Talk to me about this H3

[GDeen]

Looks overpriced for a 2000, but has some nice features and the interior suits my eye over some of the more "glitzy" stuff. Whaddya think??

http://http://www.rvonline.com/single-ad.asp?Recnumber=37700&SearchMethod=1 (http://www.rvonline.com/single-ad.asp?Recnumber=37700&SearchMethod=1)

[Jon Wehrenberg]

The best thing about being in the hunt for a bus is if you look at enough of th em and you learn what you really want and need is that you will not have to ask anyone's opinion of the coach. You will literally experience that "eureka" moment when you have found the coach.

With respect to that particular coach you should ask some serious questions of yourself. Is the layout what you want or need based on how you intend to use the coach? Are the systems going to meet your needs? How does the converter support the coach? What is your proximity to the converter for service? What does the coach computers show about codes? What do the Prevost service records show? Does the coach have documentation to prove it was maintained in accordance with the required service schedule? Are the slides Prevost slides, and if not how will they be supported in the future?

Specific to Vantare it should be noted they may have ruined the market. They have been dumping brand new coaches in the market at sub $1 MM prices and it has had a devastating impact on pricing.

[garyde]

Hi Jon. Regarding Featherlite, I noticed most of their new inventory is now sold. Several months ago they had 12-16 2007's & 2008's listed on their web site. Country Coach was discounting heavily as well. Legendary, as they were closing were selling at $600,000.00. This begs the question, are we in a down cycle or is this a contining downward trend for the conversion industry. It appears historically Prevost Converters come and go except for 2 or 3. The ones that remain are able to maintain their margins because of their reputation and service. How long can they stay profitable in a down market?

[Just Plain Jeff]

That's one sharp looking coach, for plastic.

As Simon LaGree previously noted, it is way overpriced at the advertised level. Featherlite has had a tradition of over-producing coaches and then dropping the prices to get product sold. At last year's Tampa Super Show they were promoting coaches at $979K, new. I'm pretty sure on a cash basis, most of the most successful converters don't get street-level cash money for a new coach, but pack some of the margins in on a trade. The margins aren't that great on a new coach. Instead, the real juice is typically found with trades and dealer participation in financing packages.

In and around 2000, Featherlite offered a 0% financing program which proffered coaches at close-to retail (a front buy-back of the financing) and wound up eating about 18 of them at my count. You'll find discreprancies between their website and what is on-the-ground at Sanford and elsewhere, BTW.

For your background, Featherlite is the premier supplier to horse-owners with most excellent trailers. They've run into a series of bumpy patches trying to compete in the Big Boy Prevost category over the years. We used their service facility in Sanford several years ago and it was among the best. (N.B. at that time Nelson Figueroa nee Millennium was running it).

One way of looking at a newer preowned coach is to look at the lasting quality of the same conversion, say a 10- or 15 year old coach to see how they hold up and what they look like. There are plenty of Featherlite/Vantare coaches around to do just that.

What you will find with the F/V coaches is a lot of very fussy electronic work with inverters/batteries and such which are software dependent. That kind of stuff makes me nervous, but then again I like stainless, so there you go.

You asked.

[GDeen]

Thanks for the responses fellas - much appreciated. I realize that many of the answers are subjective and peoples preferences. There is a reason for that and I like hearing about it.

Sounds like Vantare has had some interesting history. Is it safe to say they are number 3 behind (perhaps far behind) Marathon and Liberty?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

There are so many ways to position coaches in the market it boils down to personal preference.

The market typically allows model year to model year coaches made by Liberty or Marathon to be priced a little higher than the market for other coaches. Whether a 5 or ten year old Liberty or Marathon is actually worth more is best answered by someone who has actually had other conversions and is in a position to compare.

What is clear is that the market is willing to pay a premium for a coach whose converter still remains in business, and that makes coaches converted by the likes of Angola or Royale (for example) likely to be very good values for people willing to assume some responsibility for repairs and maintenance.

One cannot ignore the fact that each converter seems to have a "signature" design so in addition to price a buyer really has to decide if there is something about a particular coach that is so important that other converter's products will not be considered.

Beware of the booby trap that some fall into regarding price. More than one purchaser has bought a coach because it was a "deal" only to find out later that it just wasn't what they wanted. Selling a coach is a whole lot more difficult than buying one so make sure what you buy is right for you. Forget what other people think, they don't have to live with it.