Ok I have a friend who has a boat and he's looking to trade it in on a Harley. Reading posts on here now is the time to buy? Right? Anyone know any dealers in mn or ia that would do a deal like this??

Thanks

 

My experience with boats and bikes is, he is better off selling the boat and taking the cash to buy a bike.

 

I've never seen used boats for sale at a Harley dealer!

 

Some dealers will take anything on trade. Some won't take anything other than Harleys. I know a guy that used his ex wifes jewelry as the down on his Harley. Dealer had it appraised and sold before the deal on the Harley was done.

 

I tried the same thing years ago, they told me to sell it myself and were not interested, I asked several dealers, none were interested. You might look for a indy dealer that might be interested, your going to take a beating on the trade though.

 

I understand some won't. His now exwife had the idea of getting this boat.

 

About a year ago,a guy here traded two badboy mowers in on a bike. I guess my advice would be just try it and see. Worst they could do is just say no.

 

I would sell the boat privately, you'll probable get more for it that way than trading it in. Take the cash and buy a Harley.

 

as someone who did work in the auto business for years I can tell you the best chance he has

he may get lucky calling around to dealerships and find one that is hungry for business and will do the leg work for his trade

most likely they will not

what he is probably going to have to do is take his boat to several boat dealerships and get it appraised as if he was selling it to them, get that best number he can and then talk to them about wanting to trade it in at an HD dealer and have them buy it from the HD dealer for that same amount which will at least get him the sales tax savings on the purchase of the bike

he's going to have to have the HD dealer talk wtih the boat dealer so they can work out everything beforehand and maybe well MAYBE (that's a BIG maybe after a little maybe) he gets the deal done that way

at my dealership (cars) we had a time or two a bike or boat and we would get the dealer that was buying the trade wholesale from us at the dealership before doing the deal and make sure everything was AOK before moving forward because as others have said, I have yet to walk into an HD dealer and ask what boats they had for sale today.

 

Sell the boat, then shop for Harley.. The only logical way to go about it.
I would post an ad on www.thehulltruth.com there are a lot of guys there into both, h might get lucky, but they are fishing boat guys, save your time if its anything else.