the first time they drop a dealer for it. They should be happy people are trying to buy their boats.

 

No they are telling us if we sell a boat out of a magic line they create then we are dropped as a dealer!

 

Strike 1 C.C.!

[viking 491]

Total BS and partly the reason I switched brands as the brand I came from had the same stupid rules. Quite frankly if consumers are shopping elsewhere other than in their back yard that says something about the service, pricing, reputation, or all three characteristics of the local dealer and I would think the manufacturer would want to concern themselves with that instead of contributing to the problem??

Set territories and limiting competition is not a good thing for the end consumer. Not good for consumer is not good for the company eventually.

Agree totally with Hillside. Good dealers like you are gonna get shafted by this new rule because you go above and beyond for your customer. Set territories only ensure the bad dealers stay in business because nobody else can take their customers business away (other than a dealer of a different brand).

I don't see this helping the dealer network issue of Centurion/Supreme much!

[viking 491]

Spoke with a "distance" dealer today who said they weren't allowed if it was a new boat.

 

Yup and usually does not apply to used or holdovers!

But the policy still instills a mindset of a lot of dealers to not service any boat not bought through "their" dealership. So warranty work can still be an issue! Most dealers I've seen that have this little radio-edit syndrome never grow the business because they can't see the potential for new customers except having an exclusive area.

[Nick213 583]

So is it just centurion and supreme, or is that the case for natiques as well?

[Babylon 23]

Well, buying used starts to make a lot of sense.

[RhuntIII 555]

Wait a second! I live over two hours away from any Centurion dealer. What's gonna happen if I want to buy a new boat?

[Nick213 583]

Wait a second! I live over two hours away from any Centurion dealer. What's gonna happen if I want to buy a new boat?

Your just gonna have to buy mine hehehehe

[Nick213 583]

So Travis,

When I go to buy a new boat your gonna have to buy it personally then sell it to me privately

[dhensley 10]

My local dealer is no longer a Centurion dealer. I just had to have warranty work done and the next nearest dealer to me is Anderson sc. They where jerks because I didn't buy from them. Ended up taking it to Charlotte nc and they were great to deal with. If they tell me I have to shop in Anderson, I will nut up

[stoked 1,039]

This is absolutely silly. They're telling the customers where they have to shop??? This seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen the first time they drop a dealer for it. They should be happy people are trying to buy their boats.

 

 

 

No they are telling us if we sell a boat out of a magic line they create then we are dropped as a dealer!

 

Strike 1 C.C.!

That's my point. They're forcing buyers to buy at the closest dealer or the dealer they bought from will no longer be able to carry the brand and do warranty work

[Stretch 409]

So it only matters for current model year correct?

[geeyork 3]

this totally sucks i love my sv240 I was planning on upgrading next year and was willing to travel to a dealer in Utah cause I had a really good experience with them when I was looking at used boats and my local dealer is not very good looks like I will be looking at axis t23 then

[Hillside Powersports and Marine 107]

this totally sucks i love my sv240 I was planning on upgrading next year and was willing to travel to a dealer in Utah cause I had a really good experience with them when I was looking at used boats and my local dealer is not very good looks like I will be looking at axis t23 then

 

And there lies the BIG problem for C.C. - it will only drive customers into a different boat. I do not get why the inboard industry has "territories" while the rest of the marine and boating industry does not, or at least I have never ran across it in the 12 + boat lines I have worked with.

 

I want to clarify something tho . . . Fineline had territory agreements before, just didn't really care about them. I had one instance where a customer in the Bay Area bought a boat from me and lived down the street from the owner of another dealer (his local dealer) and the owner of that store called up our rep at the time demanding that I pay him $2,500.00 for selling into his territory, my customer had to write a letter explaining that he wouldn't buy a boat from that guy if he was the last dealer on earth for me to get him off my back . . . . . long story short that dealer no longer sells the line because of cowpie like that and horrible customer service.