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Trawick Luxury Coaches
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Per and Margrit wrote: “Even so, I was pretty much planning on $10-20k in expenses post buy.”
New tires all around, new chassis and coach batteries, “zeroing out” almost everything on the coach, and fixing a couple of minor to modest issues will be at least $30,000. Been there, done that.
Three axle alignment, new shocks all around, new tie rods, and a few other minor things at Prevost is about $3,000.
If you can get reliable, complete maintenance records so you know what has been done (and doesn’t need to be redone) and what hasn’t been done could bring that number down.
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No reason to get new tires unless they are more than 7 years old–we looked at one coach at Marathon with 2 year old tires–well within reason. Checking tire age anyone should be able to do. If the tires are older, that would be part of the negotiations. I refuse to drive on 12 year old tires. Batteries pretty much the same thing. If the batteries are too old to hold a charge, means the previous owner did not care enough about maintenance, which would lead me to suspect overall condition of the coach immediately. Some things can be done later–fogged windows is a good example. Appearance items are another. Safety issues and handling issues are a different story and would need prompt attention. I expect to go through the list of issues from Prevost and Marathon with the seller, and we would need to talk about who is going to pay for what. If I get a cheap price, I can go high on what I’m willing to pay for repairs, If you want premium price for your coach, it needs to be in close to perfect condition for it’s age.
I appreciate the tip on eliminating snail typing!
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Buyers are going to have a range of expectations based on the age (price) range of coaches being considered.
If the age range is up to five years old it is reasonable to expect a coach as close to perfect as possible. That is why the price is going to be high and it is not unusual for a buyer to have high expectations regardless of miles.
On the other end of the scale older coaches in the 20 year range are going to likely have prices significantly lower and buyers are likely going to expect to deal with a number of age related issues. The marketplace is cruel and older coaches have a lot of value that is not reflected in the selling prices. What hurts both buyers and sellers is that the cost to repair a coach regardless of age is the same so replacing tires and batteries on the five year old coach is not a big deal when the purchase price is considered, but doing the same on a 20 year old coach costs a lot of money relative to the market prices. The point being when shopping for older coaches there is a fine line between the wisdom of buying a coach dirt cheap and spending money to bring it to a reliable condition, as opposed to spending more money, but buying one that needs little or nothing.
Buyers have to weigh the factors to determine which way to go when buying a coach based on their own preferences. It is a tough decision because there is such a wide range of coaches available in an equally wide range of condition.
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