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Ownership Cost
Every year I pull all my Prevost associated statistics together to maintain a sense of what ownership costs.
The numbers will vary from year to year, but there are also certain constants. Some numbers I can only estimate such as depreciation and since that is related to a coach’s age and value it can’t be listed here with any great degree of accuracy except to say it still remains the greatest cost associated with owning my coach.
The next greatest expense for 2018 was insurance which was $6000 for a $675,000 agreed value. The appraisal came in higher than actual market value but that is what the insurance company would accept so it is what it is.
Fuel for my 10,000 miles (slightly lower than my normal 12,000) cost $4655. I calculated my MPG to be 6.58, but this number is not real accurate because I did not pull out the fuel used by my Webasto or generator, both of which got some serious use this year.
Parts and supplies such as oil, filters, etc was almost $1100. Keep in mind I do my own work which included 2 oil changes, chassis lube, differential and gear box oil changes, and some other minor items.
I had no major expenses such as tires, batteries, air bags, etc because none were due. If I were to spread their cost to an annual level it would be safe to say they would be about $1800 per year based on my years of life I assign to them. I did not have a coolant change or transmission fluid change either so if I annualized those costs it would have added about $200 or a little less.
None of my costs above include labor because I do my own work. Except for unplanned repairs I can only guess labor for this year would have cost $2000 or less.
The new insurance price is now supposed to be $9200, something that is not going to happen. I am now searching for new insurance, but I have serious concerns about my ability to get an insurer that has a reasonable price and can properly cover my coach.
Except where I guessed at some values the above numbers likely apply to every Prevost, regardless of age. What will vary is older coaches will need repairs, none of which are reflected above because I had none. The costs above are maintenance. Newer coaches will have no repairs or should have none. But owners and prospective owners should be aware at any time we could have something fail, whether it is an alternator or a hub seal and there will be a cost associated with that so planning for some repairs would be suggested.
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5 Replies
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License/registration ($1,000). My insurance is way lower but I factor in $5-10K/yr for major repairs on an older coach; ie a/c, refridgerator, etc. My rough numbers for you worked out to about $1.70/mile (?). I use $2/mile as a rough estimate.
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On all my coaches I arbitrarily established what I thought was a reasonable service life for as many components as I could think of so the cost per year can be established with reasonable accuracy, plus by changing out items such as Norgrens, air bags, brake chambers, batteries, tires etc. to a schedule I minimize the chances one of them will force me to do unplanned service or repairs. To me that peace of mind is worth the premature replacement cost.
But we all know stuff breaks and repairs are needed. I have not added to my list of parts I will replace based on age or miles so I still roll the dice with regard to components such as relay valves, idler pulley bearings, ride height valves, alternators, starters, turbo, etc.
But I do have some big potential expenses if I lose an engine or transmission, but based on some experience with these coaches, posts on the various forums, and confidence in my maintenance I am prepared to shoulder the cost of an engine rebuild or replacement or a transmission replacement. Both are unlikely, but all of us have to recognize they are mechanical so they could break.
Odd repairs or failures such as some recently discussed here, like harnesses, or charge air coolers, or fan clutches, or any of the myriad of potential repairs I am also ready to pay for, but I am not going to be proactive and start replacing stuff of that nature.
Joel brings up a consideration and that is house repairs. We all have some expensive components ranging from generators to refrigerators to air conditioners to AV equipment, all of which could require repair or replacement. Over almost thirty years of ownership I have replaced at least one of everything except a generator or inverter. So Joel’s money set aside for repairs, especially as our coaches age is not unrealistic, and is actually pretty good.
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In comparison, we have owned our ’99 Marathon now for 7 years and about 33,000 miles. Total cost of maintenance, repairs, upgrades is $35,100- almost exactly $5000/year. This does not include fuel but includes couch recover, tires, batteries, air bags, shocks, new A-arms up front, etc. I do a lot of the simple maintenance myself, but have Prevost do air bags, A-arms etc. Overall, much cheaper than a boat or air plane.
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We have owned our coach for about 7 months. So far after going through all the things that were not working and starting on upgrades, we have spent about $15,000, not counting the tires and batteries which still need replacing.I thought that it was most important to start fixing the things that were inoperative like the charging system, starter and chassis batteries.
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I hope everyone understands when I made the initial post it was related to a coach that has a very comprehensive maintenance program that starts with nothing due for service except those items that occur naturally through the life cycle of the coach. It does not and will not reflect costs associated with bringing all service current (zeroing out the coach) which is an unusual situation having all maintenance and repairs come due at once.
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