Pier 57 Consignment Business Hitting New High

Consignment sales of pre-owned high-performance powerboats at Pier 57 Marine in Gurnee, Ill., have never been stronger, according to Scott Sjogren, the owner of the full-service new Cigarette Racing Team and Marine Technology, Inc., dealership that also carries a variety of used go-fast boats. Sjogren said his company is having “a record fall” in consignment business, and that the consignment boats are coming from all over the country.

“It’s not regional,” said Sjogren. “We’re getting boats from everywhere. We’re picking up one from California now, and another one from the Northeast. Our biggest sources of consignment business are referrals and repeat customers.

“We are picking up boats, bringing them to our facility and detailing them so they can be properly marketed,” he added. “We’re not charging for the transportation or the detailing until the boat is sold. But we won’t take consignment boats unless we have them in-house at our facility. People are just too busy today, and we are within one hour of three major airports.”

Sjogren said the unprecedented rise in his company’s used go-fast boat consignment business is a positive sign for the industry.

“A lot of people are getting out of boating but just as many are getting into it,” he said. “We know that because the boats we are taking on consignment are selling. And a lot of the people putting their boats on consignment are selling them to get into bigger new and pre-owned boats.”