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New to the Forum
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Tim….
Welcome to PC you are in the right place for your shopping needs !
We purchased our first Prevost some 5 years ago, after owning SOB’s for 30 years before that… there is just no comparison as I see you have already figured out.
You have time in your corner since you’re not looking to purchase tomorrow and there are so many options out there for you… everyone’s suggestions about coming to the “oysterfest rally” at Bella Terra is a good one as it will serve as an opportunity to actually board many coaches in one spot with no added buying pressure and most owners are happy to share their views with you… we are are a very friendly bunch as you will see.
Our price range was the same as yours when we started looking and we found a coach we loved and paid a premium for it… our big mistake was we didn’t know what to look for… we figured it was just like buying a Newell or Bluebird like we had in the past… not so….we found out… our coach was a 1998 H3-45 Vantare with 2 slides and OTR with around 81K miles in excellent visual condition… interior and exterior was exquisite and we were in love with everything about it.
We knew we would have to spend some money on it but had no real idea of what we were in for. After taking it to a guy who “said” he’d fix us up we replaced air bags, norgren valves, brakes, shocks, A/C compressors, upgraded to 365’s on Steer and Tag, new tires,new air compressor…. the list just goes on and on… Long story short we spent over $50K and had all kinds of problems cropping up with the work that wasn’t done properly… so as a word of warning to you… do your homework… this is the place to do it !!
We did finally get the Vantare in top shape after spending another $10K+ and it was a dream to own and when we sold it we felt really good about the new owners getting a top notch coach for their money and they are thrilled with it…. bottom line being this would have been in your price range and nothing to replace anytime soon I would hope. Nobody could believe that it was a ’98 model.
We are partial to the H series for our personal use and have to have slides… you will find everyone has there own reasons for what they choose.
Our current coach is a 2005 Liberty H3-45 with OTR and after spending a week at Jeff Rowe’s place in Tennessee we replaced all the 10 year old airbags, shocks, tires … that list goes on and on too, but this time we were smart enough to get it done at the right time in the right place !! Nothing better than prevention !!
Just wanted to share our experience with you and again welcome to PC.
Hoping you can make it to Bella Terra next month,
Cheers, Diane & Larry
PS EDIT : I did fail to mention we replaced the entire house battery bank twice in 3 years of ownership…. the first time out of sheer ignorance we replaced them with what was in there which were Dekka AGM batteries that almost lasted 2 years… got that hot rotten egg smell around the bus rear… come to find a couple of the batteries were very hot and swollen… luckily for us we were on PC which was brand new then and had met up with the “go to battery man” Tom Chilcote… none other than Pc’s own TRUK4U … Tom had fresh Lifeline batteries delivered to our coach within 2 days and they were awesome… batteries are so important in our coaches and I think I can safely say that over 99% of Prevosts have Lifeline batteries and Tom gives by far the best deal out there…. just had to add that !!
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T&C, Diane’s observations are just a fraction of what you can learn and absorb by showing up at Bella Terra. Geo.
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L&D,
Yikes! I really need to do my homework and find a used coach like the one you sold!
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C&G,
Is there a major difference between the Bella Terra Rally and the one in May in Nashville regarding learning about Prevosts? I noted Nashville there’s a cost and Bella Terra there is not. My daughter lives in Nashville and it could work better for my schedule.
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T&C, Nashville in May is a Prevost Prouds Rally and while fun…it’s mainly a social crowd. There’s nothing wrong with that but most of them do not have the hands on knowledge and experience that the PC group has. You will not find the same willingness to open their busses to you and share their experiences. They like to eat alot and the rally cost (12000) reflects that. Not that the PC group is not social….we’re a lot more laid back and relaxed. The Proud rallys are very structured with not a lot of down time and very little technical discussion. Geo.
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C&G,
Thx for the clarification.
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Tim,
The Bella Terry Rally is discussed in these two areas:
Bella Tera rally ThreadThe Training session is discussed in this thread and is in Juy.Nashville Training thread
http://prevostcommunity.com/forum/threaddetails.asp?Category=General+Discussions&ThreadID=3812
Date: July 10 – 13 (arrive Friday, leave Monday)
Place: East Tennessee Luxury Coach, Vonore, TN
Purpose: Familiarity of Prevost Systems for the Owner
Cost: $5000 per coach
Limit: 20 coaches
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I would recommend the Oysterfest in Bella Terra because the group is going to be more willing to allow a stranger to wander around, ask questions and get to see various coaches. There is no specific agenda so there is apt to be folks hanging around almost the whole time.
The buses are also more likely to be closer to the price range you mentioned.
You will also be able to put faces to the names you see on the forum and vice-versa making future communications a lot more enjoyable. For example I am the slender but muscular guy with a full head of hair and stunning good looks.
One thing rarely mentioned but which is of considerable value is the ability to communicate with such a large group as PC, which is now over 1860 members. You not only get widespread points of view, but if a coach owner plans on trading up you can be sure he might make you aware of his coach being available before it hits the market. The other advantage is after you are comfortable with what you see on the internet because you have been in and seen a number of coaches, PC members are all over the nation so if a coach shows up for sale a long distance away it is possible a PC member nearby can do a preliminary look at the coach and report back to you. Photos are not very good about showing exceptional care or excessive wear and tear so having someone nearby a distant coach give you an opportunity to filter out coaches that have obvious issues.
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Di is not muscular or a guy. Jon right about a lot of things but sometimes easily confused. Geo.
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Tim & Cindy….
There was no intention on our part to scare you in anyway… just to enlighten you to the possibilities if you are uneducated about these machines…. like everything in life we get out what we put in.
I believe your being here is proof that you are willing to learn before you buy and you will benefit greatly from that.
George and Cory filled you in correctly about the Prevost Prouds Rally in Nashville… it is a social group.
Hope we will meet you in the near future,
Diane
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Nope … won’t be scared away. As in many areas of life, knowledge about the product you plan to purchase is a key. I wasn’t aware there were so many members here and it’s great there’s a network which possibly offers well-maintained coaches before they hit the market.
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Diane, checks in the mail.:)
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Think you should be able to find a nice bus in that price range…also you would be looking at 03 and earlier shells I guess so you get a non-egr Detroit 12.7 engine…about the best that was ever made for fuel economy and reliabilty.
Everyone else here would probably say I am crazy but I bought the first Prevost I ever looked at…but it was a 40 footer with the towing setup I needed, no slides and price and condition were good. I really did not have many options.
In the end it has worked out well. Try to do as much of the wrenching yourself…and if you are building houses I am sure you will be handy on the house conversion side of things.
Do not overlook a bus with a few miles on it, the ones with super low miles that have sat seem to be more problematic compared to those that get exercised and looked over constantly.
Pulling codes on the engine may be helpful, but if you were really concerned about the engine, then going to Detroit and putting it on the dyno is really the way to get a look at health of the engine, can also pull an oil sample. I would not be too worried about the Allison especially if it has Transynd in it, unless the bus was up around 500k miles.
Finally, while I keep detailed logs on both chassis and house, and my previous owner had good records too we did not have much from the first owner…but when it comes to people who buy a new million $ bus I tend to think that they probably do not skimp on maintenance…they just take it to Prevost or converter and say “do whatever it needs”. So if it all checks out for the most part I would not worry too much
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Diane, same thing with me…previous owner had put new Dekka’s in early 2011, two were bad by mid 2014….have Lifelines now!
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G-Man,
Is your monikor relate to your past profession?
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