Folks new to Prevost ownership have often asked how much various things cost. With the economy and the market for coaches as it is today there are some thing becoming very apparent.
The first thing that I have begun to realize is the price of new coaches is not going down. It costs more to build a coach today than it did yesterday. And I don't think that will change anytime soon unless coaches have reduced features or content. So today we see coaches costing between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 using round numbers. What does than mean to the used coach market? Apparently not much because their prices are still not at the bottom.
So as a new owner what does this mean?
First, there are coaches out there in the marketplace that are so cheap relative to their value it is ridiculous. Speaking personally I wish the prices would go up, and if not go up, at least quit dropping. Anyone buying a coach that intends to sell it at some point has to recognize the rapidly depreciating value is a real cost of ownership and it can be ignored as long as the coach is owned, but as soon as the coach owner wants to sell or trade that mid six figure coach may be valued by the market substantially less. How much less depends on far too many factors to give precise information, but one thing is for sure, the more it cost when purchased the greater the loss due to depreciation. What is sad is that two coaches from the same converter may be equally equipped with mileage equal to about 10 or 20 thousand miles per year (a meaningless unit of measure on our coaches) and be valued hundreds of thousands of dollars different from one another.
But for get for the moment depreciation and the loss of earnings on the invested capital which we all ignore anyway. Lets consider maintenance and repairs.
The first thing to recognize is no matter how much you paid for the coach, you still are maintaining a vehicle that cost seven figures. As a result routine maintenance is going to be the same whether you have a new coach or a 20 year old coach. If you are stretching to buy a coach, consider that if you are like a typical new owner you will spend serious money in addition to the purchase price to bring the coach up to your standards. That cost may be reflected in a new HDTV or a new floor, or a change in the decor. But more likely that additional cost is going to be because you want it to be in the best shape possible for your travels and that might mean anything from new tires to a complete service.
So what does all that cost? I cannot tell you what a shop charges, but I can tell you what certain items cost in terms of materials and labor hours. The best way for an owner to start with maintenance is to get quotes.
To lube the chassis which is scheduled for 6200 miles or twice a year requires at least one hour, and double that if you expect even a modest level of checking of other items such as brakes, hoses, hub fluid levels, draining air tanks, etc. Add another hour if you want the underside to get a very detailed lube and inspection.
Oil changes which should include oil and fuel filters will require about 9 gallons of oil at $15 per gallon and about $50 worth of fuel and oil filters. The labor is going to be about 2 hours and even more should be spent going over everything so it is not unreasonable for a full service to cost about $200 for materials and require no less than 5 hours of labor. If I had a shop quote between $800 and $1000 I would not be surprised.
Depending on miles accumulated each year it is not unusual to expect to spend $2000 to $3000 for routine service. Obviously less if you do it yourself.
We have what I consider time limited items. For me they are things such as tires (6 years), batteries (5 years), air bags (10 years), Norgren valves (10 years), brake chambers (5 years), transmission service (4 years), slide seals (5 years???) etc. The values below are rough numbers for both materials and labor.
Tires 8@ $850 or $6800 or $1133 per year
Batteries 4?@ $550 or $2200 or $440 per year
Air Bags $1300 plus 10 hours or about $2500 or about $250 per year
Norgren Valves about $1000 plus 8 hours or about $180 per year
Brake chambers $650 plus about 8 hours or $330 per year
Tranmission $320 plus about 2 hours or about $130 per year
Slide seals about $2400 each plus 10 hours or about 680 per year.
Coolant changes about $300 plus 6 hours labor or $450 per year
There is no way to estimate the additional smaller or repair items but it would be safe to use $1000 per year unless something major needs to be fixed. Fuel at current cost of $3.75 per gallon at 6.5 MPG is about $.58 per mile so to own a two slide coach, not counting depreciation will cost about $5800 in maintenance, plus at 10,000 miles per year about $5800 for fuel, plus the cost of insurance.
Items like hub seals, failed alternators, repairs to the house, etc. are over and above the costs stated. If you do your own work the cost is much less. If you do not do any of your own work and do not shop for price it could cost a lot more. Older coaches that start to experience other forecast and unforeseen repairs may end up costing much more to operate because repairs may become more frequent
New paint jobs, new interiors, and other upgrades will prove very expensive.
Remember, you may be driving a bargain by buying a lightly used 1990 model, but that coach will still need maintenace costs which are still as expensive (or more) than those for a $2,000,000 coach.
