shiny side up inside spring buying
Amsnow
Gotta have it!
Yep, scores of us snowmobilers still just gotta have the hottest machine. That’s what the Spring Buying programs are for!
But two decades ago spring buying was more about buying early in order to save money. If you bought new in the spring there were even more discounts, rebates, extended warranties, engine options, free gear, etc. Also, 20 years ago many people turned sleds over every year.
What happened? Lack of snow. But also economic turmoil, tech advancements, owners keeping sleds longer, and more. BUT, Spring Buys are definitely still on, and still worth investigating. A lot of cool options and incentives are still available with a Spring Buy. Examples include Yamaha’s ridiculously long 4-year warranty, Ski-Doo’s X models and special packages ONLY for spring, Polaris’ anniversary editions, and Cat again doing spring models in 2016.
HOWEVER, Spring-Buy programs’ appeal was diluted for a while. The main culprit was snow... up until the last few winters snow in the heart of sled country was low. Sooo, people waited until the latest possible minute to buy sleds. Also, the economy was rough and shelling out $2,000 more for a spring buy sled was tough.
Plus, some years certain OEMs did not have ‘spring specific’ models. Meaning you’re less likely to have as unique a sled. Also, dealers always seem to have a couple of “spring-buy only” sleds on their floors even though spring buys supposedly are consumer “order-only”.
Finally, obvious extras like electric start or storage have sometimes been lacking in spring. That irked some die-hard spring-buy folks.There’s many other reasons why spring-buy slipped to the back burner a bit. But, for model year 2015 and again for 2016 the number of sleds bought in the spring ballooned as a result of cool new programs.
Also, snow has been good! But the OEMs have truly listened to consumer’s. Examples include Polaris’ new console and RiderX, Yamaha’s Limited LE editions and plenty more.
My advice, if you are buying new, spring-buy programs are worth a look … especially for super-picky types. Besides, you gotta have it!