[AL]

This should be an interesting thread. I see those coaches out there too and wonder why are new coaches back on the market so quickly? What’s the deal?

Maybe they were “show coaches” that we taken around the country to various shows and ralleys as demonstrators, in which case I’d think any “new coach issues” have been worked out during those trips.

Normally I see the converters are selling very late model coaches. Have you called them to inquire about the history of those coaches?

[Archived]

I get myself into do-do all the time, BUT I wouldn’t touch that question with a 10 foot pole.

Have you considered asking the convertor ?

With your approach of new or used ….New has 1 year +/-warranty …used coaches carry 6 month bumper to bumper warranty plus you have an advantage with lots of minor items addressed already.

The big 3 convertors still doing conversions do not ignore customers going way beyond to keep a customer happy.

Another point is 95% of Prevost buyers are pretty savvy going into there first purchase and have done their homework.

Last advice…… number one buying tip….Bar none… “The WOW factor” if that new to you bus doesn’t WOW you when you first walk in… then it’s not the one.

*Go to the Prevost Expo show in West Palm Beach. Feb 2018

[Archived]

This may not apply to every low mileage, near new coach, but there are owners in a position to trade often. I know of several over the years who traded each year or every two years.

But there are other reasons why almost new coaches show up for sale. They range from the death of the owner to repossessions and all sorts of reasons known to the original owner.

They represent an excellent opportunity to avoid some of the excessive depreciation and if it is the converter selling the coach you can bet you will get warranty coverage of some sort on the coach.

I don’t think there is any one best conversion or converter, but you might have preferences that will favor one converter over another.

[Jim]

Robert, will this be your first motorhome?

[Andy]

Robert,

Keep in mind the only thing in common with the converters is the chassis, otherwise, they are very different.

Liberty uses Lithium Ion battery technology.

Liberty, Marathon and Millennium put their generator radiators in different locations. Now, Liberty has an ‘all-in-one’ Onan but the previous Liberty’s put the genny radiator in a side bay, Marathon put it in the front grill and Millennium on the roof. The newer Marathons and Millennium’s may have changed.

You just can’t go wrong with a Prevost Chassis!

Mark

[Jim]

P.S. The reason I asked if this would be your first motorhome was that if so, then definitely go with a pre-owned model. This way, if you’re enjoying the bus, then when it’s time to upgrade, you’ll have a pretty good idea of which features and layout works best for your lifestyle.

My Prevost is my second bus and my first Prevost. I chose to purchase a pre-owned 2014 Marathon with less than 40K on the odometer that I found at last year’s show. I feel like I purchased a very good value, but if I was build my own bus, there are some things I would consider doing a bit differently.

[Bill]

First Prevost. I have spent time traveling in rented motorhomes over the years.

[TJ]

Thanks Andy! I have tracked you videos of your path to you Marathon Bus. I’m a follower of your website and YouTube channel.

[Archived]

I personally would never buy a new or build a bus no matter how much money I had… one reason is that we are not full timers and don’t “live” in the bus… secondly I can do a lot of things with the money I would lose as I drove it out the gate the first time and also I’m not exactly sure what I would want… we have owned two Prevosts… we loved them both for different reasons our current Liberty is exactly what we need for what we do… beautifully finished out… love the Liberty quality… second to none in my opinion. Larry said he wouldn’t mind trading up but I am happy with what we have… if we did change it would be a Liberty or a Marathon.

It takes a while after ownership to know what you really want so I would never haul off and buy a new coach then be wishing I had this or that.

Mr Mark & Craig built a new Liberty and they love it…so to each his own…. they did a lot of preparation and studying their options before they decided on what they wanted. You might want to visit with them.

Its a lot of fun looking for a coach… good luck to you !!

Cheers, Diane

[Archived]

I’m with Diane in not ever wanting to buy a new conversion, even if I won the Powerball Lottery. There is one thing we learned over the years and that is no coach is exactly what we want.

Even if at this point in time there was a coach that is exactly what I think I want, I have enough years of ownership to know wants and needs change so what is perfect today has things i want to change tomorrow.

Taking that one step further, it is easy to identify the big things that will meet today’s needs. What is not so easy to define are the little things that tend to be either just right, or annoying. And then there are changes in technology. Lighting as an example has gone from 12V fluorescent to halogen to LED. Coaches used to have switches and relays to carry the electric loads, now to a great extent all switches do is send a signal via a multiplex system for some form of controller to do the actual switching and load carrying. Whatever you get today is outdated pretty quickly.

A new purchaser really has his work cut out for him because he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know and every coach salesman will try to push you to what he has to sell. Good luck trying to sort out what is important.

[Archived]

Robert,

There are actually 5 Converters doing Prevost motorhome conversions and you can’t go wrong with any of them.

Emerald

Featherlite

Liberty

Marathon

Millennium

[Greg]

I’m with Jon & Dianne. The initial depreciation on a new conversion is horrendous and being a newbie, it’s almost impossible to know exactly what want or what your needs might be depending on your use of it. There seem to be two sweet spots with depreciation (and lets not kid ourselves …it’s normally our biggest expense), either buy one where the depreciation is just about out of it i.e. ’96-2003 XL or one where the depreciation has slowed to a more manageable level, i.e. an ’04-06 XL(H..a little more money) with an eye to trading up in the foreseeable future. That way why you’re using and enjoying it, you are also figuring out what you need and want in the next one, and if you’re like most of us…there will be a next one. Geo.

[Will]

As long as we are offering free advice, which is worth every penny you pay for it, please be realistic about what it costs to own a coach. Every Prevost, regardless of age or value is likely to cost the same to maintain. They all use fuel. They all require oil changes, lube, filter changes, coolant changes, transmission fluid changes, belt changes, new tires to replace those aging out, batteries, plus some money to deal with repairs and the impact of age such as air bags, brake chambers, etc. Don’t forget insurance either.

Having said that if you start with a coach that has everything somewhere in the middle of its maintenance schedule and documentation to prove it, your costs for maintenance per year are still likely to be reasonable, especially if depreciation is considered. Until a coach gets to the older vintage George mentioned your greatest expense by far is depreciation.

If you embrace the lifestyle of Prevost conversion ownership however you will never regret a penny of what it costs to own one. There is just so much good about Prevost ownership it is impossible to put a value on it, especially the friendships that come about as a result of owning one.

[Andre & Kathy]

Thanks so much to all for your responses. I have taken a lot of notes and appreciate your thoughts.

Robert.

[Greg]

Robert,

Just for an example, my neighbor at my storage facility bought a new 2016 Marathon. We happened to be at the Prevost facility in Goodlettsville, TN, for service at the same time.

We were ‘talking coaches’ and his batteries are above the rear wheels on the drivers side where we have our Espar/Webasto heating system.

His Webasto was in the engine compartment on the passenger side where we have a storage box. Because we have Lithium Ion batteries, we only have 3 house batteries in the compartment in front of the wet bay on the driver’s side.

My neighbor probably has 8-10 house batteries. Everything in his coach seemed to be in a different place than ours. Nothing wrong with that, just different.

We have four inverters, he has two. His coach was a three slide with bunks, our is a four slide which will give us a smaller kitchen (we don’t cook). Our four slide gives us the extra seating that we wanted in the living room. Each of the two facing sofa’s turn into beds which came in handy when taking my two 13 yr.old great nieces to the Hot Springs water park last summer.

Safe travels,
Mark