Total:
Loan Total:
Monthly Payment:
This calculator is only to give you an idea of how much a jet ski will cost you and an idea of monthly payments. To get real numbers, contact your local dealership.
Trailer Prices: To see how much trailers cost, see our guide here.
Sales Tax: Every state has a different sales tax that you pay when purchasing anything. There may even be extra taxes depending on where you live.
Freight: This is the shipping fee that is paid to get a unit delivered to the dealership.
PDI: This is the Pre-Delivery Inspection. PWCs come in crates and must be removed, setup, and gone over to make sure it’s ready for the water.
Doc: This is the documentation fee. Every state has laws about the documentation fee, and it gets confusing fast, you can learn more here.
Registration Fee: This is the fee you pay to get your jet ski and/or trailer registered with your state. This is basically the process to get numbers assigned and a trailer tag. This fee can vary depending on how many years you pay for and county fees too.
MSRP: If you see MSRP, that is the manufacturer suggested retail price. All models have an MSRP that is set by the factory. An interesting tidbit about MSRP is that dealerships can’t advertise a current year model below this number, but can go below this number on non-current models.
Commodity Surcharge: A commodity surcharge is a real fee added to the price when the raw material to build it fluctuates. Scroll down to learn more about the commodity surcharge.
Finance Length
A PWC can be financed for 6 months to 7 years, depending on the current promotions.
Many manufacturers will go to 8 years if you buy two that retail over a certain amount.
- 2 Years = 24 Months
- 3 Years = 36 Months
- 4 Years = 48 Months
- 5 Years = 60 Months
- 6 Years = 72 Months
- 7 Years = 84 Months
- 8 Years = 96 Months
Some local banks may even go higher and offer better rates than what the manufacturer can give. It’s very dependent on where you live and how in need the bank is for new customers.
Common Interest Rates
The interest rate of a jet ski will depend on how long you finance them and current promotions.
To give you a general idea, here are ranges for interest rates that manufacturers often use. These rates can be higher or lower depending on the current promotions.
- 3 Years = 3-5%
- 5 Years = 4-7%
- 6 Years = 5-8%
- 7 Years = 5-8%
- 8 Years = 5-8%
Is It Hard To Get Financing For A Jet Ski?
Getting approved for a jet ski is harder than getting approve for a car.
The banks see a car as a need, while a jet ski is seen as a toy. If you were to stop paying on something, it’s more likely to be the toy, as the car is needed to get you to work.
While a jet ski is harder to get approved for, I’ve seen people with bad credit get approved. The rates may not be as great if you have bad credit, and you may get turned down by the manufacturer’s bank, but the dealership always has a local bank that is more willing to work with you.
If you get turned down by the manufacturer’s bank, I suggest going to your own bank and not the one the dealership wants to use. The dealership will get a kickback for using their own bank, and you have a better shot of a better deal with your own bank.
Buy With A Credit Card?
Most dealerships won’t let you buy one with a credit card because it cost them too much in merchant fees.
All the cashback you get from credit cards comes from the merchants by fees. While you may be getting 2% back on the purchase, the merchant is paying 3-4%.
Jet skis typically have a 4-8% margin, so having you pay with a credit card will mean the dealership makes no money off the deal.
A dealership may let you use your credit card up to a certain amount, but they won’t do the whole amount.
Down Payment
Typically, you don’t need to put anything down on a jet ski when you finance it, unless you have bad credit.
When you start to play with the calculator at the top, you may notice that adding $1k down doesn’t help all that much with your monthly payments. I’ve noticed this shocks many people.
For example, a total price of $15,800 has a monthly payment of about $299 for 60 months. Putting $1,000 down only drops the payments to about $280.