NXTLVL Marine — Local services in Austin

I’m providing this account of our experience with Marine Max employees, in order to help boaters in deciding which dealer they want to do business with. We have been working toward a fair damage settlement with Marine Max, but their insistence that we sign a non-disclosure agreement, in order to cover up the behavior of their employees, has brought us to this point. They were given a choice to remove that stipulation from our settlement agreement, and they chose not to. I have included a copy of the accident report, which I filed with the proper state law enforcement dept, below. Here, I will share some additional details, not included in the report. Firstly, we are grateful that no one was hurt, or killed. It was terrifying to have a boat, probably 10-12 tons loaded, nearly run over us, in our 1.25 ton runabout. Even so, we felt the two boats, tied off together in a busy, narrow channel, presented a hazard to everyone involved, as well as passing traffic, we decided , in the interest of safety, not to call law enforcement to the scene, even though my wife smelled cannabis from the Nautique. If we had called the game warden, he would have likely arrested at least the pilot, and possibly others on the G25, a $400K boat, owned and operated by Marine Max. After Marine Max inspected the damage on both boats, they realized that their employees had concocted a lie, claiming that we caused the accident. Marine Max had the boat dry docked, at a nearby marina. This is what may have led the Marine Max employees to think they could collectively lie about who was at fault. It’s possible they didn’t pull the boat out of the water-the marina did, so they didn’t see the hole in the hull, on the bottom of the boat. The damages left no doubt about what had happened. Our initial repair estimate was ~$5K, but it grew to just under $10K, after the hull was dusted with graphite, revealing that the hull was spider cracked in a large area, beneath the gunnel. Our contact at Marine Max, an area manager, was professional and helpful, suggesting that he may be able to get us a new boat, given the damage on our one month old 2024 Yamaha AR195 boat was so extensive. He even found one, in their inventory. Unfortunately, a higher up squashed that suggestion, after we had paused the repair work on our boat, while awaiting a decision on the replacement. Our request to halt repairs was not appreciated by the service manager at the repair shop, and our boat was, of course, pulled out of the shop, and placed behind other repair work. At that point, I felt a 10% diminished value compensation was in order, at a minimum. After all this...nearly having my Wife and I injured or easily killed, and our not lawyering up, as many would do against a big worldwide chain like Marine Max, or calling law enforcement to the scene of the accident, they came back at 40% of what I asked for, offering $2K, in diminished value, plus the repair bill. They put an incompetent, probably inebriated pilot at the helm of a 12 ton boat, who keeled us, nearly ran us over and sunk us, then decided it would be a good idea to nickle and dime the situation. All this also ended our season after just a few outings in our new boat. To add to the questionable business ethics, I saw what appeared to be the exact same Nautique Paragon G25 that keeled us, listed for sale at the Austin store, where I was informed the boat had been moved, listed for sale, in mid October, over 3 weeks after the wreck. There was an extensive, 16 page ad, including 54 photos, but no mention that the boat had been driven over another boat, and had a hole in the hull, near the keel and well below the water...

To preface this review, it’s important to know that my boyfriend & I started as first time boat buyers with little knowledge on the boat purchasing process but had endless hours on other people’s boats.

Quick summary of review, Sai is incredible.

Our search began almost 2 years ago when we walked into Sail N Ski to check out boats. We were upfront in saying we weren’t in the position to buy a boat now. Sai wasn’t pushy & didn’t discard us for being newbies or not ready to pull the trigger, instead he provided us with the education we needed to make an informed purchase whenever it may be.

Sai checked in with us frequently to share the latest & greatest info, used options, demos, etc. We also visited the store many times to see different boats and check what they had available. Sai always was there to help us out and provide us with information not to sway our decision but to give us different perspectives/ideas, things we wouldn’t normally think about or consider.

When we finally took care of important life items, we reached out to Sai to tell him we were ready to rumble. He immediately sprung into action to find the perfect boat. We were first leaning towards a new G25, after learning (through Sai) that financially we needed to go a different direction, Sai showed us amazing used options. He took our ideas, mixed with his ideas/expert knowledge and found us the perfect 2016 G25 for our first boat purchase.

We are absolutely in love with the boat and are so happy Sai was able to give us the knowledge to make an informed decision.

Sai is a professional in every aspect of the word. He guided us through the entire process with patience and understanding. He is an amazing human and great sales professional. Sai went out of his way on many occasions & for many things to help us out.

...He also suffered through a laughable rain storm in the middle of Lake Travis on one of our Demo days.

We will not go anywhere else besides Sail N Ski and with Sai for all our future boating purchases. Sai & Sail N Ski have made us a part of an awesome family we are stoked to be a part of.

Thank you endlessly Sai! You are amazing.

Also, thanks to Billy (financing) & Buzz (manager) for making it all possible... and for hiring Sai because he is simply awesome.

Thanks to Jazz, Trevor, & Kristen for hooking us up with all the gear to get us surfing. But none of it would have happened without Sai.

Sai for...

Service is their middle name. Ok, story time..... If you don't want to be bored, the summary is that everyone was great and the service was great.

In my case, I was selling a used boat and the engine conked out at the water trial! Bong! Emergency problem. We call and called around some more. No one could help us for days/weeks! We only got the time of day from one other shop, and they were far less than promising.

Finally, I remembered Austin Boats and Motors near my house. I called as a last chance and in desperation..... I recommend calling here first now.

ABM listened to our problem and said, "sure, bring it in and we will get on it". (From far far away) We hustled over there, they listened patiently and asked poignant questions. They got to the heart of the matter quickly. Good listeners.

Soon, they related that it was a 5 hour job. It was about 12:30 when we arrived. If we wanted it done, they could do it. And.... we could wait in the showroom/TV/Lounge area until it was finished. Cool AC/pretty lady offering us coffee, etc. etc. etc. And, most of all, they promised to get it done.

The three of us talked boat, watched TV, drank coffee and chilled until about 1 hour someone came out and showed us a quart jar with 1/2 water and 1/2 gas. Bingo!

They cleaned the injectors, drained the tank and did much more. Started the engine, tested it and we were out and gone in about 4 hours. (The bill was reasonable, we were happy to pay for the quality/speed.)

We booked it to Hudson Bend, splashed and blistered at about 50mph in this very fast fishing boat. (even in rough water) All now running great thanks to Austin Boats and Motors on HWY 620, in Lakeway. (Near Hudson Bend - a census designated place)

The sale was made and the buyer trailered it to LA the next day.

OK, that's it. Long way to say, "they done good". I recommend them if you want fast, quality service.

They have parts, new boats and more. Check 'em out.

Miles Hurst, resident of Hudson Bend. (a census...