South Bay provides interest relief
As each and every model year winds to a close, marine dealers oftentimes allow their inventories to dwindle. They sell a unit and they don’t replace it, even if it’s in the midst of the peak selling season.
Their fear of investing in more product is often justified by the odds stacked against them in the game of cash flow. But the risk of not having the inventory to fulfill a customer’s need is working against them, as well.
The team of marine industry veterans at South Bay Pontoons, has devised a plan to help dealers work through this quandary. The team, made up of Greg Bender, Tom McCuddy and Guy Vidmar, has used the vast capital resources of the recreationally focused organization to reach out to dealers and make it easier to do business with the company.
In fact, the acquisition of Forest River by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway group in 2005 has opened doors to fulfill that mission. Take Forest River Financial, for example. Whereas conventional financing programs offer dealers interest-free purchasing for a fixed time period, traditionally through the month of May, Forest River has launched two financing programs, available year round, to assist dealers.
The eight-month, interest-paid program begins whenever the dealer decides to buy product — fall stocking season or otherwise. Typically, though, once the spring season begins, the dealers choose to purchase additional product through Forest River’s 90-day, interest-rebate program, where the interest is paid back to the dealer if the boat is retailed within the first 90 days of flooring.
“If the dealer is sitting there and has to finance the inventory himself, that’s out-of-pocket cash flow,” McCuddy explains. “Utilzing one of our strengths, which is capital, it allows them to not take money out of their pockets when seasonal trends make cash flow tight for the dealer.
“The dealer can opt for either program. He can tailor his buying to the season. By utilizing these two unique programs, they can reduce their interest costs down to nothing.”
And that is making it easy to do business with them.
