Ok--say you win a brand new boat. Brand new from the factory or from a local dealer.

Now say someone wants to buy this boat.

Now remember this boat is brand spanking new, never been in the water, never has oil or gas been put in the boat and no batteries have been installed.

Along with all that a break-in period has to be followed for proper operation and warranty(about 3 hours)

Would you let someone test drive the boat?

Maybe the question should be:Would you need to test drive the boat since it is a brand new boat??

I would let them test drive a new boat. Tell them to be easy because its not broke in yet. You wouldnt buy a new car without test driving it , would you?

I think if you want to sell it, you should go with them to test drive it. But you need to figure out if they are serious about it, no tire kickers.

Simple, tell them it haasn't been broken in and after you have put it through the proper break in, they are welcome to test drive it.

Let's see, they don't own the boat, it is not their responsibility, and they have all that power waiting to be cracked open. I am a pretty responsible guy and respect others equipment, but that would be pretty tempting....

Tell them to test drive a dealers boat and then come over and buy yours for alot less money.

I would not let them test drive the boat due to the fact that the motor is not broken in yet.
I would explain to them that it would not be a very good test anyway because of the rpm limitation that they would have to stay within because the motor is new and not broken in yet.

sns-- your on to something!
BTW-- I left out in the original post, on purpose, that I had a person offer to by the boat and I came down to his asking price. He told me he test drove the same boat this week, but still needed to test drive my boat. Since I wouldn't do that he backed out of the deal.

Like you said SkeeterRonnie--just a tire kicker!

Your boat your rules. With a brand new boat - at the point I have the cashiers check in my hand then they can drive the boat all they want.

We have sold several boats won from tournaments. I WOULD NOT let them test drive the boat and for that matter, neither should the owner of the boat if they are going to sell it.

The best way to sell it is just like it sits. NO OIL in the oil tank. This gives buyers more confidence they are really buying a brand new boat.

As SNS said, if they want to run one like it, they can find another one elsewhere and take it out.

But the boat simply sells better and for more money if it has never seen the water or been started.

Thanks for the info North Texas.I thought that maybe I was wrong in not letting someone test the boat. I had a person back out of a deal because he couldn't test drive the boat after he just test drove one. Just think he was alot of blow and no go. This person has been jacking with several of us boat sellers in the past couple of weeks but won't pull the trigger!!!

Leave her on the trailer and sell her for new like Michael says. It's "NEW" and if it's what someone is looking for then they will buy it. It's got warranty, so they really have nothing to worry about.