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Question Prevost coaches

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sheridany

RVF Supporter
Joined
Nov 14, 2019
Messages
1,879
Location
Orinda, CA
RV Year
2023
RV Make
Prevost
RV Model
Marathon #1361
RV Length
45
Chassis
Prevost
Engine
Volvo D13
TOW/TOAD
2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Fulltimer
No
This year, I met three prevost owners in my travels and all of them had upgraded from class A coaches (Tiffin,Newmar and Fleetwood) to used prevost conversions. Some of these coaches were 2007 and up all with less than 100k miles. All of the coaches were gorgeous coaches inside and out. They all felt the quality was above the class A coaches they owned (kind of biased used versus new) and they were equally vocal about the service network especially Prevost. Their rationale for stepping up to this line was they were thinking about upgrading their existing coaches and the step up cost was not much more than what they would spend on a new class A luxury line higher in their preferred brand. As I sit here thinking about my next coach, are these prevost coaches really that good? I haven’t bought into it yet but maybe others have considered it.
 
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It comes down to whether you buy used or not. I see some killer deals on great coaches but I for whatever reason have always bought new. Whether a Prevost, Essex, etc. or any RV/MH for that matter the deals are there. I guess with proper pre-purchase inspections you should be fine. The Prevost Milleniums are gorgeous but they are huge. On that note, what I really like about my Newmar Ventana and what makes the camping/RV lifestyle experience better for me is doing so without spending those bigger numbers. I've enjoyed making my coach my own, not being in financial distress by spending beyond my means, and enjoying a coach that is less complex (no silverleaf and motorized this and that) and 1/2 to 1/3 the price of others. It took me a while to love my coach and making it my own highline with Summit Stainless, HWH Active Air, Solar, LED lighting, Home Theater, on and on, I could not be happier with it.
 
Sheridany , you must have talked to me at some point, as those are the views I have come to hold after investigating Prevost conversions. A Prevost is not in the same universe as a production coach IMO.

Check out the youtube channel “RVing with Andrew Steele”. He makes some excellent vids about Prevost conversions.
 
I had the opportunity today to tour two Marathon coach conversions here at MCC in Indio that are on display. They are gorgeous coaches in every sense of the word. However, the price of them is absolute sticker shock coming in at $2.2MM for a 2019 that rolled off the line not too long ago. One of them sold this past weekend, but I got to see inside before it left to go back to the factory.

A little trivia about Marathon located up in Coburg, OR , they only get in two chassis a month and it takes 7 months to build out a new coach. They are privately owned so they can control their production and build slowly. Interestingly, the rep said about 80% of the coaches are spec coaches ordered by existing owners or new owners getting into that level of a coach. They are massive (full 45 feet long) when you look at them from the street level, but I would say their interior room with the slides extended was not enormous as one might expect. The living room is distinctly higher than the driver cockpit that you step up into which was interesting. Watching those slides come in and out was amazing with no holding your breath saying is it going to get stuck or stop like I do. Yeah I know, i have baggage from a slide incident long ago. One of the coaches had an interesting feature which was a self squeegee shower door of glass. They do a hallway full bath on both sides with a hallway (electric) pocket door. The rear bath is a 1/2 bath. It was fun to see and ask questions. Its out of my league by a long shot, but today is Wednesday so the lotto drawing is at 7:55 pm. :) I will post some photos when I get a chance.
 
Someone told me that you have to buy a ticket in order to win Lotto. Is that correct? :rolleyes:

No wonder I'm still driving a Newmar. :ROFLMAO:

TJ
 
One of my guilty pleasures is to search Prevoststuff.com to find my next coach. I still think I would have a hard time spending a large amount of cash on a coach that was 10+ years old vs newer technology. I’ll keep saving up and maybe Tesla’s stock will buy me a new Marathon one day?
 
I found myself at the Tampa RV Supershow back in January of ‘18 sitting on a bench near the Prevost conversions. I believe there were four or five conversion company’s represented at that show.

A middle aged gentleman sat down next to me and we struck up a conversation. I referred to the nearby Prevost coach that had a price tag north of two million. The gentleman said, “You don’t need to pay anything close to that for one of these coaches.”

I asked him to explain.

He said, “I’m the owner of XYZ coach (he named a major converter you have all heard of). A big part of our business is rebuild and refurbishment. You go out and find a five or six year old Prevost that has been beat up by some band or race crew, whatever. It will have 300 to 400 thousand miles on it. You can buy it for less than $400. Bring it to me with another $400 and in six months I’ll give it back looking like that one.”

I wasn’t sure he was legit, but he handed me his business card and it backed up his story.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
@deaton
That‘s a great find and makes total sense If owning a prevost chassis is on your wish list.
 
You can buy it for less than $400. Bring it to me with another $400 and in six months I’ll give it back looking like that one.”
I'm thinking that is $400K...right? I'd buy them all day for "$400" and spend another "$400" to get it looking like new. ;)

TJ
 
I’m thinking that 400k will quickly double or more when you sit down to work up the detailed wish list.

The point was that these bus shells are robust enough to easily accommodate a major rebuild. You don’t have to buy a new one.
 

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