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Florida Coach Purchase Inspection
Hello, we are looking at purchasing a Prevost. We are looking for a reliable service provider for a pre delivery inspection in and around the Tampa area. Does any one have any recommendations.
Thanks
Jim
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31 Replies
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There are a number of options in that area, but my first choice if possible is to have the converter do the inspection. In FL you have access to Liberty, Marathon, Millennium, Parliament, etc. I mention the converter first because they know exactly what to look for.
But that just deals with the house. Prevost might also be included. They can look for all the things they know to be areas that need inspection. I suspect they can run the codes on the engine, transmission and ABS.
I cannot be more specific because you haven’t revealed the age of the coach, the converter, or the seller. There is nothing better than for you to operate every single switch, knob, button and dial to personally verify everything is right, for you to spend a night reviewing the service and maintenance records, and then having the experts you hire to do the inspection walk you through it as well.
BTW, I don’t care what the seller says, if the service records are not available you have to assume it wasn’t done. And certain service work like changing coolant or transmission fluid is very expensive. A seller should be proud to show you receipts, log books, or completed work orders of continued regular maintenance.
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Thank you Jon, 1999 Marathon Le Mirage XLV 45 from private seller.
Jim
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Jim,
In my opinion, your best bet would be Marathon in San Antonio, FL, not far north of Tampa. They built it and a PDI from them or Prevost Jax would be a good way to go. Take a look at the PDI article Jon did here on our site at: PDI
If you need anything specific, just let us know, you will get lots of help.
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Exciting….. can’t wait to get another Marathon on our side. The Liberty guys were on a runaway train for awhile.
I’ve had work done at Marathon Service Center in San A. Great crew, your in good hands.
Sorry Tuck4u, not a repair, just a battery replacement on the generator was found to be the problem.
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Thanks, I am from Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. You will have to enlighten me on JAX. Great PDI sheet. Thank you.
Jim
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Sorry, Jacksonville, FL..
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If this is your first Prevost conversion your pre-purchase inspection can also be your training for the new coach.
I recently sold my previous coach to Sam (he posted on another thread) and we spread the inspction and training over three days. During that time he was given all the owner’s manuals and log books. He and Kim (his wife) started at the front of the coach and we operated every switch and device inside the house. After we covered the inside of the house, Sam and I then focussed on the bays and began a full coach service. After reviewing the bays and the mechanical systems, Sam and I changed oil, filters, and did a full chassis lube.
After we completed that we moved the coach to the RV site Sam was using and Sam and I then finished up the inspection / training with hooking the coach up, checking tire pressures, operating the awnings, plus doing things we hadn’t previously done such as operate the TV. I did not keep track of the hours we spent but it was probably 15 hours total (?).
The point being Sam not only was actively involved in the total coach inspection, he was learning it as well. We went so far as to verify coach brake travel, and generally we poked our noses in every place we both could think of. Sam drove it probably a total of 70 miles.
If Sam is reading this perhaps he can offer some advice having been through coach purchase boot camp (his words).
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Contact Rick May at Coachworx. They are located in Clearwater by the airport. All the folks are very good and straight shooters. Would highly recommend them, they do all my work. DonS
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Other than having Jon do it, I would without a doubt take it to Marathon. It’s right off of I-75. Nice people, quick response, and let’s be honest…..we need to keep them in business too!
I bought mine from Liberty. It was definitely more expensive than anyone else, but EVERYTHING worked when they were done, and everything was caught up maintenance wise.
I really would prefer to do what Jon did, but it wasn’t an option. Learning the systems is priceless. Because I don’t know them, it is pricey.
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I would also vote strongly for Marathon. They know the coach better than anyone. If there are glitches there will be no one better to make repairs and they likely have the parts needed. They can do the traiinng at the same time. Combining the training and inspection accomplishes two things at once, and as a buyer it helps you know not only how something works, but that it works.
They may be more expensive than other options, but in the long run it is probable you will have made the best and most economical choice because they are going to verify things work exactly as they did when new.
I would not rule out having Prevost inspect the chassis. If they inspect it as they do on all commercial vehicles you know the coach is safe and trouble free.
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Sam I would venture to say is a fortunate pilgrim indeed. I have never seen a PO (Previous Owner) go to the lengths of this nature on selling a coach and then following up after the sale.
Usually it is “here are the keys.”
And then right after that you get …. “The number you have dialed is no longer in service, please check to see that you are dialing correctly, hang-up and redial.” Often during the difficult times, late into the shank of the day, during those periods of serious head scratching, the word “Orphan” took on a total new meaning for me.
In my case … “The owner of a second-hand bus knows how hard it is to drive a bargain.” Usually applied.
BCO
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I haven’t read the posts on this thread in detail, but from one Prevost newbie to another, I don’t think that all you need is a PDI.
No matter how good a coach is mechanically, if you don’t know how to operate the rig, you are going to be in a mess. Our first rig was a 2003 Holiday Rambler Navigator. It was perfect mechanically, everything maintianed, etc. But, as others have stated, I paid for the rig, the seller handed me the keys, and I was on my own. I swore I would never let that happen when we decided to buy a Prevost.
You need to be walked through the entire rig, inside, outside, underneath, all bays, the engine, generator, electrical systems, Webasto/Aquahot, etc. There should be no “stupid questions”. Trust me, if you don’t now the answer when you buy the coach, you certainly won’t know the answer 500 miles up the road, either. Jon spent at least 15 hours with me (probably several more than that), all of it “hands on” the bus. We probably spent another 8-10 hours away from the bus, during which he also was pumping me full of information. Part of that was because he liked Kim and I (I think….), but part of it was also because he knew from experience what it is like to be clueless inside something as complex as a bus conversion. There were times during the “bootcamp”, when Jon and I were both so tired that it would have been easy just to “forget about” some things, but we pressed on, thankfully. Once you know what you are doing, it all seems simple, but that is true with anything that we learn to do.
If you can, get a commitment from someone at the converter and/or Prevost to spend several hours (or even 2-3 days while you are parked at the facility or camped nearby) teaching you the bus, not just inspecting it for you. Otherwise, it would be money well spent to pay extra for the teaching. You will be very glad that you did as you are looking out the rear view mirror, headed north!
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Just to put an exclamation point on what Sam said……………..
When we picked up our current coach from Liberty we planned on staying as long as necessary to learn the coach so we were not like a deer in the headlights when we needed to do something. Put this in perspective. We owned 2 Liberty coaches prior to buying our third current one. Despite the fact we were familiar with the systems and that I had done my own work on the coaches for 22 years, I felt we still needed trainng on the new coach.
We spend two intense days learning all the stuff that was new to us at Liberty. When Troy wasn’t feeding us information we were putting our learning into practice ourselves so we could know what we had learned and also know what we needed more training on. Any coach of any vintage is a complex assembly of systems and most of the operation of the coach is basic, but every coach has its “secrets” that a new owner has to know and understand.
There is no substitute for training. I will guarantee a new owner will get in trouble sooner rather than later if his traiining is finding the key. While sites like this one are a great source for information to help owners in trouble the best option is to get the training and avoid the trouble. That training also becomes the coach inspection if done properly.
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Thank you for all the great advise and contacts.
Jim
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Jon,
Your PDI write-up is brilliant – Thank you! Being a newb to Prevosts and as the price point for a used ’90-’94 Prevost has made first time ownership a possibility for me, your PDI recommendations are all the more crucial.Question: Can I expect all sellers both private and dealers to allow me to inspect their Prevost coaches to the degree you recommend? In other words, will most sellers allow me to stay in their coach overnight as part of the inspection process as your write-up seems to suggest?
Glenn
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