[Dan]

If you’ve found your Coach , Just a suitcase full of these and you’re off. Might keep a small satchel for later on down the road for incidentals.

[Dick]

Michael wrote … I found the Coach in Arizona, I am a resident of Wisconsin. What are the steps in gaining ownership. Please focus on:

Pre-inspection: You have options. (1) Fly someone like Glenn Berden (Mr. YellowJacket) or Gil Johnson out to AZ to inspect the coach. (2) Or if buying from a private owner maybe Steve Bennett at AZ Luxury Coach would do it. Hopefully you’ll have extensive maintenance records from day one of the coach to review (we didn’t other than recent oil changes & lube jobs the last few years). You could have the coach taken to a Detroit Diesel/Allison shop and have the drive train inspected (we didn’t). Once the coach and generator are warmed up, have fluid sample drawn and sent off to someone like Amsoil for testing (we didn’t). Because our coach was 18 miles from Jeff Rowe’s ETLC shop, we had him inspect the coach and that has turned out to be pretty good.

Money exchange: During the Jeff Rowe inspection I met the seller face to face. Once we agreed on a price he took the coach to Jeff’s shop so it could be put on wheel lifts and given it a more thorough inspection. Once it passed that (and we adjusted the price a bit), I sent Jeff a cashier’s check for the purchase price and Jeff exchanged that for the title and all remaining sets of keys. It was an open title with no liens from the previous seller (who I’d talked to about the coach). Jeff sent me the title. I suppose I could have driven from Wisconsin to Tennessee with the check and done the exchange myself, but Jeff was going to do work on the coach.

Insurance (where to get it and who to get it from): I started out with Miller RV Insurance in Oswego, Oregon. Good rates, decent coverage. After a few years I switched to Allstate (we have everything with them now); Brandon Bystol in Germantown—Shannon Morehouse is the RV, boat, and aircraft specialist. You have two options: stated value and actual cash value. Stated often requires an appraisal which can be had.

Where to title the Coach, what state, what about sales tax: This can be a sensitive subject. I titled in Wisconsin based on a recommendation from George Prentice. I paid the sales tax (5.5% plus whatever your county surcharge is). I went to the Wisconsin DMV office in Milwaukee on West Mill Road. The clerk struggled with the title because Liberty Coach wasn’t in the system, but with the help of a supervisor they got it all figured out and I have a nice, clean Wisconsin title for the coach. It’s titled as a “motorhome”. Some Prevost owners who I like and respect have elected to title their coaches in Montana which apparently has really low sales taxes and registration fees. I chose not to go that route. I didn’t deem the risk was worth it along with the social issues of having a Montana titled motorhome and living in the Great State of Wisconsin.

Who to get to really teach me the systems: I’m two hours away in Grafton. We’re in the process of moving to Shawano; 40 minutes away. If you buy a Liberty Coach, I think I can cover just about all the systems if you buy pre-Crestron. If you buy a Crestron coach, I’d love to learn with to see what I’m missing. If you don’t buy a Lliberty, I can probably cover much of the coach and I don’t know we can figure out posting questions on the forum. I typically work for dinner and drinks.

I really don’t know the 1 through 12 steps in purchase: I didn’t make it to 12 Steps. Feel free to call me.