[Bill]

As posted Prevost has what they refer to as Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 service and can provide you the details of each in writing and cost before the work is done. If not on their website they can send it to you as it is a printed form. They will also do less or more as you desire. I had your same concerns my first trip but everyone there seems dedicated to making your experience as could as it can be. I was coming back from business in Fort Worth before I had service and dropped in to check it out and ask a few questions and was impressed with their attitude. Since you are in Frisco I assume you would use Fort Worth. I’m in Mckinney and It’s an easy drive out 121 or 190. Rodney is the service manager, Marcelo and Jason are the service writers, Jackie manages the body shop and Rosie works the front. You can contact her to set up an account number before you arrive or they will take care of it then. Call ahead to schedule. I would not hesitate to recommend each of them. Wear them out with questions before, during and after the job. They view it as part of the service. Service on these things is expensive and the service should be top notch. I hope you find the experience as good as I did.

[Bill]

I like Jax a lot and I think that they see more motrhome Prevost than their other service centers do which gives them greater insight to our needs.

[Bill]

Jerry,

Number 1,000 was from OH.. Of course he received two years free membership for being number 1,000.

Also, these are real numbers, not phony guests, bots or pretend members.

[Bill]

As you may have already figured out I am a steam gauge guy and very comfortable with a quick scan. I know exactly what my eyes are supposed to see and can get along just fine without a digital display.

When I want real data and lots of it I plug in my Pro-link.

Maybe that comes from the skills in scanning the airplane instrument panel. But I do know when I put in the digital engine monitor in the plane I had to train myself to quit looking at it because the raw data would litererally draw my attention from the important stuff.

But then again I have a rotary dial cell phone with no voice mail, text. GPS or camera. And I get along just fine. Sometimes I actually turn it on.

[Bill]

Dave &Karen,

Congratulations on your new coach, I suspect you got a really good coach and hope you enjoy many many happy traveling miles with the coach. You mention a 2 year search that has come to a good end result. I have been reading this forum everyday and trying to orbsorb the wealth of knowledge that is here. We are also working folks who are currently spending to much time working, but hope to slow down soon and when we see the slowdown we want to purchase a Prevost. We have been to, Millenium, Florida Luxury, Lazy Days, Parliament, and I made it to the POG coach show in January. I looked at a private sale locally and almost purchased it in excitement but luckily I thought thru it with a little more thought than excitement and walked away like people on here suggested when I inquired on here about people’s thoughts.

Do you have any thoughts you can share about the time that you spent looking, and what you thought was positive and negatives to your journey. Did you have other motorhomes prior to this or was this a first for future soon to be retirement planning.

l

[Bill]

Davy

I understand that Vantare only have two postion dimmable system where as Marathon use full dimmable lights control. Or maybe only on late model coaches.

[Bill]

Depends on what “early May” means. If the week end of the 16,17 I have some interest. I have to in Tampa on the 4th and be there all week. I hate when work gets in the way of fun but – it pays the bills.

[Bill]

Bringing this to the top.

Jill

[Bill]

David,

The biggest issue is the number of colors, but I’m sure size is a factor also. With no stainless to simply mask off and using six colors, mine was probably near the high end of their scale at around $25K. The trailer was $11K. Of course, your experience may vary. No business wants to be held to what they charged another customer. I did not see their full range of prices. Overall, I found them to be very competitive with others in the business. ‘Hope this helped.

[Bill]

Hi Double K,

It seems you and I are interested in the same coach, an ’02 thru ’04 H3. It just so happens I have a deposit on an ’04 and am out of the market and won’t be offering any competition. 🙂 I’ve been watching Prevost prices on the used market for a long time. Everything Jon said is of course, true; nonetheless, I find it’s worthwhile to formulate a baseline value for an average coach of a given year and then apply Jon’s considerations as an overlay. There’s nothing wrong with taking a coach’s original list price and deriving a present day value based on some depreciation rate. From there you can make adjustments based on features, condition, service records, etc. I’ve had good success applying a basic model to the ’03/’04 model years. Most folks agree that new coaches depreciate enormously during the first 3 years. One model is that new coaches can lose half their list value in 3 years, and then 10% per year for the next 7 years. Other’s have suggested that a coach loses half it’s value in the first 5 years then another half in the next 5 years. Either way a 10 year old coach is worth about one quarter of its new list price. For example, if you’re looking at an ’04 Marathon that originally listed for $1.4M then today a fair starting point negotiation, based on these models, would be $350K. What I’ve seen after looking and lurking for 10 years, is that this model is pretty close; however, you’ll see dealers advertise considerably higher than these values. Today there are many ’04’s being marketed by dealers at $425K plus. What’s true is that a dealer will do a PDI and they will fix items and even sink considerable money into tires, batteries and other expenditures. For this benefit buyers pay quite a premium in price. Contrast this to your typical as-is private sale where the seller doesn’t offer much in the way of fixes, and you can see how buying from a private seller may result in a lower transaction price. Whichever is the better deal depends upon you. Being hands on and experienced with Class-A motorhomes enables one to find the gem’s in the as-is market and to benefit from a lower transaction price.

[Bill]

DK,

Welcome to PC. We will answer every one of your questions, and on occasion we may actually provide a correct answer.

I have an observation about your post that I think others will echo. You are focussed on the age of the coach and how it will match your budget. There is no question we all buy our coaches based on our particular budgetary considerations, but unless there is a specific feature that newer coaches offer such as multi=plex wiring or adaptive braking, I don’t think age or miles matter much. I am not suggesting an older coach that has been rode hard and put away wet is going to be the equal of a newer coach that has been well maintained. I am saying that if you buy from one of the converters or some of the dealers you are likely to be unable to tell the difference from a 2002 or a 2008 coach.

To start you might want to search for all coaches listed in your price range. Keep in mind asking prices are just that and the actual selling price may be less. With an older coach you may wish to update some electronics, or refurbish the carpet or flooring, but that type of work is relatively inexpensive. A newer coach is still going to have a lot of depreciation, while the older coaches have substantially less. The market places a higher value on the newer coach but there are few of us here that are ever going to wear any of our coaches out. We may need to refresh them from time to time, but they are going to outlast us unless we are putting 80,000 miles on per year.

Unlike conventional motor homes our coaches were built on a chassis designed for many years and miles of commercial service. Our converters have installed time proven materials and systems so they are going to hold up well and continue to be very reliable and cosmetically acceptable for years to come. Bottom line, don’t worry if your budget puts you in an older conversion.

As to fair market value, nobody knows. If you have looked at listings for any length of time you will see a pattern begin to emerge that shows a particular conversion valued between $xxxx and $yyyy. You may also find dropping down a few years will have comparable coaches listed at a lesser price. After a while you begin to understand the asking price range. What is also important to understand however is there are so many factors that influence pricing in a very limited market it is impossible to create a “blue book” value. A well maintained coach with all the documentation is always going to bring a higher price than a poorly maintained coach, but even then the seller’s needs may influence the bottom line. Some sellers are going to owe money and cannot sell for less than they still owe. Some sellers know very clearly how well maintained their coach is, and have all the records so those coaches will always carry a higher value. A coach sold by the converter and backed by the converter is going to be a higher value than one sold by an individual in “as-is” condition with old tires and batteries.

As you pursue your coach all of this will become apparent. Your intentions are also going to influence your needs. If you tend to trade often you are likely to buy solely on price and not on features. You want to buy at a rock bottom price so when you flip it in a few years you won’t take a beating on depreciation. If you tend to keep your coaches for a long time, the price may be secondary to getting the features that are important to you.

There are not going to be any hard and fast rules or answers because buying a coach is such a personal decision.

[Bill]

this valve is under the drivers seat area in the lower door in the steering box compartment.

[Bill]

Another way to interpret that open ground could also mean that the
sensor circuit (boost sensor or any sensor) does not have good return or signal back
to the ECM.

I hope I’m not confusing the issue.

Ken

[Bill]

Mothers is great and you can use an orbital or buffing wheel in a drill. If you “really” want to get into it and try to make it even shinier than it is now, you need the right polishing compound and some training skills. If it were me (and it’s not, but it is what I did) I would get some Mothers, a few rags and take my time working around the coach. Our coach has SS that was a bit yellowed and this treatment brought it back to clean, shiny silver that we were proud of.

[Bill]

Bill how did the module work that Robert sent you we have not heard from you about it , you stirred everybody up about your motor ,but no follow through . What’s up with that !!!!