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Royal vs Country Coach
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To give you an idea on costs associated with a new-to-you coach. I picked up my coach on 4/13 in Kamloops, BC. I had it serviced at Prevost(Richmond,BC), tires at Superior Tire(Oregon), and another service at Prevost(TN). All-in-all, these services totaled $13K including $5K for 8 new tires. I then drove 4000 miles home, trouble free. Here’s what I had done:
Coolant System: new coolant, filter, pressure check, new fan clutch, and new engine temperature sensor,
Engine/chassis: level two engine/lube service including air filter,
Transmission: new fluid and filters,
Air Dryer and Air System: check,
Brake System: new caliper bushings on steer axle,
Generator: new fluid and filters,
Suspension: replace (14) drive/tag axle suspension control arm bushings,
Differential: new fluid,
Hubs: new tag axle hub caps, gaskets, and fluid,
Shocks: 8 new,
Tires: 8 new and centramatics on all wheel positions.
Parts: $8000, Labor: $4000, Taxes, Supplies, etc: $1000
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I have a 1998 XL-40 Country Coach with a Series 60 and a Silverleaf Glass Dash. I am the original owner. The bus has over 195,000 miles on it. I love it. I updated the tv’s to 39″ LEDs, the original CC glass dash to a Silverleaf, and the black and grey water sensors to the SeeLevel system. Otherwise, it is original. Interior is all wood and suspension is IFS. Fuel economy is normally 8 mpg
Country Coach has a repair facility in Junction City, Oregon located at the original factory location. I had them service the coach in January and would highly recommend them to all CC owners. They still had the plans to my coach. There are several other repair facilities I have used in Dallas, Texas. I am sure there are many good repair shops nationwide.
At 170,000 miles, my original airbags were displaying some minor cracking last year, so Prevost Ft Worth replaced all of them as well as my front upper and lower A arms.
All new tires last year with the PC tire program at Ted Weims in Las Vegas. A little over $4,000 balanced and installed.
I would not hesitate to buy a 1998 or newer Country Coach. One benefit of an XL over the XLII is the riveted side panels will not delaminate. Plus they look cool.
Good luck on you search, the right coach will talk to you
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“ I know of one test drive in which the buyer asked about the constantly cycling air system gauges. The seller’s response was that is normal, they all do that.
One of the many lies that were told to me by a unscrupulous salesman at a reputable dealer.
Others were…
“We do full service on all of our trade ins. Oil, transmission fluid, generator, everything.”
“We inspect everything and if something needs to be replaced, we replace it.”
“Everybody levels these coaches by letting all the air out.”
“IF these tires were not nearly new we would not let you drive off the parking lot.”
And the list goes on and on.
As a newbie that had lived and traveled in fifth wheels for years and knew next to nothing about buses, he lied about things that he did not even have to lie about. He was the ultimate “slick” salesman.
Thankfully I was buying a bus in pretty good shape in spite of the salesman and in no small part due to a God that watches out after children and fools.
The only records I had were receipts and notes left in the filing system by the two previous owners including much if not all the correspondence during the shopping and conversion phase. Although nothing was recent those records have been very helpful.
I have said before and I will say it again, If I knew in advance half the stuff I have learned on this site about the pitfalls of buying a bus I would have ran as fast as I could the other way.
Sometimes ignorance really is bliss because we love our home on wheels. Although this is not by any means an endorsement of buying a coach without records or knowledge. I would Not do it the way I did it again.
Davy
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Mr. Wade: You asked … “We are very concerned about the previous maintaince of the coach. If records can not be produced, is it really 30K for bringing all systems up to date as was mentioned in the previous post?”
Answer: Yes.
Sellers are often like well practiced BS’ers. When they run out of BS, they just start making stuff up.
In our case the seller really didn’t understand what he was selling, didn’t understand the systems, didn’t understand that even the systems and components on a Liberty Prevost can’t and don’t last forever.
We were lucky for a number of reasons:
1. I too have lost an enormous amount of sleep reading all the posts to both PC and POG.
2. I received good advice and counsel from George Prentice and Jon Wehrenberg.
3. The coach we bought was only 18 miles from Jeff Rowe’s shop in Vonore, TN.
We also started out looking for a 40′ coach because I was concerned about the additional length as we’d be pulling a 24′ race trailer. Then we went to the All Prevost Show in Tampa during Jan of 2013, looked at additional six coaches after the show, and finally concluded the extra five feet was worth it. We were counseled to get the IFS if we were concerned about the size as the turning radius is tighter.
Rented a 40′ Prevost last summer and pulled the race trailer from Wisconsin to SE Michigan through Chicago’s Loop for a weekend of racing. Proved to me I could handle the bus and the trailer without too much trouble.
We picked the coach up at Jeff Rowe’s last Friday morning, went to the Indy 500, and have had to move it around on our driveway a few times. I am really impressed with the turning radius. Getting the rest of the bus to go where I think it should be is still a challenge, but that will come with experience. But I’ve found that everyone works with you like when I was trying to make a right hand turn in downtown Pittsboro, Ind after the 500 … I didn’t have to use either of the horns or the train whistle to get two lanes of traffic three cars deep to back up so I could get the bus and the toad around the really tight corner.
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Tom,
Thanks for the link to the delamination thread. Lots of good information.
Does Prevost keep track of the coaches that have been repaired for the delamination problem? Is there any way to contact someone at Prevost to check by VIN #?
The delamination thread was from 2013 was that when Prevost started correcting the problems? How many years of XLII’s were affected?
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John, affected coaches are all over the board from 2000 thru at least 2007 shells. You can read all the threads and see that there appears to be no common factor. Because the so-called Final Fix(no see em rivets) has turned out in a few cases so far not to be final, We decided not to participate in a “crap shoot” and go from a rivet XL to an H rather than an XL11. The H series X chassis is the same as the XL11, and even though we like the looks of the XL11 better,we felt more comfortable going with the H. Geo
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John,
A buyer should not focus on problems or potential problems because despite lack of maintenance our coaches are still pretty robust and usually needed service or repairs can be addressed in the purchase price.
Using the skin as an example, some delaminations are evident on XLII coaches, but with an inspection by Prevost along with an indication from Prevost as to how much of the costs they will absorb you and the seller will know if you have to adjust the price of the coach. If no proof of routine service is provided Prevost, Detroit and Allison can give you a reading on the condition of the coach, engine and transmission so you know what if any repairs are needed and that information can also be used to adjust the price if required.
You have to decide if you will begin your maintenance program from where the previous owner’s schedule left off, or if you are unsure service has been done, just do everything (fluids, filters, belts, etc) and then you have a starting point. If you are buying a coach older than about 10 years of age, you can decide if you want to be proactive in a preventive maintenance program by replacing air bags, valves, brake chambers, etc or if you will service them as needed.
In my opinion the priorities for choosing a coach are simple. It must suit your needs. If it is too long or too short or has slides or doesn’t have slides, or has roof airs or OTR or a private toilet or an open floor plan those will be some of the factors that make a coach suitable for you. You must like the colors or decor. Yes you can change the color of the coach and you can redo the interior, but that is expensive so you do have to either get one hell of a discount on price, or you need to buy one you can live with. Then finally you have to evaluate its condition. Keep in mind that some things are repairable, including a bad engine if the price allows. There are some things that are deal breakers regardless of price such as mold and mildew or evidence the coach has had excess weight on the hitch leading to stress cracks. Those are just a couple of examples of things to make you walk away from a coach,
I have learned that with some experience looking at coaches and talking to sellers your gut is amazingly accurate in evaluating a coach. You learn to look at the coach and if you don’t like it you walk away. 5 minutes is about all it takes to know if a coach is one you would like to own. If you like its features, floor plan, how it is equipped, colors and decor then from that point on you get to focus on mechanical condition and even then your gut is a very good early indicator of a coach’s condition.
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John,
The process has been going on for years, but it’s handled on an individual basis and after the inspection, the final decision is made in Quebec. I doubt there is a running tally of those done, but the vin will bring up previous work and it will show there. It’s easy to determine if the riviet process has been done, you have to look for it, but the patch panels will be the clue. Here’s a picture of my Liberty where you can see the panel(s).
This photo was before the painting was done.
After paint, you really need to know what to look for to see the panels, the job was perfect.
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No problem with the quality of the Prevo fix. Just that I know of at least two that have had the “final fix” that are loose again in the middle. I’m sure Prevost will stand behind them and probably the re-paint also, but the owner now has to tie the coach up for 4 mos. or more for the 2nd time. Geo
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Tom,
Thanks for the info and the pictures. Your coach looks great.
We had been limiting our search to 2000 and later to avoid a coach with rivets and the problems they have.
Not sure if that theory has any merit in light of all the panel problems.
I really appreciate the forum and all the time the members have devoted to this thread.
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John,
Late rivet coaches are near bullet-proof. What problems are you referring to?
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I think John is referring to delamination XLII’s (late) and not XL’s (early). The rivet coach XL’s ended with shell year 1999. The XLII shell was born in 2000, with Vin number designation (Y).
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