The two previous posters are dealers, if you can believe that, and I will disagree with both of their posts. You don't have to be a DIY'er to own a used tub. There are hot tub service folks that can help you out who are not dealers. And when your warranty expires, you graduate to a certified DIY'er anyway, unless you pay for continued service from your dealer.
Here's my story. We went to 3 local dealers and had 7 wet tests so we knew what my family was looking for. We were going to buy a Marquis Epic if we couldn't find a nice used one. I used searchtempest to look for a used tub. Within the first hour of looking, we found a used jacuzzi that was less than one year old, for half the price of new. The tub was 7.5 hrs away, cost me $300 for gas, but it was all well worth the trip. The tub was on sale at my local jacuzzi dealer for $11,500. I may have gotten the dealer to go down to $10,000, but then I still had to pay sales tax and other small start up fees, so delivered to my house would have been $10,500 to $11,000. I paid $5000 for this tub. If a pump fails or the heater burns out in the next 5 years, I'm still way ahead. The deals are out there, you just have to be patient, or in my case, get lucky in the first hour.
Good advice. Yours is a rare story. Exactly the type of deal one should get with a pre-wined spa from a dealer with a warranty.
