Promo Boats?

[bigskieridaho]

I am just curious about the Promo boat programs. If you join the program are you required to be at every event in your region? I myself spend a lot of time with my family on our boat and camping in the summer so don't really want to be held to attending every event. Also, what types of discounts are given? Any insight would be great!

[Chad_Scott]

Each manufacturer usually has a regional promo coordinator. these guys usually look at the tournaments when posted and try and figure out where boats need to be and arrange for the promo guys to cover these events. The boat companies have a per tournament fee that is applied to your discount when you purchase the next boat. Id say you can go to as few or as many as you want to. Discounts are not huge but it keeps you in a new boat each year. Here in our region most of the tournament organizers also waive your entry fee into the event and often provide lodging during the tournament weekend

[dave2ball]

Chad Scott is right. The promo programs do require you to sell you boat on your own. If you have a good relationship with your locust dealer they may help you move your boat. When you are at a tournament you can't dictate how many hours get put on it. It is chief boat driver decision on what division the boat get used.

You are pretty much FILO. first in last out.

It's not a bad gig. Like anything else it has its good points and it's bad points

[blakeyates]

Each boat manufacturer has their own guideline requirements but if you are considering getting in to the Promo Program, you should probably be ready to commit to a minimum of 5 or 6 tournaments. I don't know how many are in your area but I go to about 10 per year. My "goal" is to have "every-other-weekend" to go to my lake house with my family like you want to do. This 'kind of' works out but sometimes I have back-to-back weekends at tournaments. Luckily, two of them are within 20 miles of my lake house, so I just pull the boat from there. The biggest downside to this program is selling your current boat before you can order the next one, but ...... it comes with the pro's and con's.

[jcamp]

If a promo guy wanted to avoid the every-year-must-sell pressure, could he just decide that he'd run the same boat to tournaments in a two-year stretch before trying to sell? Or would that make it even tougher to sell a two-year old board with 400+ hours at a price that'll be close to keeping you whole? I see guys desperately trying to sell their boat so they can order another one and I've always wondered why they didn't just hold onto the boat for another year as long as the model was going to be the same. I'm probably missing something here.

 

Second question, do any demo programs pay a fee per tournament? Or do they all just award credits for the next boat?

[bigtex2011]

We try to keep our promo to under 200 hrs. It's a little harder to sell after the 300 hour mark. We pulled 9 tourneys with it. We get credits on the next years boat.

[LeonL]

It's my understanding (promo guys comment here) that if you are using a year old boat you don't recieve tournament credits. They are only given on the current year boat. That may vary by boat company.

[dave2ball]

Most promo teams want you to run the current year boat. By holding on to your boat will your boat for a second year will make it harder to sell. The additional credits may cover the price increase of the new boat.

You will have double the hours vs. the current year boat forcing you to drop your price even further to be competitive in the market.

 

[jjackkrash]

I am curious, does anyone know the approximate amount of the discount for being in a promo program as opposed to just haggling with the dealer?

[jhughes]

The promo program sounds like a pain to me as somebody with kids in my 30's working full time. Dragging your boat around and other people driving it all day, etc. I'd rather support the program by buying a promo boat from somebody that really has time to do it or lives on a lake which makes it easy for them to host tournaments. The discount is enough that it's basically completely insane not to do it that way, and everyone wins. And you usually get the full warranty. And you have nice financing options since it's a current year boat. It's really the only way to go unless you're just extravagantly wealthy.

[Wolfeie]

I agree with jhughes, buy a year old promo boat. It is much less expensive than getting into the promo program for the first time since you don't have any credits built up. I looked into it about 5 years ago and it was much less expensive. My 2011 SN200 came

with just over 100 hours and was about 10K less.

[RichardDoane]

I needed a new boat in 2010, so I joined the MC Promo Team. It does take a major commitment of time to be a good "promo" guy. After 4 new boats in 6 years I sold the last boat in August. The lake we ski at now has a "club boat" that we can use for an annual fee, which makes way more sense that putting out $50 K for a personal boat. LOC's should be thankful and appreciative of the people that are still in the various promo programs, and go out of their way when it comes to care of the boat, and support of the boat owner. As the cost of the new boats continue to rise, I think you'll see quite a bit more of the group ownership approach.