2001 Liberty under $300,000

[merle&louise]

Alex,

You're right, I noticed the same thing. Maybe the Kartier designer was from Kalifornia

Truk, Mel, & Dale, the low price is indicative of the current market. Like when Featherlite had a fire sale on those new buses for $975K a few months back. When product doesn't move, lower the price > Cardinal rule of selling.
When we were in Kerrville, Paul Davis had 98 Liberty that was purple and gold (LSU colors) asking $275K. A month later it was on eBay with a buy it now price of $250K - it didn't sell. So like Mel said, Paul Davis has a reputation for selling at low prices.

This bus was on eBay Jul 20th, with an ending bid of $200,101.99. There were 2 bids. I have it saved in my Watch items on eBay.

Ray,

Paul Davis probably had it detailed and then took more photos. I have enough faith in Liberty and its systems and quality to want to dig a little deeper. I will keep my eyes open and have a PDI done (again) and have DD & Allison run the codes if I get more serious.

Thanks guys.

[Ray Davis]

Tuga,

Good luck on this one. Thanks for the confirmation that i HAD seen it!

As someone who is looking hard for the last couple of months, I've found prices all over the place. I've seen standard 2000 XL asking $459k, to the extreme of this Liberty.

Overall, I'd say advertising wise, most places are still not lowering their prices heavily. Although I will say the deals that I've seen have generally been on Vantare, Royale etc.

I'm still waiting for a great deal on a coach that fits my needs, but no-one seems to really be giving anything away at this point. Especially for Marathon's (and generally Liberty's as well). This one seems to be correctly priced for the times.

Ray

[Jon Wehrenberg]

There is no correct price other than what someone will pay for a coach.

There are some coaches that are very valuable to a purchaser and therefore they will pay a premium. At this price, if this coach has no skeletons in its closets it represents a very good buy, but I am sure that if Tuga drags his heels it will not last long because of the price. There are much older coaches of lesser quality and with a less clean and modern appearance that have asking prices in this range.

[merle&louise]

Ray,

I agree, prices have not been slashed yet. I watch the Newell site closely and the ones that are selling (about 6 in the last 6 weeks) are the ones that are creampuffs or the ones that are on sale.

Like Roger said, Dave Walls & all other salesmen want offers: Let's Make A Deal is the name of the game.

[flyu2there]

Paul Davis is a friendly old boy and frankly has cleaned up his act over the last few years, used to be the busses were parked next to his tractors out in Booney Ville, Tx. Truth is that he tends to deal in troubled vehicles, either repos, ugly or beat up, jaded past's or all of the aforementioned.

Case in point, I went out there one day from DFW and he showed me the "Pink Panther" which was the ugliest Prevost that I have ever seen. Purple and Pink and Blue with a shadowed Pink Panther painted on the rear cap...ala Peter Sellers. Nobody, but nobody could sell it and Senor Davis picked it up right and managed to find someone to see the "hidden beauty". Number two, I got a call from Marathon Florida about a relatively new Marathon that was priced very right, looked good! Marathon didn't own it, just tried to sell it as the owner had committted awful crime inside, I recall he made his wife into two wives with he help of a meat cleaver or something like that. It had been cleaned up and the like but Marathon was disclosing its history...ended up at Mr. Olivers for a bunch more than Marathon team wanted, just to make it disappear....so did its history.

So yes, he does sell thing cheaper than most however, buyer be ware.

John

[truk4u]

Tuga,

Hope you don't think we're trying to throw bad Karma your way, but John makes a good point. I on the other hand have bought from Mr. Oliver, been there, picked up my bus and understand how he works. My Marathon was traded at Bleakley in Douglasville, GA on a new Bluebird (unbelievable). I missed it by 2 days and they wholesaled it to Paul Davis because they didn't want to carry the inventory. I found a way to contact the original owner and both the 2nd and 3rd owners and spoke to them at length. I learned the entire history of the bus from the previous owners, so I felt comfortable with purchasing from Mr. Oliver since he only had it about 4 days. The price was right and it turned out to be a good deal overall.

Had I not been able to talk the the previous owners, I would not have made the purchase. I had no issues with Mr. Oliver, but he is clearly a wholesaler who gets his inventory from dealers, cleans them up and puts them on the market. If you have not been to his place, it's low overhead and no frills.

Your POG friends are just looking out for your best interest.

[garyde]

I wonder who's driving that Marathon now John. I wonder if it belongs to a POG member. Tuga, don't forget Liberty takes care of all wayward children and treats them like their own. If you choose to buy this one, Liberty will be there for you.

[tdelorme]

I had just about the same experence as Tom at Mr. Olivers. Liberty had taken the coach in on trade and it was to old for their inventory. Paul Davis is on their list of dealers who will buy units like this, and he did. I called Liberty in Stewart and talked to their service dept. They knew the unit and had serviced it for years and knew of no problems with the coach. Paul claimed that he only made 5 grand off the sale but I'd bet it was closer to 10. We still got a coach that we liked, could pay cash for and knew the price was right. I did have the codes read and the valves run before we bought it. Codes showed the mileage to match the odometer, that the computer had never been read and that the lifetime average fuel mileage was a wopping 5.5 MPG.

[merle&louise]

John, Truk, Gary, & Ted,

Getting information like this is what POG is all about. I want to hear the good and the bad; how else can I make an intelligent decision? I have to weigh both sides; don't worry about karma - I don't! It is good to hear that two of you guys have purchased from Mr. Oliver with good results.

I am going to continue my quest to talk to the original owner(found phone number, but he doesn't answer). I believe that I will get some good info from him. I found out from Paul Davis yesterday that the coach was serviced in Chicago, which explains why Stuart didn't have any maintenance records. So I will be calling Chicago today. Paul told me that the coach is clean and well maintained inside and out. No blood or dismembered body parts >>>> JUST KIDDING

I spoke to Ray yesterday about delamination issues and window problems, and I feel much better about those issues now. Have any other POG members had any delamination problems aside from Kevin? I would like to hear from Prevost on this subject also.

Thanks POG dudes!

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Tuga,

You are between a rock and a hard place. Lets assume the Liberty has a clean bill of health which I suspect you will find.

You want to do a comparison, but what will you be comparing? Are you comparing it to your Newell or to an XL? Your Newell has two slides and two toilets. I don't know if the Newell has OTR, but I do know the Lib has OTR and four Cruise Airs. So you give up floor space and a toilet. You probably gain heating and AC systems that are tough to match much less beat.

I have never driven a Newell, but I do know the Prevost ride and handling is excellent. The generator will be very quiet. Weight and balance will be good. I cannot detect a big difference between my XL and an XLII as far as driving or performance if any. But between my XL and its Liberty XLII counterpart there are some advantages and some disadvantages but those differences are based on my preferences. Yours may vary.

Bottom line however is if you and Karen have that moment when you walk up the steps and know it is a coach for you. None of coach buying makes sense. Go with your gut.