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Coach prices
I noticed an interesting difference in two recent coach for sale listings on the Prevost Owners Group site. One was for a 2009 Newell four slide with 57K miles for $400,000. The other was for a 2010 H3 Marathon with two slides and unspecified mileage for $870,000. My guess is both had about the same MSRP when new. Both looked to be really nice from the pics. Rationally, how can one be “worth” (asking price anyway) more than twice the other at this point?
Brand makes some difference, but not that much. The Newell C-15 engine might scare some away all together so that likely makes some difference, but that much? One year makes some difference, but not that much. One owner may be in a far different situation financially than the other, so that might make some difference. But, I just can’t see why such a huge difference.
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13 Replies
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Newells generally sell for 3 to 400 thousand less than a Prevost new.
On the secondary market you will get your lunch eaten on what you think your Newell is worth.
Marathon will wholesale a Newell taken in on trade and not even try to put it on the lot. If you want to get a bus from any converter it is well known in the industry your gonna take a hit.
I said on here a year ago my friend has 2 Newells for sale, His 2018 that has been at Trawick for over 6 months and he has a 2019 too he wants out of.
The only trade value on a Newell is if you buy another Newell from Newell.
You are looking at buses for sale also at list prices or consignment prices, they aren’t real money.
Later
bv
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Newells have horrible resale value.
I have 3 friends, they are brothers, and they don’t have much $. They always buy used Newells because they think they are a lot of bang from the buck.Whatever floats your boat.
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It doesn’t matter what it is, if it has wheels it is highly likely depreciation will be a whole lot.
I am guessing if it has a hull or wings the same thing applies.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Jerry,
POG doesn’t sell coaches, Prevost-Stuff is the sales entity.
The same Marathon is here on PC and there is no comparison between a Newell and Marathon.
MARATHON PREVOST H3-45 QUAD SLIDE #1187
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This is an opinion, not influenced by fact, and especially not intended to create a debate among Newell and Prevost owners.
A Newell owner will very quickly state a Newell is a coach and a Prevost is a bus. While that statement is intended to convey the image a Newell is a more refined product, especially as a motor home, it does cut to the heart of what might be a valuation issue.
I have had 3 Prevost coaches over a 30 year period, and while every one really handled well, did not require a lot of effort to keep pointed in the right direction, each got even better than the previous one. In every case I had two coaches at the same time so I wasn’t guessing about how they handled. In every case going from one to the other it was clear the 10 year spread between coaches brought about a measurable refinement.
I have no way of knowing how many coaches Prevost built in each ten year period or how many miles the fleet was accumulating, but to me it was clear from the high accumulation of miles in commercial service that Prevost was able to keep applying measurable improvements. If a company has the ability to see how multi-million mile buses are holding up, and where the strengths and weaknesses are it has an amazing tool to apply to improvements.
A Newell is likely built in very modest numbers, and I might be so bold as to suggest the entire year’s production will not accumulate the mileage a single commercial Prevost bus will get in one year. It is impossible to learn when the data is not available.
The same applies to petty problems. With the greater number of coaches running the roads, including entertainer, motor home and seated coaches it is likely petty problems will pop up and get identified and fixed.
So the way to test my theory about which is viewed by the market as a better or more valuable product is to find out how many Prevost owners bought a Newell after owning a Prevost, and then finding out how many Newell owners switched to a Prevost. Information like that is a vote for a product and which ever way the numbers go, it is likely the way the values go also.
Remember, I make this stuff up.
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“My guess is both had about the same MSRP when new.”
My guess is that’s a bad guess. A brand new, comparably equipped Prevost conversion should MSRP and sell for substantially more than a Newell.
Then at time of resale, as pointed out above, the Newell will likely exhibit faster depreciation than the Prevost (unless the Newell is traded back into Newell on a newer or new coach).
I look at the Newell as being similar to (maybe a step above) the Country Coach “Prevost wannabe’s” that were built from the ground up from what I understand to compete against Prevost conversions. I think a number of members of the PC Forum have had experience with those coaches and can provide some color as to what they experience was. I had a friend with one do a really hard sell on me when he found out I was looking for a Prevost. The price “looked” really attractive but fortunately I understood the difference.
Bernie … how does a guy get himself into 2018 and 2019 Newells he wants out of a year or two later?
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Perfect timing.
2 stubborn parties.
Ego
Later
bv
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My mom & Dad always had Prevost, My dad’s best friend had a Eagle bus and dad said that the Eagle bus every time you closed the front door rust would fall out the bottom, Dad would always say stainless is forever ! and Prevost is the only way to go. They are all up in heaven, but I bet dad’s still driving a Prevost
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I have had all sorts of class A my last one before my my H was an American eagle 42r quad slide, nice coach but that’s all they are is nice coach’s. That’s like saying a bmw or a Mercedes is a nice car. Once I became a prevost owner I understood why the price difference and I understood the difference between a nice coach and an all around excellent coach and luxurious coach. Prevost is second to non on all aspects. And im not saying this just because I own one I’m saying it because I have had many high end class A coach’s. For example on my bus I can open my slides no matter the angle of the buss on my American they would get stuck if not perfectly leveled because of the flex on the body. Imagine god forbid if involved in a accident in one of those buses compared to a prevost.
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Lots of interesting comments not unexpected from a Prevost chat group. The one thing that does appear to be a bit off is the assertion that the Newell has a MSRP significantly below that of a Prevost conversion when new. Currently on the Newell web site are four new coaches, 2021 at $2.2 mil, 2020 at 2.1, 2.2, 2.1, On the Marathon web site are six, 2021 2.3, 2.3, 2020 at 2.3, 2.3, 2.3, 2.5. So, some difference but not all that much.
Mind you, mine is simply an intellectual interest in why these two coaches that started off around the same MSRP wound up so far apart on the used market 15 or so years later. We really enjoy our Prevost and not looking to make any kind of a change, especially since we average about 8.5mpg in the 20,000+ miles we have owned this coach driving mainly in the mountains of the west coast.
Thanks for your insights.
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I think the answer is miles of experience that impact the development of the coach.
Prevost as a commercial chassis has standards it is obligated to meet, including the integrity of the chassis. For example, if after testing it meets the standards, but a fleet finds that at 500,000 miles on average some structural members in their fleet are developing cracks, Prevost has data relating to an issue and the engineers can develop a fix that benefits not only all future coaches, but in the form of a service bulletin it can provide a fix for existing coaches before the weakness becomes an issue.
These are subtle things, but after years of high mileage experience the cumulative effect is a coach or chassis that is as sound in 15 years as it was as new.
If another manufacturer does not have the experience of the huge fleet miles at some point in its life that manufacturer’s product is going to exhibit minor but annoying issues that affect the overall quality of the coach.
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
IThere are several provost conversions that are pushing to the 3m mark. I have seen several at 2.8 so far so 3m isn’t that far away.
besides, the proof is in the pudding. There are more prevost out there than Newell’s. And yet the market out there for the users Prevost’s is stronger than the Newell as you just mentioned. So that should tell you something about where the coaches hold their value. don’t get me wrong the Newell is a nice coach. Really nice. And they do a good job. They are about as close to a prevost chassis as a Motorhomes manufacturer has come. But it’s still not a prevost.
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And keep in mind one critical difference.
The Prevost chassis is a fully welded structure that surrounds the living or occupied space. We have seen countless news stories of buses, not only Prevost buses, but all commercial buses that use that type structure that have had very bad accidents, often involving a roll over, and the structure may be missing glass and may be bent and twisted, but it still surrounds the occupied space.
But when a chassis consists of frame rails, like in a truck, the occupied space is attached to the frame. While I have never seen pictures of a Newell accident I have seen photos and actual vehicles built using that type of chassis and often the occupied space is open and no longer surrounding and protecting the occupied area.
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