Paul's idea of a Prevost HMO has some merit and could be easily done.

There are routine tasks that should be done to a schedule based on mileage, and some based on calendar time. If an owner would bring his coach in for service at the same time annually I would think that he would have a predictable amount of money to spend at the annual event, and only needed to spend money for the short term service such as a lube or oil change in between.

For example, brake chambers, air bags, coolant changes etc could be put on a calendar schedule. Fluids and filters would be the intermediate tasks.

Where the problems will creep in is when something beyond the scope of preventive maintenance occurs. What happens if the coach starts to lean after its annual service? What if the bay door locks quit working? How will problems with the conversion be handled? A facility that has Marathon expertise may not be able to trouble shoot a problem with a CC.

From experience I know maintenance is ongoing. Once I zeroed out my coach and replaced every filter, every drop of fluid, all brake chambers, all air bags and all Norgrens for example my maintenance requirements did not stop. All I ended up with was a new starting point and now all service is staggered because of varying service intervals for the various tasks. And even in between oil changes or lube jobs I still have a list of little things such as a bad coil on a solenoid valve or a pesky satellite to address.

I know from past experience it is imperitive for me to never let a small problem go unaddressed. When that happens the little things mount up, and some little things turn into serious issues if they are not fixed. The best example I can give is aux air system leaks. When the compressor starts running every 18 hours instead of every 24 hours you know there is a leak. But when that is ignored and the compressor starts cycling evey 10 hours, then 6 hours then every four hours then every five minutes you are in a world of hurt because you have no clue whether you have one big leak or 10 smaller ones. Hours upon hours can be spent chasing that problem and if you are paying someone to do that it can run into thousands of dollars.

The same applies to the leans. Ignore the first sign of the leans and from that point on as they worsen you really don't know if you are after one leak that is getting bigger or more than one.

So an HMO for buses all of a sudden takes on a rather complex shape. Does an owner come in for every little problem ASAP, or are they to accumulate and become part of an annual preventive maintenance schedule? Who works on the house? What about stuff that has the need to be done by Prevost such as rebuilding a slide, replacing a seal or dealing with some of the more serious problems?

What we need is for Prevost to revert back to the Prevost of old. Today Prevost is hit and miss. Some work they have been doing according to folks in POG is exceptional. Some according to POG members not only sucks, but is too expensive. It sounds to me like an owner that does not have a personal knowledge and relationship with one of the more qualified techs is gambling with his money and his coach. The work should be first class and at a reasonable price, but as has been posted in some cases the owner is paying for on the job training and the results are often unsatisfactory, which prompts this whole discussion in the first place.

How do owners that do not want to do their own work want an HMO to work? I do know the more proactive the maintenance schedule is, the less surprises, but in no way can anyone expect to go for months or even a year without service requirements.