Mastercraft Seattle losing dealership

[skydyvyr]

I know some on here have had their issues with Mastercraft Seattle, but they have been very good to me. Always excellent service, friendly and very knowledgeable.

I just got an email saying that effective July 1, 2021, Mastercraft will not be renewing their dealership. It’s a sad day for me. I guess I better start getting to know the guys at Lake Union Marine.

I wondered if something was up when they picked up Tige during the off season…

—Sky

[Rico-X]

I saw the writing on the wall yesterday: I have never dealt with them, but I occasionally like to look through their Mastercraft stock. I went to look yesterday and they had absolutely no MC stock. I thought, hmmmmmm. I guess you explained it for me.

[mikeg205]

Boat sales are soaring.. have to buy inventory to stay a dealer.. i sell capital equipment via dealers.. no commitment then you are not a dealer.

I dont know what MC requires but if you cant sell 5 units.. you are really not an MC partner

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[WolverineFW]

Boat sales are soaring.. have to buy inventory to stay a dealer.. i sell capital equipment via dealers.. no commitment then you are not a dealer.

I dont know what MC requires but if you cant sell 5 units.. you are really not an MC partner

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MC cannot keep up with orders. My dealer placed orders for 20 of the 2021 boats. Mastercraft only fulfilled 7 of those orders....I think they already sold 6 of them and 1 has not arrived yet.

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[Ironhorse]

I wonder if Mastercraft has increased their required commitment from the dealers and is experiencing some push back. Martins was a good long time dealer that is no longer associated with Mastercraft as well.

[ttu]

I wonder if Mastercraft has increased their required commitment from the dealers and is experiencing some push back. Martins was a good long time dealer that is no longer associated with Mastercraft as well.

^^ wasn't Martin's one of the biggest dealers at one time?

[TarheelMC]

Not to hijack, but there is a similar situation in my area.

Charlotte, NC has seen a bit of dealership instability over the last 4 years. Charlotte Ski Boats (CSB) just parted ways with Mastercraft and now focused on Tige & ATX, along with Formula & Tahoe Pontoons. They have been around since around 2010 I think, maybe even a few years earlier. Since that time, Mastercraft allowed 2 other dealerships to sell their brand. One closed after maybe 2 years and then a second spot (Carolina Watersports - CWS) picked them up. CWS and CSB were only separated by about 3 miles which is highly unusual. I have only dealt with CSB and overall they have been good to me. It's really odd MC allowed multiple dealers especially in such close proximity. In my opinion, CSB dropped MC because of it. I would be shocked if it were MC that pulled the plug or pushed them out intentionally.

This instability will absolutely come into play when buying our next boat.

[jbmccul]

Not to hijack, but there is a similar situation in my area.

Charlotte, NC has seen a bit of dealership instability over the last 4 years. Charlotte Ski Boats (CSB) just parted ways with Mastercraft and now focused on Tige & ATX, along with Formula & Tahoe Pontoons. They have been around since around 2010 I think, maybe even a few years earlier. Since that time, Mastercraft allowed 2 other dealerships to sell their brand. One closed after maybe 2 years and then a second spot (Carolina Watersports - CWS) picked them up. CWS and CSB were only separated by about 3 miles which is highly unusual. I have only dealt with CSB and overall they have been good to me. It's really odd MC allowed multiple dealers especially in such close proximity. In my opinion, CSB dropped MC because of it. I would be shocked if it were MC that pulled the plug or pushed them out intentionally.

This instability will absolutely come into play when buying our next boat.

I'd have to go back and do some digging but I believe there was more to the story surrounding CSB abd CWS. There was a thread on it a while back.

[TarheelMC]

This one has some rumors, but nothing I would call concrete. https://teamtalk.mastercraft.com/sho...na+watersports

There is a claim that CMC closed down because they got tired of handling CSB service & warranty issues which I don't buy. Not because they didn't have them, but because if MC was pushing out CSB then CMC had to know they would inherit all of their MC service work.

[stuartjr]

This one has some rumors, but nothing I would call concrete. https://teamtalk.mastercraft.com/sho...na+watersports

There is a claim that CMC closed down because they got tired of handling CSB service & warranty issues which I don't buy. Not because they didn't have them, but because if MC was pushing out CSB then CMC had to know they would inherit all of their MC service work.

My boat came from CMC so I can only repeat the story I was told as to why they cut ties with MC. They knew they would inherit the warranty work, but they were also told the build slots would be reduced from CSB and given to CMC, that didn't happen. I have no affiliation with either dealer and cannot validate these claims but you have to admit something was off with CSB. If everything were peachy I doubt a 2nd dealer would have been brought in on two different occasions. There are big markets like Atlanta being served by a single dealer. But I feel your pain, I am on my 3rd MC dealer in about 4 years. No stability here whatsoever. I went from 15 minute drive to a 3 hour drive.

[Ironhorse]

^^ wasn't Martin's one of the biggest dealers at one time?

Yes they were. Right up to and including last year I believe.

[cmasty]

I have no clue what mastercraft's dealer/marketing strategy is, but I've seen and personally witnessed a lot of negatives (both on this forum and in real life). My local dealer is fairly inept and has no capacity to service the brand at an increased level and for the past 5+ years has never had more than 1-2 boats in its network of stores. Usually they have something like an X26 and a XT25, which, in my opinion, are brand irrelevant and completely miss the brand's sweet spot. I'm guessing MC doesn't have a dealer strategy, or the strategy was written in 1987.

Many MC service departments are protectionist and treat you like a 3rd class citizen if you didn't buy your boat at that dealer or bought a used boat. Again, I've witnessed this in person and on this forum.

Say what you want, but management totally missed and continues to miss the post-pandemic demand spike, in spite of dealers begging for boats. They totally bungled a recent safety recall; recalled the recall. MCFT stock underperforms vs its peers. The market is aware. The list goes on and on. I love my MC boat but I get the feeling MC has no clue how to manage anything but a tepid market and is just hoping it can keep its fingers wrapped around the tiger's tail till things go back to normal (and has lacked the courage to behave any differently).

[osmonet]

I know some on here have had their issues with Mastercraft Seattle, but they have been very good to me. Always excellent service, friendly and very knowledgeable.

I just got an email saying that effective July 1, 2021, Mastercraft will not be renewing their dealership. It’s a sad day for me. I guess I better start getting to know the guys at Lake Union Marine.

I wondered if something was up when they picked up Tige during the off season…

—Sky

I came very close to buying a boat from these guys....twice. Both times had a great experience with the sales staff even though deal didn't go through.

[duckhunter82]

The dealership near me (Southaven, Ms) isn't dealing with MC anymore as well. sigh

[88 PS190]

MC cannot keep up with orders. My dealer placed orders for 20 of the 2021 boats. Mastercraft only fulfilled 7 of those orders....I think they already sold 6 of them and 1 has not arrived yet.

That is true. Locally our MC dealer has sold not only every MC they have, but every used boat they have, every pontoon they have, and really everything they have.

Heck they've sold all the dock.