[thorne]

My current boat was purchased just after the show last year. I'm not a fan of the concept where you have to pay to visit a show room to make a purchase or the crowds and hassle of a big event sales show. So a day or so after the show I visited a few local dealers...did some hull kicking and through some chatting found out who made a killing at the show and who didn't quite hit the mark and was more motivated and enjoyed a quiet and lots of uninterrupted one on one with the salesman and all the lone time I wanted to look over the product. I found what I wanted, the dealer who was happy to still honour the show discounts...plus a bit more. Used the same tactic for my travel trailer and got an Incredible deal on a new previous year model.

Lots of people really enjoy all the hoopla of the shows, and that's great! They do provide a great opportunity to view a large variety of products in one place. Some of use prefer to not deal with all that hassle and just have a good one on one. Also let's you look over the dealer shop, and how they conduct business on a day to day basis after all when something goes wrong...thats where you will be going. So are the shows the BEST deals...maybe if you have a wad of cash you just want to throw down that day and that's that...but no you can get great deals outside the shows.