2022 mc boat(s) price increases?

[tmothy07]

Talked to my dealer yesterday and as expected we had no luck in getting Mastercraft to honor our original agreed upon price from July. My NXT order went from MSRP of $137,180 to $149,601. Right at a 9% increase. The very frustrating part is that we were originally scheduled to be delivered in December and with the last push back, it put us delivered on Jan 3rd. 3 days made a difference of 9%. My guess is mastercraft wont be delivering many boats in December. They'll push them all to January and stick it to everyone with the increase.
Because I live in a smaller market I do have another option. My dealer has 1 stock boat that isn't sold yet (XT23). It was delivered within the last couple of weeks so its "pre price increase". Considering the additional markup on the NXT we will likely be purchasing the stock boat. Makes more sense in the end. I wont get my original design but we do like the way the dealer built the XT23. What a mess this has been and a really crappy way MC has treated its customers and dealers. They've had the attitude of "everyone else is doing it so get over it or don't buy it". And to the above post MCOR....According to Mastercraft, from the Training week they had in Vegas last week, "They've had a great year and are selling more boats than ever"

Remember when NXT's were 60k All Day?

[Zrlee]

Talked to my dealer yesterday and as expected we had no luck in getting Mastercraft to honor our original agreed upon price from July. My NXT order went from MSRP of $137,180 to $149,601. Right at a 9% increase. The very frustrating part is that we were originally scheduled to be delivered in December and with the last push back, it put us delivered on Jan 3rd. 3 days made a difference of 9%. My guess is mastercraft wont be delivering many boats in December. They'll push them all to January and stick it to everyone with the increase.
Because I live in a smaller market I do have another option. My dealer has 1 stock boat that isn't sold yet (XT23). It was delivered within the last couple of weeks so its "pre price increase". Considering the additional markup on the NXT we will likely be purchasing the stock boat. Makes more sense in the end. I wont get my original design but we do like the way the dealer built the XT23. What a mess this has been and a really crappy way MC has treated its customers and dealers. They've had the attitude of "everyone else is doing it so get over it or don't buy it". And to the above post MCOR....According to Mastercraft, from the Training week they had in Vegas last week, "They've had a great year and are selling more boats than ever"

[MCOR]

I think what may be happening in the tow boat world is that the manufacturers are seeing every build spot fill with customer orders and there being basically no dealer inventor orders any more. They can't build any more boats, there is more demand than supply, so they they say to hell with the contracts in place, if a specific dealer won't pay the price increase, another one will and buy the boat. Dealers know if they start turning down boats, they won't have anything to sell and may not get as many build slots next year.

Being in a related industry on the dealer side, I think the only fair way to do it for all three parties is for the pricing to be locked in when a custom order is placed. If the end customer backs up, the dealer cost then goes up, but they can adjust their sales price accordingly to make up for it. Alas.

This.

With supply chain issues, MC’s production may only be 80% capacity. To maximize revenue, an upcharge on the boats they can build helps the bottom line.

[JohnE]

MC being a public company would need to take a charge on their balance sheet. 10 boat lost sales would be closer to 5-6M lost revenue.

I was looking at it strictly from dealer perspective with each of 10 customers. The might just as quickly sell those 10 boats to 10 new customers, as opposed to being out of business. Nothing to do with corporate in this exaggerated hypothetical.

[Morety]

The more I read this thread the more I'm frustrated by what it appears that MasterCraft is doing with dealers and the predicament they are putting them in.

I've been very close with the TXMC guys for 15+ years but never worked directly for the dealership selling boats, so I don't have experience directly with MasterCraft on a manufacturer / dealership basis. But I have spent years in the agriculture equipment industry selling both Case IH and Kubota equipment.

In this case I think that Case IH is more in line with MasterCraft than Kubota. Kubota sells a lot of smaller equipment in our territory and most of it is dealer inventory and not custom ordered. Case IH is larger (more expensive) equipment and is increasingly more custom ordered for the farmer. It is not uncommon for the MSRP of a new combine to be over $700,000.

When a dealer places an order for a piece of equipment, we have to mark it as dealer inventory or for a customer. If we order it as dealer inventory, we know the MSRP but we do not know what, if any, discounts the manufacturer may give us. That is always based on the current programs when we price to a customer, which is fair to the dealer, because we know what it will cost us before we price it.

If we order the equipment special for a customer, we lock in our price and discounts with the manufacturer the day the equipment is ordered, which allows us to price it to the customer when it's ordered, since it may take 3-6 months to arrive. If the programs / discounts get better when it arrives and the customer pays for it, then the customer gets that benefit. But if the prices increase or the programs are not as good when it arrives, the customer is locked into the price when the dealer ordered the equipment.

To me, this system makes sense for the manufacturer, the dealer, and the customer. The customer knows the price when they order the equipment (seems obvious). The dealer knows the cost when they price the equipment to the customer (seems obvious). And the manufacturer is encouraging both the dealer (their customer) and the end customer (the dealer's customer) to place orders to keep the factory busy, which is what they want. The manufacturer wants to make 100% of the units that they are capable of making.

I think what may be happening in the tow boat world is that the manufacturers are seeing every build spot fill with customer orders and there being basically no dealer inventor orders any more. They can't build any more boats, there is more demand than supply, so they they say to hell with the contracts in place, if a specific dealer won't pay the price increase, another one will and buy the boat. Dealers know if they start turning down boats, they won't have anything to sell and may not get as many build slots next year.

Being in a related industry on the dealer side, I think the only fair way to do it for all three parties is for the pricing to be locked in when a custom order is placed. If the end customer backs up, the dealer cost then goes up, but they can adjust their sales price accordingly to make up for it. Alas.

[TolCarMan]

As far as absorbing the 10% has anyone else noticed the difference in discount you get now compared to before covid? Take a guess what difference is.

Another UWS for the win moment... the deal I got on my '22 is the same deal my dealer has been running for over 10 years. The folks are awesome over there.

[wallos]

When I ordered my X20 in 2018 there was a clause in contract that said I would have to pay any price increases to MSRP by MC. I made the dealer cross it out and had a manager sign it before signing. Have any of you read your contract? Is this still in purchase agreement?

As far as absorbing the 10% has anyone else noticed the difference in discount you get now compared to before covid? Take a guess what difference is.

[Mastercraftdave]

Agree! For those that think the dealers should eat the difference….If your dealer can absorb the 10% price increase for every customer in this situation, he was charging you too much to begin with.

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What Percentage are dealers making on boats these days?

I do believe that the dealers should push back to MC but we all know that's not going to happen. I guess what I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is that when a deposit is made the price isnt set for MC. I was under the impression that when order is made the price is given to the dealer at that time and that's what the dealer discounts?

Having just left the Ft. Lauderdale boat show we talked with alot of manufactures at the show about price increases as I'm in the market for a 26ft CC. It varied from each manufacturer as to who was imposing increases and when it would be effective. Most mid to high tier brands told us that if we purchased at the show they would honor the price today and have have written statements in the contract that cover this. The Mass produced boats like Sportsman, SeaHunt, etc. would not honor such language.

I guess the silverlining with the price increases is that my 2015 X23 value is holding strong. I see some listed on the internet for about 10K less than I paid in 2015. Crazy times were living in.

[Zrlee]

2022 mc boat(s) price increases?

There is a very distinct line drawn in the sand here regarding business ethics, with zero gray area. Which side of that line do you want to stand on? A deal is a deal. If the buyer backs out, keep the deposit. If the buyer doesn't back out, honor the price. In the end, what does the "contract" state? Has the dealer and buyer agreed upon a price, signed an agreement and has a deposit been accepted to guarantee the details and price described in the contract?? If not, buyer beware. If so, seller beware. Ethics and morals supersede profits in my book, but unfortunately businesses like mine have become the minority over time.

We have operated our business that same way for the 40+ years we’ve been in business. However when Covid hit, things changed. I’m in the food business and have never seen extreme price increases across the board like I’m seeing now. In the past if I quoted a price and my cost went up, i would honor my quote and It just meant I wasn’t able to make as much profit on that order. But with the increases now, if I don’t go up on my price to the customer, I would be closing my doors after 40 years of business. I imagine most dealers (at least in the small markets) are family owned businesses that want to take care of their customers but with the extreme amount of increase they can’t absorb it.
I also imagine that most dealers will return deposits if you decide not to keep the order.


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[Loewen]

There is a very distinct line drawn in the sand here regarding business ethics, with zero gray area. Which side of that line do you want to stand on? A deal is a deal. If the buyer backs out, keep the deposit. If the buyer doesn't back out, honor the price. In the end, what does the "contract" state? Has the dealer and buyer agreed upon a price, signed an agreement and has a deposit been accepted to guarantee the details and price described in the contract?? If not, buyer beware. If so, seller beware. Ethics and morals supersede profits in my book, but unfortunately businesses like mine have become the minority over time.

[Zrlee]

I am kind of on the dealers side on this one... the imposed price increases are 100% out of the dealers control and thus their hands are tied. The dealers are getting a lot of the heat for this one. Fingers should be pointing towards MC corporate.
$.02

Agree! For those that think the dealers should eat the difference….If your dealer can absorb the 10% price increase for every customer in this situation, he was charging you too much to begin with.


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[MCOR]

I might be wrong here but I believe the transaction is between MC and the dealer. If a customer bails on an order, the dealer still takes delivery of the boat and then tries to sell it to someone else.


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And if you bail on the order, you lose your deposit.

I agree that this issue is between MC and the dealer. MC should honor pricing on orders that have already been placed and deposits paid. How many boats could that possibly be, 100? If the average increase is 20K/boat, we're talking 2M. MC has a market cap of 512M. Seems like a money grab move rather than doing what's right.

They can adjust pricing on future custom orders and boats built for dealer inventory.

[MasterCraft Ranger]

MC being a public company would need to take a charge on their balance sheet. 10 boat lost sales would be closer to 5-6M lost revenue.

I might be wrong here but I believe the transaction is between MC and the dealer. If a customer bails on an order, the dealer still takes delivery of the boat and then tries to sell it to someone else.


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[osmonet]

In some ways its no different than ordering a new car. Although price may be fixed, the factory incentives are calculated and applied at time of delivery not time of sale.

Dealer is stuck in the middle and likely hates making that phone call as much as you hate receiving it.

[Morety]

As a dealer of another brand, I'm wondering what customers are expecting dealers to do? Eating a 10% price increase could put some dealers out of business.
I would assume anyone that doesn't want to pay for the increase can simply get their deposit back and find a different boat to purchase?
All around this is an unfortunate situation. No one likes to be told they have to pay more.

What should be done is that the customer has an agreed upon price with the dealer, and the dealer came up with that price based on an agreed upon cost with MasterCraft. MC should honor quotes to dealers that were placed as customer ordered boats. Dealer inventory (if there is any!) boats could have a price increase because they haven't been priced to customers yet.

But this is all wishful thinking. MC is going to squeeze their dealers and not care, some dealers are going to squeeze their customers and not care, and others are either going to feel horrible about having to do it, or are going to lose money this year. Bad situation all around.