negotiating on a lift

[jediger]

Any of you have any experience with the mark up on boat lifts? We're going to do some looking this week and from our initial inquiries the dealer said they still have stock and there is some room to move on price because it is late in the season. He obviously doesn't want to store it for the winter.

Was thinking of aiming for about an 18% discount of his original asking price.

Incidentally, would love any feedback if you've had a negative or positive experience with a floe vsd5000 vertical lift.

[Cowracer]

Dunno about lifts, but my usual tactic in horse-trading with dealers (Car,boat, motorcycle, etc) is to never accept their first 2 prices. 9 times out of 10, there will be a third. That little strategy has saved me many thousands of dollars on stuff.

Tim

[tms0425]

I can usually get 15-20% during boat show season in the spring.

I had a chance to buy my neighbor's 3 year old VSD5000 loaded with new canopy for ~$5k and decided to pass. I think it was ~$13k new. It's VERY tight on the inside dimensions for a pontoon that gets blown around a bit coming in. It's also less than 10' frame length front to back. He used to smack into the vertical supports while trying to thread his 25' 2-toon in there. The dealer said he doesn't sell that one for pontoons any more for that reason. He also had to fix something on that lift every year before the season started, which would drive me crazy.

I went with a ShoreStation 6000# Hydraulic with triple poly bunks and side guides. It's 120" wide inside and 12' platform length front to back so it's very stable. Couldn't be happier with it and worth every penny.

[Soonertoon]

Depending on what you want, used lifts are the only way to go , in my opinion (which don't mean squat). I recently purchased an older H model Hydro Hoist for my 22 ft Toon. lift is probably 15 yrs old and gave 1800.00 cash for it. Not a level lift model, but it works just fine.
Lifts are simple as simple can be as the only thing that really can go bad is the air pump and a couple of hoses. You can buy a pump at Granger for 75.00 and have it installed in about 10 minutes. Really nothing else to wear out on em. Compare the used ones to new and it's a lot of money you are saving. Slip renewal time at the marinas always yield a influx of available lifts as people move marinas and or get out of the boat game. That's how I got mine. Bought the lift and took the slip it was in. You don't want to have to go moving these things.
Good luck on the search. Be patient and you will find one for a reasonable amount of money

[OldePharte]

I would agree about looking around for a used lift. You might get lucky and find someone needing a larger lift and wanting to dump theirs. No experience with those bottom lifts as all the ones around here are floating lifts attached to floating docks.