PDI: You have asked a sincere, simple question that has a very complicated answer.

It depends upon where and from whom you are buying a coach. If a coach is being purchased from a converter, Jon's answer is completely correct, and the cost of the PDI should be incorporated into the purchase price. All systems are inspected, both chassis and conversion sides of the coach and should operate at factory specifications. Most converters do not address cosmetic issues, such as paint, laminate chips or cracked tiles without paying additional money. But the coach should operate as new in every way, water, electricity, air systems, no cracked windshields, air conditioning and so on.

The issue becomes much more complicated when purchasing from a private party or through some kind of brokerage service. These sellers do not have service capabilities, therefore the coach is being sold, "As-Is." It's tough to put a price tag on what that kind of a PDI would cost as one is dealing with the unknown. A set of tires alone on a coach is about $5,000, house batteries and chassis batteries (likely for a 99 coach) is another several thousand dollars. It isn't out of the question that on a cash basis that with parts and labor that an out of pocket PDI could cost $10-20K, if the coach has a lot of work to be done on it, in addition to tires and batteries.

Most converters build the cost of the PDI into their sales price. They are figuring that their labor cost is out of pocket, at a much lower price than the 'retail' hourly rate and they are buying parts at wholesale, so their true cost is less than what one of us might pay, driving in a service facility, so their cost overall is somewhat less.

If purchasing through someone other than a converter, the PDI can become a rather contentious issue; some coach sellers may not be aware of items that need attention, "It worked for me." Or, "Everything works." Well, maybe and maybe not. The simplest scheme is to either buy the coach, As-Is, knowing that there will be some thousands of dollars of work to be performed, you can count on it, or perhaps that the seller will trust that the converter or service shop of your choice will do the PDI and the seller will pick up the tab for the work.

The 'inspection' part of the PDI is simply to determine what needs to be done; the actual accomplishment of the work to be done is much higher. That varies by coach, the condition of the coach, the organization doing the work and so on.

Years ago, one dealer used to offer The White House PDI.

"After you drive past the first white house, you're on your own."

So, a PDI, is both an inspection and repair to factory specs, in my book.

Hopefully this response doesn't create more confusion than you may have had before you posed this question.