The key is you better have a damn good justification for the purchase, and your record keeping has to be impeccible.

But David is absolutely correct, except for one little detail. When you realize the $1.17 MM (as a trade in or outright sale) you have to recapture the gain and you are subject to pay taxes on that gain. Ouch! Of course if you want to avoid the tax consequences just hang onto the coach partially purchased courtesy of the IRS. In 10 or 15 years when you sell it the gain which you recapture will be quite modest thanks to how the market values older coaches.

Having said that, we have often been approached in campgrounds by owners of high end motorhomes who want to talk about the Prevost. Up until the XLII was produced very few knew the difference between a relatively new Prevost and an older one. Even today there are a lot of folks who really don't know the ages of our coaches. I have been shocked at the number of people driving one or two year old high end motorhomes that have mentioned how they wished they could afford a Prevost and who stated that one day they will own one. It is like they have been hit in the head with a club when they are given the tour of the coach and then find out I paid a lot less for my coach than they did for their Signature or similar motorhome.

"What is a trade worth today" is actually the wrong question motorhome purchasers should ask. They should instead determine if within their budget for a conventional motorhome is it possible to purchase a good or even great used Prevost for the same dollars. We know everything that rolls depreciates. But I think we, Prevost and the converters are all doing ourselves an injustice by not broadcasting how much coach the owner of a used Prevost is getting in terms of value, reliability, quality, and durability compared to a conventional motorhome. If there were a concerted effort to make potential buyers aware of exactly how much they would get with a Prevost conversion compared to a lesser quality and more rapidly depreciating motorhome we would all benefit, including the buyers who migh otherwise have considered a motorhome.

Today's brain dump.