Leading Brand Boat & Engine Dealership, 35-Year SE Florida Marine Dealer

$4.0M

Revenue

$614K

SDE

2.6x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a 35-year-old authorized boat and engine dealership sitting on a high-visibility corridor in affluent Broward County, Florida, pulling 44,000 daily traffic counts. The operation spans four revenue lines: new and used boat sales, new and used engine sales, a certified warranty service center, and a parts department. The business carries recognized international name brands and operates from a large, secure 54,000 square foot commercial site under lease at roughly $8,256 per month.

The economics reflect a classic high-turnover, thin-margin retail model layered with higher-margin service and parts. On $3.96M of revenue the business throws off $613,638 in owner cash flow, a healthy 15.5% margin for a dealership, which suggests the service and parts side is doing real work rather than the business living purely on new-boat markup. Note the $1.9M in inventory sits outside the $1,595,000 asking price and requires floor plan financing, so the true capital-in figure is materially higher than the sticker.

What makes this notable is the combination of brand authorization, a defensible location, and a diversified back end. Manufacturers must approve any buyer and the buyer must qualify for bank floor plan financing, which functions as both a moat and a gate. The seller is retiring after 35 years and is offering four weeks of training, with a 100-mile, 3-year non-compete in place.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is better than a pure boat retailer would suggest, with $613,638 of cash flow on $3.96M revenue at a 15.5% margin. That margin points to a real service, parts and warranty engine underneath the new-boat sales, which are the stickier, higher-margin dollars that survive when big-ticket buying slows.
The moat here is the manufacturer authorization and the floor plan financing gate. Brands must approve the buyer before the deal closes, which keeps competitors from simply opening across the street, and the certified warranty center creates a captive service relationship with every unit sold in the region.
Location is a genuine asset: a large, secure 54,000 square foot lot on a major thoroughfare in affluent SE Florida with 44,000 daily traffic. In a wealthy coastal market where boating is embedded in the lifestyle, high visibility on a busy corridor is a durable customer-acquisition advantage.
The seller is retiring after 35 years, offers four weeks of training, and leaves a 100-mile, 3-year non-compete. A three-and-a-half decade operating history plus a clean transition and enforceable non-compete lowers execution risk for an operator taking the keys.

How to improve it

Push mix toward service, parts and warranty work, the recession-resistant, high-margin part of the business. Boats already on the water need maintenance regardless of new-unit demand, so building a proactive service scheduling and reminder system can smooth revenue through boat-buying downturns.
Build a recurring maintenance and winterization membership program billed monthly or annually. Converting one-off service visits into contracts creates predictable cash flow and defends the dealership against the inherently lumpy nature of new-boat sales.
Attack the inventory carrying cost. With $1.9M in floor-planned inventory, tightening turns by even a few weeks and pruning slow-moving models directly reduces floor plan interest expense and frees working capital for the incoming owner.
Systematize used-boat sourcing and trade-ins. Used inventory typically carries fatter margins than new, and a structured trade-in and reconditioning pipeline lets you capture spread on both the sale and the subsequent service work.
Layer in F&I (finance and insurance) products at the point of sale. Marine financing, extended warranties and insurance attach on high-ticket transactions can add meaningful margin per unit with almost no incremental cost or headcount.
Formalize the lead capture from that 44,000-daily-traffic location. Invest in digital presence, CRM, and follow-up so walk-ins and inquiries are tracked and nurtured rather than lost, converting visibility into measurable sales pipeline.
Negotiate the lease early. The lease expires 12/31/2026, so lock in a long-term extension with favorable terms before close to protect the location moat that much of the enterprise value depends on.

Diligence notes

Understand the true cost of entry. The $1,595,000 asking price excludes roughly $1.9M of inventory that must be floor plan financed, so verify floor plan terms, interest rates, and how much equity a lender will require the buyer to inject before the real capital need is clear.
Confirm manufacturer transfer risk. Brands must approve the buyer and dealer agreements can be terminated or non-renewed. Review the actual dealer contracts, territory rights, and renewal history, because the authorized-brand status is the core of the value.
Decompose the $613,638 cash flow by revenue line. Separate new boat, used boat, engine, parts and service margins to see how much of earnings depends on cyclical new-unit sales versus the more durable service and parts base. This drives both the durability case and the multiple.
Scrutinize the lease. Rent is roughly $99k per year on a lease expiring 12/31/2026 with no property included in the sale. Verify renewal options, rent escalators, and landlord intentions, since losing this specific high-traffic site would materially damage the business.
Validate the revenue trend and the partial-year 2026 figures. The listing references YTD June 30, 2026 actuals, so obtain three to four years of tax returns and financials to confirm whether sales and margins are growing, flat, or softening post-COVID marine boom.
Assess working capital and seasonality. Marine sales in Florida have seasonal swings, so review monthly cash flow, inventory aging, and any concentration in a few high-value units that could distort the picture.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →