New member searching for Prevost

[adamdegraff]

I'm no expert, but one thing that was a must for us was the Detroit Diesel Series 60. Better fuel economy, longevity, and performance. You can find them in coaches as old as 1994 (somebody correct me if I'm wrong.) But to get one with the 6 speed Allison transmission you need to move up to the 1995. I have heard a few first hand accounts of the DD60 and the Allison 5 speed tranny not working well together and causing some problems. So I guess I might prefer the 8V92 to the DD60 and Allison 5 speed. But the DD60 and Allison 6 speed is awesome!

Also, having purchased my coach only 8 months ago, and having looked at dozens and dozens of busses... I really noticed a difference between the converters. Sometimes on the outside, they looked the same, but the guts were quite different. After seeing all those coaches I decided for myself to go with a Marathon. And I'm glad that I did.

If you are still looking in 8 months, give me a call. I'm thinking I might want to trade for a coach with a queen bed and two bunk beds in it. We have another national tour scheduled for 2010-11 and our current situation won't be ideal. So if anybody knows of a Marathon (I'm hooked) with a queen and two bunks WITHOUT slides, let me know!

Good luck!

Adam

[Trendycat]

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcomes and feedback/suggestions we've received both here and through PM over the past 24 hours. We're looking forward to becoming active members of this unique group.

We'll be heading to FL next week to work on establishing domicile for our move to full time travel and will be visiting some of the seemingly many dealers or brokers in FL offering Prevost.

We've made contact with Parliament Coach and are planning on trying to make appointments with some of the other sponsors of this forum. Does anyone have recommendations/suggestions (PM or email is fine if you don't want to make a public posting)?

Thanks,
Bruce

[rickdesilva]

BruceYou will quickly find out that the $100 investment you made in POG is one of the best investments you could make especially when your looking for a coach.* The support from the members is unbelievable. Lots of luck on your search......Don't let the warm welcome fool you. There is a dark side........they are equal opportunity offenders.

[phorner]

There are some advantages to Florida residency. Check out the State of Florida web site and you can find a lot of information regarding this matter.

They do have a certificate of domicile that is available at county offices as well as tax offices.

Good luck!

[dale farley]

Bruce,

One of the down sides to Florida residency is that you will pay between 6% and 7% sales tax when you buy a bus. Dale (Pensacola, FL)

[Trendycat]

Bruce,

One of the down sides to Florida residency is that you will pay between 6% and 7% sales tax when you buy a bus. Dale (Pensacola, FL)

Dale,

That's true, however it's still less than the 8.5% sales tax rate in my area of NY state. At least FL still doesn't have an income tax.

[MangoMike]

HipCat,

Welcome to POG.

If you're interested in stepping up to a fuel efficient Series 60, I have a great Bill Bailout Deal on a 97 Liberty.

Looking forward to meeting you down the road at bus get together.

Mike

[adamdegraff]

We've made contact with Parliament Coach and are planning on trying to make appointments with some of the other sponsors of this forum. Does anyone have recommendations/suggestions (PM or email is fine if you don't want to make a public posting)?

OK, I have some opinions on this that I am sure others will disagree with. I found that the coaches for sale by owner were both in better shape AND less expensive. I've never seen Mango's liberty, in fact I've never even met him, but I do know how obsessed he is with taking care of his bus. So, if I were looking for a coach, I would be looking at once like his. You "might" find one in as good of shape at a major dealer, but you will pay WAY more. Now, why would you want to do that? (OK there are reasons, but IMO, they are far offset by the money you will save.)

Good luck,

Adam

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Bruce,

As you see more and more coaches you will begin to form opinions on what is important to you. Where you use your coach, how you use your coach, and how much you intend to spend for your coach all come into play.

If you flip your things (like cars) it is less important to make the right choice because in a few years you get to seek a replacement, but if you consider a coach to be a long term purchase you really need to make the right choice. Remodeling and upgrading is expensive and it costs the same to remodel a new $1,000,000 dollar coach as it does to remodel a $100,000 dollar coach, and neither remodeling or upgrade wil add anything of consequence to the value of the coach.

Since this is a buyer's market take your time, read the posts here on this forum where members have debated and discussed the merits of certain features like roof airs, cruise airs, over the road air, slides, layouts, webasto, aquahot, espar, and various converters.

When you have questions post them, or if you do not want the questions or responses public send emails or do a PM, but as Rick says, take advantage of the collected wisdom here. Every single one of us has gone through the purchase process and the choices a new owner has to make are daunting. Remember this....every salesman you talk to will steer you toward the product they have on hand. They have a vested interest in telling you what you want to hear. On the other hand, these same guys that want access to your wallet also know these coaches and can and should be able to provide you with close up and personal knowledge of the systems and various features you have to consider.

But when push comes to shove the group here will give you its opinions freely and usually very accurately reflect the opinions from the owner's point of view. Also, consider the coaches available from POG members and that are posted on the Prevost Stuff sites. Usually you are going to get a very good product as Adam points out because you and the seller are likely to be parked side by side at the next rally making it very hard for a seller to take advantage of you.

[jelmore]

Bruce, related to your state of residency . . . Bennett law firm in Montana helped explain things like why register in Montana (huge tax savings) and reciprocal agreements with other states with regard to how those states handle residency and taxes on your coach. We found it best to keep our residency in Oklahoma via a private mail box at a physical address. Even though we still pay Oklahoma income tax, it's far better than what our health insurance would have ballooned to had we "moved" to a state with no income tax. And our bus insurance is based on Oklahoma residency. Just a few more things to consider if you're going to travel full time.

Also consider what you gain with each newer year that you look at. Improvements were made every year by both the converters and Prevost. Of course I'm partial to Liberty (not the glitz ... the systems) but we carefully considered a Marathon and a couple of Vantares. The stability of the converter was a big influence. That said, they all started out good. It's a great ride.