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Buying advice for newbie’s- 1996 Vogue V
We were offered by a friend of a friend a single Owner 1996 Vigue V that has 64,000 mi and has been driven gently, well maintained by Caterpillar un Palm Bay, FL and has recently been in storage (covered and A/Ced) for 5 years – not driven since. Owner got sick and passed, sadly.
Is this a bad idea for newbies that are trying to learn the ropes? Our only experience is with travel trailers and we primarily are stationary to offer resort living in short term rentals.
I wanted to get an inspection to know a bit more of what we may be getting into and the owner insisted is being sold as is and that an inspection may be an impossible quest as *nobody-* will have expertise in a 1996 Vogue V in Brevard County FL.Could you comment and advice? We are willing to learn. We dont know mechanics and that would require a shop but we are good at remodeling if modernization is needed.
thanks in advance!Andy
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6 Replies
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Your question is similar to “how high is up?” because a whole lot of information is required before you get an answer that even approaches reality.
The coach is almost 30 year old and mechanically it can be a total disaster or in relatively good shape. The fact it hasn’t been used in a few years is a clear indication some, if not a lot of maintenance is going to be needed. But the difference between a buying opportunity and a major headache is in part found in the selling price.
The information you need from the seller is the price he is willing to accept, and log books or records of the coach’s maintenance history. As a self described newbie you have to make a choice about whether you want a project or a well maintained trouble free Prevost.
There is a whole lot more needed to address your questions, far too much for this forum, but email me if you want to pursue this further. I do not do phone calls or texts.
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Hi Andy, sounds like you might have found a diamond in the rough, how much does he want for it? The Bus is going to need work whether you do it or someone else. Welcome to the Forum, The Internet is a great resource.
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are you looking at a fiberglass vogue with a cat engine or a prevost vogue with a detroit series 60 engine?
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Andy: I think I commented about this coach in response to your Facebook post earlier this morning. If this isn’t a real deal Prevost conversion, proceed with caution. I’ve been asked for my opinion on two of these Vogue wannabe Prevosts over the last five years and IIRC they traded at priced substantially less than a real Prevost of similar year. That said, if the price is low enough, it might be a good deal. An acquaintance in Wisconsin had one that a mutual friend tried to sell me when we were Prevost shopping. The argument was “it’s just like a Prevost” … my response was: it’s kinda like a Prevost, with emphasis on “kinda like“.
We bought our coach nine years ago this spring. Our first RV of any kind. I was somewhat mechanically inclined when we bought the coach, but not mechanically inclined enough to have bought a “project” in retrospect.
I think there are one or two Prevost owners on this Forum who have non-Prevost Vogue experience. They might comment on what to look for and be concerned about.
Vogue … was that Harvey Mitchell? I believe his Prevost conversions were good conversions.
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The 2 red flags are “maintained by Caterpillar” and “inspection would not help”. The first tells me that it is NOT a Prevost but rather a Vogue RV (not Prevost components). The 2nd is that anyone with a coach for sale should be more that willing to have someone else do an inspection at their own expense.
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Andy, if this is a prevost converted vogue call us at East Tennessee Luxury Coach (423)884-6008
we don’t do mobile inspections but if your able to get pictures im more then happy to look it over and give my non biased opinion.
any rv that’s sat for 5 years regardless of how it was stored is going to need some love
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