[barnacle]

When making a large investment in a outboard its best to deal with your local dealer. You may spend alittle more money but he is the one thats going to work on it if there is a problem. True as a dealer he can not turn it away but you will be sure to go to the bottom of the list. With these new engines and everything that can go wrong with them you want a good relationship with your dealer. THe days of the consumer working on there outboards are over. Believe me you may feel your local dealer is a rip off but most of the times his prices are very fair. There is no markup on a outboard sale. How outboard sales work is the more a dealer buys the bigger check he gets back at the end of the model year. Your larger dealers can afford to sell the engines at or below there cost due to the size of there rebate check they get at the end of the year. Small dealers can not afford to sell there engines at cost and wait for the check to arrive to make there money back. Plus each month the engine sits in inventory at the dealer it cost him 1.2% per month in just floor planning. Its not uncommon for a dealer even a small one to be paying a interest bill of 5,000.00 per month just to inventory about 50 different engine sizes. It cost a dealer alot of money to be one. Dont get me wrong your dealer is making a living but thats about it for 95% of them out there. Support you local dealer and it woill be a win / win for everyone.