More Bad News: Prevost Suing Country Coach

[Coloradobus]

LAST PARAGRAPH says it all!!


Country Coach Case Needs More Documentation
RV Business
Wednesday, February 4, 2009

As reported by the Register-Guard, a federal magistrate said today (Feb. 5) he needed to hear more legal arguments before allowing Wells Fargo Bank to take possession of collateral from Country Coach LLC, which can’t repay an $8 million loan balance — even though the bank said power and heat at the Junction City, Ore., plant would be shut off Wednesday unless it pays the landlord $58,000.

“We are in immediate peril of our collateral being damaged,” David Kurzwell, an Atlanta attorney representing Wells Fargo, told Magistrate Thomas Coffin during a two-hour hearing in U.S. District Court in Eugene.

Coffin, though, said he wouldn’t “shoot from the hip,” and asked Wells Fargo’s lawyers to file a brief by the end of business Thursday that spells out their arguments and specifies exactly what collateral they want to collect.

Wells Fargo said Country Coach is in default on nearly $8 million from a $25 million revolving loan fund, and lawyers for Country Coach conceded the point.

But the lawyers disagreed on how to resolve the dispute.

Meanwhile, another creditor filed suit Wednesday morning against Country Coach in an effort to recovers assets. Prevost, a Canadian manufacturer of bus chassis, said Country Coach has four of its bus shells, valued at $500,000 each, and Prevost wants them back.

[flyu2there]

This is a note that I received from Country Coach, pretty much looks like the party is all over!! Of course I am not an East Coaster and I didn't sign up for their rally...they are using the blunderbust theory, mail it to everone..... must have a few bucks left n the postage meter machine......

January 28, 2009

Hello to our Country Coach East Coast Class Reunion registered attendees. ﾠ

If you are currently registered for the ECCR, you will be receiving a letter at your mailing address on file. However, in order to expedite notice, we have posted this website update. ﾠ

The company closure at Country Coach has extended beyond original plans,ﾠand the rally staff in the Marketing Department has been unable to coordinate the March 9-13, 2009 rally event. We remain committed to delivering a quality rally experience to you, our most valued coach owners and friends. In the interests of maintainingﾠour high collectiveﾠevent standards,ﾠtoday we are notifyingﾠeach of our registered rally attendees that the event at Jekyll Island, Georgia will not be held at this time.ﾠWe apologize for any scheduling inconvenience this may cause.ﾠﾠ

In its place in early June there will be a Country Coach East Coast event held in the Virginia/D.C. area. Exact dates and location will be announcedﾠonce Country Coach's Junction City facilities are operational again in March. At that time if you wish to transfer your rally registration fee to that rally, we will be happy to do so.ﾠAlso at that time, youﾠwill be able to let us knowﾠif the June schedule does not fit in your plans, and we'll process your registration refund.ﾠﾠﾠ

If your travel plans allow, we look forward to seeing you at the June event. ﾠ

Country Coach Management

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Having been involved in several acquisitions of distressed businesses a long time ago this situation is looking like it may indeed be all over for CC.

Without inside knowledge it is only a guess, but when secured creditors start picking up their assets the company is effectively being disassembled. The probability it will survive as it exists today is slim. Adding to the dismal prospects is the fact that this is an industry wide slump, so if any assets could be recovered for the resumption of production they will likely be used to produce only the most profitable products in the line if there are any. The single greatest asset a company has is a skilled workforce, and once the employees are lost resumption of production and product support is all but gone.

Absent a buyer willing to buy the bulk of the assets for the purpose of resuming production, I envision the selling of them at a bankruptcy auction to individuals or companies looking for real bargains. The least valuable assets at that point are the engineering drawings and records relating to component sources, posing a serious problem to existing owners.

I have bought the assets of businesses as a bulk sale and seen first hand how quickly engineering documentation, purchasing records, and proprietary items like jigs and fixtures get scattered about, never to be used again.

[Coloradobus]

HI Jon,

This so sad a scenario, I fear another Oregon manufacturer maybe next to fall a victim of the econmony. As has been pointed out to us by Country Coach friends, the current Management has had a track record long standing of this sort of company failure. Those include Oregon based Destinations Rv, and Safari Motor Coach to name a few. We felt it was just a matter of time this sort of thing would play out after the CC's helm change earlier this century. Our Afffinity was one of the best coaches we have owned. If we hadn't captured MPD, we would still own our 2000 Affinity,#5847. As far as we know, it currently resides in Galipolis, Ohio.

[Jamie Bradford]

Is CC's demise really going to be an issue for present owners?? Surely there are people out there who can deal with any issues that may surface. Perhaps I should have said " hopefully ".

We always have Jon if the the going get's really tough.


Jamie

[dale farley]

Jamie, I don't know CC's demise is going to make a great difference in our customer service. I have replaced a few things on my bus this year, and the only thing I ordered from CC was some of the small round high intensity lights that are scattered throughout the ceiling. The other things, such as a part for my shower door, I got from the door manufacturer. Maybe CC will sell or turn-over their drawings to someone who will actually take the time to study them and provide meaningful information to customers when they have questions.

[Coloradobus]

Dale,

The only part/item that maybe an issue obtaining are your Mulon light switches that turn on celing lights, side dash switches,etc. When we owned Coach 60449, I tried to buy directly from the Korean company that makes them, and was unsuccessful. As you may know, they are fragile and brittle. Take of them.

[dale farley]

I was not aware that those light switches were unique to CC. I assume you are referring to the ones that I have about 100 of throughout the coach.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

If I owned a CC I would not worry about much because a lot of stuff is easily sourced.

What would get me seriously worried is the CC circuit boards and the interface CC has with the Prevost chassis. They are unique in how they have their interface and electronics set up. The good news if there is any is that there are enough CC coaches out there to justify someone with intimate knowledge of them to set up a service business, plus I suspect a lot of their dealers possess the skills to support the product.

It would appear to me the near future is where present owners will be OK, but as the coaches age support seems to wane on any coach and this is where it will get a little dicey.

CC owners need to band together to actively support whoever picks up the responsibility to service owner's needs. In fact they may need to become a group that shares information about all technical and service matters.

[0533]

I would recommend that Jim open a permanent CC master category for all CC stuff that would allow each CC owner to post under important thread categories specific to CC owners.

It would not be a bad idea to have the same for Liberty, Marathon etc. Finding stuff, selling stuff Liberty or Marathon, or others that is converter specific even how to's could prove valuable for owners and might attract new POG members for the forum.