[Gerald]

Brett,

Sorry to hear that. Our search took 3 years to find the exact bus we wanted. We didn’t have the issues you describe but were limited by coaches that had bunks for the kids. As soon as we decided to remodel our existing coach, a dealer called with the perfect coach so we took the plunge.

Best of luck to you.

Bill

[Archived]

I have the opposite approach. I don’t want an owner to tell me about the coach. I’m a big boy and prefer to draw my own conclusions. I know from experience if someone tells me a coach is perfect, needs nothing, well maintained, etc. etc. etc. and my inspection reveals issues then I don’t believe anything the seller says any more and I walk away.

So I am prepared to take my lumps by looking at the photos and list of equipment to decide if we want to pursue the coach. I doubt if it takes 20 minutes to get a sense of how the owner cared for the coach when we see one in person. And in that 20 minutes I have decided if I want to pursue the purchase or not. Before money changes hands I do as good an inspection as I can and from that point on the bus becomes my problem if I decide to proceed.

My observations regarding owners or salesmen trying to sell a coach is they are programmed to say what you want them to say. So keep in mind the less conversation the more you will think of their integrity. Neither the owner or salesman can possibly know all there is to know. There are too many features, devices and components for anyone, even a long term owner to be able to answer every question, so refer back to my first sentence of this paragraph.

The phrase “I don’t know” in response to a question you might ask has two meanings. You the buyer need to know which meaning is the valid one. The first meaning is the seller really doesn’t know. The second meaning is he knows, but if he tells you the truthful answer it may scare you away.

EVERY coach, no exceptions will be described as well maintained. The problem is in interpretation. To my wife well maintained means getting the dog hair out of the nooks and crannys or dusting the A/C grilles so nobody sees the cobwebs. To me it means every service event known to man was done ahead of schedule and logged, and all the receipts and activities were recorded. To others “Maintained by Prevost” might mean the last time the owner camped for free at Prevost he had someone check the air in his tires. Simply stated, unless I see a crate full of receipts, a log book and physical evidence of fresh grease on the tag axle lifts I don’t believe anything anyone says about the maintenance.

Do I have high expectations? Yes. Have all my coaches been perfect? Pretty close, but not quite. I look over the listings of coaches for sale and I recognize some of them. I can say for sure that there are a lot of very nice coaches out there that I would not hesitate to buy and for me to accept less than perfect features I just mentally adjust my willingness to pay the price based on what it will take to make it acceptable to me. Some will not make the cut, but when I look at what we get for the dollar, especially on some older coaches I wonder why they sell so cheap.

[Ernest]

Brett,

I hate that you’re throwing in the towel. I’m on my 6th bus, ya I know it’s a sickness, but I’ve only experienced what you are describing in 3 or 4 coaches over the years and they were with private sellers and dealers as well.

I have to ask and please don’t take this the wrong way, but are you upside down on your Eagle causing the numbers to just not work for you? The best solution of course would be to sell the Eagle and then hunt for a Prevost without a trade.

Either way, hate that you’re giving up and wish you the best.

[glen]

We purchased out Liberty from Legacy Coach. Brandon, who I have known since before he started his business was up front with me about what was needed to make this a great coach. I accepted those items that needed immediate attention and offered a low offer to him. He accepted and we are all happy. He has always been upfront with me. FYI

[Roscoeapproved]

Brett:

In 19 years we’ve had (double digits) coaches… embarassed to say. We just fell into our Prevost by accident while not even looking … the same way we fell in love and got married long ago. Enjoy life and your Eagle. If it’s gonna’ happen it will.

---

Jeff and Lindsay

91 Marathon XL

[glen]

Brett,

I’m sorry to see you give up on owning a Prevost. While there are people who are anal about maintaining their Prevost (a good thing!), my impression is there are a lot of Prevost owners who balk at the expense of paying for repairs. The result are a lot of coaches for sale that need a lot of care. When we found this coach, it was as close to perfect as far as floorplan, equipment, decoration and colors were concerned. Knowing it had not been maintained properly, we based our offer on counting on spending a bit of money on it. Actually ended up spending more, but we are very happy with it, and with the valve adjustment next month at American Fleet, we have it pretty much zeroed out. However, even though we loved the coach when we looked at it, we were prepared to walk if he did not meet our price. The bottom line is very few Prevosts have been taken care of as they should have been, and you would just need to count on spending money on it to get it in shape. Unless the previous owner has hard documentation, maintenance probably has not been done. If your search resumes, plan on offering $50k under your budget, and use that money for after purchase repairs.

[glen]

Don’t know but on mine everything Chassis maintence is Prevost. They have documents on All repairs and oil changes and trans, coolant flushes. They are high and you have to watch them also but it’s documented. House stuff just keep the goodies bought and dates installed. Jeff sounds like he’s a good one and would use Him if closer. Jon fixes his own including makes air for the tires though osmosis. Be hard for me to buy with maintainence from Joe Smo Garage. Heck mine is down at Stewart Stevenson, San Antone Tx.getting a blower R&R’ed.

[John]

Well hell, had a big long nice reply done, hit post and it deleted……So I will paraphrase.

I have aboslutely no idea what I owe on my Eagle has to do with someone being honest about representation. I don’t even know how to answer that, so I won’t.

Jon, I am positive that if the side is dented in, wires are hanging all over the place, wood trim is missing or broken, windshields are broken, windows are fogged the seller knows it. I am NOT referring to mechanical issues, or maintenance records. It appears MOST don’t keep records, or sellers say they can’t get them. No I am talking about physical damage seen easily by the neckid eye that is not disclosed, OR worse told everything was in great shape…..You know, misrepresentation.

I have meet some dealers I have really thought were honest, nope just more smoke and mirrors.

To those with te simple answer to just sell my coach and start looking……I don’t have a house. My coach is my house, I am not going to live on the street and I am not going to et an apartment while I look. It appears most of you can just jetset around the country whenever or wherever you desire to look at busses. I can’t do that. I also can’t afford half million dollar rigs like alot on here. I know my budget does not get perfection, but it damn sure should buy some honesty, don’t ya think.

Anway, there is nothing wrong with what I have. I am happy with it and a bus is just a dream. They aint made of gold and I aint gonna go homeless in my quest.

There is the short answer.

[Brett]

Brett,

I can remember the same frustration you are feeling during our search .

Sorry to read your most recent post. We searched for our Prevost for two years.

As helpful as all the members are on-line, being able to meet them in person and see their coaches is priceless. The best thing we ever did was go to the seminar at Jeff’s with our 2008 Monaco. Eleven months later, we found our coach. We were in the two coach club for a while, (not a club I would recommend), but it worked out.

We found our 1999 Prevost, 2000 Marathon coach # 592 on Craigslist by accident.

I was looking for old ads for another coach we were interested in, when I came across it. It was within striking distance, so we drove down. Previous owner had no records or history. Long calls to Jeff and other members, one kind Prevost owner who drove from Hanover Pennsylvania to Baltimore to take it for a test ride with me and we jumped off the cliff.

Drove straight to Jeff’s and he made a priority list for us and made the coach safe to travel and we have been living the dream ever since. We have spent our budget on the usual items and a few want to have items. Just like any motor home, it is not an “investment” as I am sure you know.

The Prevost community is full of members from one end of the coach spectrum to the other. Everyone I have met in person and talked with on the phone, or corresponded with on the forum has been genuine and kind and willing to help any and all members in any way. The first member I ever met responded to a distress post for my mother-in-law’s Prevost while in Florida. He spent two days helping me fix the problem and has been a great friend ever since, who has helped and advised me many times.

Don’t give up on your search, and especially don’t give up on this forum. You will not find anything better any where.

Sorry for rambling, but believe me, this forum is the best thing that could ever happen to anyone owning or considering a Prevost.

If you are still searching, my mother-in-laws coach is for sale at Donnie Myer’s RV. If you are interested in it, you can contact me by e-mail and I will give you all the information pertaining to the history of the coach that I have.

http://dmrv.com/coaches/2001-xl-vantare/

[Chris]

Brett…

Gotta agree with Doug & Mary…enjoy what you have…if a bus is meant to be, it will happen down the road.

As far as the trust factor goes – as with about anything these days – “Trust…But verify “. Unfortunately it seems very few folks have heard of Cowboy Ethics these days…and fewer still try to live by them (https://carolynmappleton.com/cowboy-ethics-ten-principles-to-live-by/).

My definition/expectation of “excellent” may not be anywhere close to what yours is, and both of us may be far removed from someone who deals & sees a wide cross section of buses that are on the market. In the final analysis, the only one who can make the “correct” interpretation for you is you. Unfortunately it seems we gotta kiss a lotta frogs…

[Archived]

Ernie, Brandon is one I do trust. Talked to him today matter of fact.

Mike I totally agree. BTW, forgot to call you back…lol will give you a shout tomorrow, and Thanks again.

I am not mad or even frustrated with ANYONE on this board. I have really enjoed being a part of this, reading, talking and learning. I don’t plan to leave the board unless I get booted for plastic….lol

I was raised where a man’s word described the man. I have a hard time with today’s ethics. I have owned coaches for many years, I have spent WAY too much on a few of them. I hate spending money, but I do it when I need to. I don’t scrimp on service and I am OCD…..I hate anything that is broken. None of this has to do with money, buying, maintaining or fixing. I don’tknow why many on here have jumprd right to feeling like I just don’t want to spend money. I have tried to say in everyway I know how it has nothign to do with money. It has to do with honesty.If a window is broken, tell me it’s broken, don’t tell me all the glass is good. If the ass end is falling off, tell me it is falling off. If it has a minor dent somewhere, tell me. I will ask for a picture and we can go from there, don’t tell me it is mint.

It seems that everywhere we turn I am faced with the same misrepresentation….aside from two places. One we tried hard to make a deal and it just didn’t work. One my wife and I decided it really wasn’t what we wanted so we walked. Both were represented well and I am still talking to both places. But they appear to be the rarity.

I have had some good advice on this board. I have had people that have gone and looked at buses for me. I have had people send me private emails and tell me to beware of this, that, or a place.

[Harry]

Just for the record Brett, your comment about most of us jet setting across the country to look at buses couldn’t be further from the truth.

[Mike]

Tom, everyone jumping to the conclusion that I don’t want to spend money to repair things couldn’t be farther from the truth either. I’ll be happy to send anyone that wants it my log book on this coach.

If I offended anyone I appologize.

[PHILIP]

I’ve come to realize in my time that true honesty is rare. And so, I’ve learned to get good at “interpreting” advertisements. I look at the photos very hard. If the photos are crap, I try to figure out why. Is it a private seller? Or a “dealer?” A dealer with crappy photos is hiding something. if other ads show the engine and one doesn’t – they are hiding it. Is the price in line with what you expect? If it’s skewed too far either way something is wrong. I’ve been able to find some really cherry items by looking closely at ads.

I also know know the good stuff goes immediately.

And even if you find an honest dealer – they are selling merchandise…it’s nothing more than that to them. Sometimes they just overlook stuff.

but yes – you are right – there are a lot of dishonest people out there. They’ll just lie to make the deal. Probably it works on a lot of people. The bus is so big and impressive many people probably miss a lot – so the sales technique must work. If it didn’t work, dishonest sales people wouldn’t last. But they do so….

the world is a changing but… at least you aren’t.

[Brett]

Brett, I have been a buyer three times and a seller twice.

If you think my opinion of sellers is kind of at the low end of the scale, I will share my thoughts regarding buyers. Not all, but a considerable percentage.

There seems to be a contest among buyers to see who can beat the seller into a greater loss. Every buyer is looking for the perfect coach. I can assure you that the two coaches I sold were in need of nothing. No maintenance was due. All major items were well within my definition of the life span which is more stringent than even Prevost lists. And in both cases I told the potential buyers that I not only would take the days necessary to go through the entire coach with them, operating ever dial, knob, switch and device, when I got done proving everything worked, I was going to invite them under the coach with me and I was going to do a 100% chassis service, which was oil change, lube, filters, fluid levels, air system check and visual inspection.

Despite that you cannot believe the number of people who did not give a shit but just wanted to offer less than the lowest listed price of any Prevost listed on the entire internet. So don’t be too hard on the sellers who get numb dealing with morons. In the buying and selling of coaches there is plenty to complain about on both sides so as I said previously, when I am a buyer I don’t want opinions or the seller’s chatter. Send me detailed photos. If I want more I will ask. I don’t want to talk. I want to do my own thing without wasting anyone’s time. If the asking price is reasonable I will not insult a seller by trying to beat him up on price before I have even seen the coach. After I see it and measure what I think I have to do to get it to my standards then I can talk price because I have justification.

And finally as a seller I got real sick of tire kickers who were of the opinion their coach was worth high retail and mine less than wholesale when they owed more on their coach than it was worth. They did not even have the means of coming up with the money to pay off their loan so they could sell their coach, but they were wasting my time with nothing more than fertilizer being spread about how good looking and rich they were.

Maybe that is why I avoid trading and when I buy something I tend to hang on to it forever. The dance between buyers and sellers is as much fun as dealing with the IRS.