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OLDER COACHES
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That sound reasonable
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That sounds good in theory.
I submitted 20 general questions to the current owner of a Prevost listed on Ebay, some based off Jon’s PDI list. I would have had many more questions, but Ebay limits the characters. It’s been a week and I’ve heard nothing from the current owner.
Now, I understand when buying a Prevost that is priced at $300K it will be an older Prevost, but in many parts of the country, that will be you a house. You would think an owner advertiser on Ebay, this site, or any site, would be willing to respond the questions & inquiries when they are looking to sell their coach.
I simply will move on since that’s a “clue” when an owner doesn’t respond to responsible questions. It’s not only a matter of courtesy, it’s a matter of professionalism as well.
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T&C, you have just recently started the hunt. It could be long and ardorous, but don’t give up. It’s worth it. Chased our first bus for over 7 mos. and the current one fell in our laps….you never know. One thing you have going for you is this great site, an advantage we didn’t have a couple of years ago with the exception of a few people on another site. Mainly Jon and Truk. Geo.
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
Thanks Geo … I need to find sellers like Jon & Tom!
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Tim,
Here is my cynical answer. Some sellers never take the time to learn their coach. They do not fully appreciate what it takes to properly maintain a coach. Some have access to employees who are charged with the responsibility to care for the coach, and a lot of the time those employees do not fully appreciate or understand the detail required to maintain and track the service of a coach. Others will rely on a local mechanic. The same holds true unless that mechanic digs into what is required and can set up an organized way to do all the required tasks. So the bottom line is a lot of sellers really don’t know the coach as well as they should, and they certainly do not understand maintenance is more than an oil change.
So when a buyer comes along and starts asking questions the answers “I don’t know”, or “My mechanic takes care of all of that” start to come out of the seller’s mouth. If the person who cares for the coach and the seller do not keep detailed written records it is unlikely all maintenance has been done in a timely manner. There are just too many small tasks to track, and although a very detailed service can be performed in about 3 hours, and a few more hours can be dedicated to a comprehensive inspection plus log book entry it is likely that is not happening. I wonder if folks who take their coaches for the “Level XXX” service at Prevost get reminders when off schedule tasks are required such as transmission service or coolant changes. Do the techs check the suspensions for tightness? Do they spend the time inspecting for chafing hoses or cracked hoses? Do they look for leaks? Do they review the codes. Do they pull up the service records to see if there are any recalls or service bulletins. My point is if you find a seller that answers those questions he is on top of things and that coach is one that needs to be on your list.
But keep in mind if an owner is sloppy with respect to maintenance or record keeping it does not mean the coach is not acceptable. The vast majority of us own coaches that we bought without ever talking to previous owners or without the benefit of logs. To buy such coaches we just had to do the best we could as far as inspections prior to the purchase and then we had to hope for the best.
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But Jon,
It “Has only XX,000 miles on a 1 million mile warrenty.”
How many adds have I seen with that line? Too many to count.
I suppose I should ask them what is covered under that warrenty…
3F
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Tim,
Not every seller treats prospective buyers with such disrespect.
I sent every one who asked dozens of pictures, and a complete maintenance history (for the period I owned the coach) in an Excel spreadsheet when our Liberty was for sale.
The buyer also received a large file folder full of receipts to back up everything in the maintenance log. I also included a file of contact numbers and information that had been useful to me in maintaining the bus.
Having this documentation pays off in real dollars when it comes time to sell.
Good luck in your search.
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Triple F, how about the ads that state 80% tires. An uninformed buyer assumes if it has tread the tires are good until they are worn down. I see a lot of sellers putting that in their ads. So far the dealers on our site have never made that claim that I know and I see a lot of them going so far as ot providing tire date codes. Those guys know their stuff.
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“But as an owner Prevost will supply records. Karl wants them to supply service records to anyone, something that is not going to happen.”
Nope, not what I said. You asked if they should. I don’t care. You can have my maintenance records. They aren’t my health records and you’ll never find out about my gonorrhea.
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When Carole and I were searching for a coach, we had scheduled a trip to Lansing MI in December (what was I thinking). On the way to Lansing we stopped to look at a coach in Claremont, NC. Nice coach but I had a committment to go see a coach in Lansing, so off we went.
The next morning we got up quite excited to be seeing our second coach in two days. We got to the building the coach was stored in and was I disappointed from the outside. The owner had owned a concrete plant and the tires looked to be old rejects from his concrete trucks. I could not even find the DOT date numbers. Oh yeah, none of the tires were the same brand, but they were at least the same size! They were all battered, beat up and with chunks missing randomly on the outside of the tread and gobs of old concrete markings on the sidewalls. I hated to go for a ride on those balloons but again we were working on being polite. Yes I was, I heard that chuckle Tom!
OK, so the owner insists we see how beutiful the coach is inside and then take it for a spin. I believe it was an Angola. So now we are inside and I happen to slide open the hanging closet door in the bathroom and what did I see? Well twelve tiny little reindeer … no thats another story. Sorry. There was a toggle switch hanging out in space. I asked what that controlled and the demonstration proved it to be the light in the closet! Now if you can’t repair something that insignificant, or have an electrician do it, what the heck is going on with the rest of the coach? Got me but I was not interested any further in that coach. We did go around a Michigan “Block”, that would be one mile, left turn another mile, left turn another mile and one more mile and the last left turn for good measure and to get back to our car. At least I think that number of left turns would do the trick.
So what did we do after hunting for almost two years, from north to south and east to west? Well we called the Lansing owner and said no thanks; then called the Claremont NC owner and made an offer. Offer accepted so it must have been too high. That happens to be the coach we have today. Jeff has redone the inside – beautiful job Jeff – and next year we are planning to redo the outside, exposing more stainless up to the rivet line below the side windows. Love those rivets and the fluted stainless steel looks. Now if I can just get through today …
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The map logo thing is pretty neat Karl.
BCO
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duplicate post … It was Tom’s fault.
(Jon wasn’t available)
BCO
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I get no respect…..
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Thanks BCO. Some simple HTML.
Tom, _I_ respect you!. 😘 <-----That's supposed to be a kissy face
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Update
I provided Prevost HQ with my coach title / ownership was transfered, all available service records(e-mail format) were received within hours. Pretty good communication, just need to get to the right personnel.
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