Prevost Repair & Maintenance Costs

[cmillsap]

So, you’re considering buying your first Prevost or you have just purchased it and are wondering how much that thing is going to cost you to keep it repaired and in proper condition. Hopefully, if you have just bought it, you have already taken it to Prevost for a Pre-Purchase Inspection and experienced the great service provided to all owners regardless of the age of the bus. If so, then you already know that great service doesn’t come cheap.

Omitting any emergency repairs throughout the year, you should have your Prevost serviced and inspected annually. Typically, owners put less than 10,000 miles annually on their bus but if you will be using it to rack up more mileage than that, the service and inspection intervals will need to be more frequent.

Many mechanically inclined owners like to do as much of the service and inspections as they can, like changing the fluids and filters, but there is only so much that can be done without getting under the bus to do so. In most cases that is a difficult proposition as you need a pit or a method to raise the bus to provide adequate space underneath to perform the repair or service. The safety factor is an important consideration also. Over the years, I’ve found it to be much more convenient to let the knowledgeable Techs at Prevost and Marathon do the work. Although it’s not cheap, I believe it to be money well spent.

So, what’s a Prevost owner to expect regarding the cost to keep their Prevost conversion in proper running order. Well, as an example, posted below is a recent invoice I received from Prevost for the annual service and inspection performed on my bus. Over a period of a year you will find little issues on your bus that needs fixing and this invoice reflects several of those items initiated by me. There’s almost always air leaks that needs attention. The braking system and components should always get a rigorist inspection. And, as you can see, there was some items located under the bus that needed repair that I wasn’t even aware of, such as the tag lift canisters.

And I haven’t even spoken of the household items that invariably need service and repair. Many of those repairs, I do myself but I maintain a list of items that I can’t do and have Marathon fix them when I’m near one of their service centers.

Last year, I spent $21,180 on my Prevost. Granted that some of the items on the list I chose to do to upgrade my coach and generally speaking are not required but I like to keep it looking as new as possible for a 14 year-old coach.

This year I’ve only spent the $2,836 as reflected on the invoice below but I intend to visit Marathon this summer to have a few things fixed that will add to this year’s total cost.

As a new or potential owner, this should give you a good idea of what you can most likely look forward to as an average cost to maintain a Prevost.

[ERNIEE]

I had the OTR air serviced. Someone added 5 pounds of Freon over the specs- the relays said no to that and thus it would not work. Techs recovered all Freon and put back the correct amount. I could never attempt any of this.

[davidbrady]

Thanks for that Chuck. Here's mine for my recently completed Level-3 plus Transynd flush, plus generator service, plus Federal Inspection. As you can see I had all of this done at my local tour bus operator, Burke Christian Tours. The factory service centers are without parallel, but for a simple chassis inspection and lube, fluids, and filters change you can often find better prices at your local tour bus operator. Also, talk about a red carpet service. I know everyone who works there by name because I've used them for years to do service on my Wanderlodge. I hang out and crawl under and around the coach while they work directing them to this and that. The invoice isn't totally accurate, they often do things without charging. The engine oil is Schaeffer synthetic. The service was a complete Level 3 plus the items above.

[cmillsap]

David,

That’s a very fair price, consider yourself fortunate to have a reliable local source to service your Prevost and at a very reasonable price too. As you can see, Level 3 service alone at Prevost cost me $994.58 ($500 labor + $494.58 in Parts). Are you satisfied that Burke practices the same procedures and covers everything Prevost does to complete the lengthy list of Level 3 items? That list is long enough to require 4 hours of labor to perform.

[davidbrady]

Thanks Chuck,

Yes, without question. They know exactly what a level-3 is but in fact they do more. They also add in inspection of the sliding brake calipers, sliding pins and rubber boots, rotor condition, drive shaft yokes, suspension bushings, tie-rod ends, sway bar bushings, and all other bushings such as radiator support bushings.

Look at my receipts below, one from Richmond BC, and one from Goodlettesville, TN, both Level-2 services. Richmond charged 0.8 hours of labor and Goodlettesville charged 1.7 hours. The waters over the dam now but had I looked back then I would have asked why double the time at Goodlettesville.

Chuck, your added Level-3 items can't take an additional 2.5 hours can they? Unless they were slowed down by a complication, but in that case I believe you would know.

Compare the cost of transynd fluid and filter swap between Burke and Richmond. Burke: $582 including 1 hour labor, Richmond: $945 including 3 hours labor; the fluid is $105 more expensive at Prevost, but the filters are $25 cheaper. Why the additional labor? I don't know. I have to say, we need to watch Prevost and compare new charges with old receipts for fairness. There's nothing wrong with disputing a charge.

[CC_Guy]

You can certainly spend as much as you'do like on upgrades. However, if I just look at non house maintenance cost, knock on wood, for the past 5 years I estimate the cost less than $2K per year. Of course, we can't plan for the unexpected, the $5K fuel injector replacement. I also believe some spend too much money throwing serviceable items away. As examples, to establish a firm 5 year replacement for tires and all batteries is just wasteful. I can't imagine not getting 7 years out of tires and house, not chassis, batteries. Sure, house battery life will be shorter for those in the dessert heat or those that deep cycle their batteries often.

[davidbrady]

Hi CC_Guy,

$2K per year sounds about right for the essentials. Of course, batteries and tires would all be extra.

I'm with you on the throwing away of good parts. I promise, if I had access to those old parts I could maintain my coach! The zero-out propaganda almost certainly has an unadvertised profit motive attached; perhaps part ownership in a certain repair facility???

[Hisham Amaral]

(04-28-2017 10:46)davidbrady Wrote:  Hi CC_Guy,

$2K per year sounds about right for the essentials. Of course, batteries and tires would all be extra.

I'm with you on the throwing away of good parts. I promise, if I had access to those old parts I could maintain my coach! The zero-out propaganda almost certainly has an unadvertised profit motive attached; perhaps part ownership in a certain repair facility???

David and CC Guy
I'am not sure that you can ever zero out a coach unless you take it back to the factory and have Prevost completely redo the coach. Zero out is anther B.S. story that someone came up with. I am not sure of the intent.
If someone wants to zero out their coach they have to rebuild the engine, transmission, brakes, drive train, paint and every component inside the coach and not only tires, batteries and Norgren valves.
So far this year my cost is zero until I go to Mira Loma for air leak service in June, I am replacing the drive and tag airbags and some possible Norgren valves and the flex exhaust tub.
Last year I replaced the front slide seal and front air bags. I update some parts but not all every year just like I did on my airplanes to keep them in the air and airworthy.

[cmillsap]

Hish is right on. “Zeroing It Out” is a ridiculous phrase if taken literally as the job would never be finished. Now, if you want to regard it as a process to systemically “Replace and Repair” items on your coach that have reached the end of their intended life span, that’s another matter. There are items on our coaches that should be replaced periodically. This would include not only tires and batteries but such things as shocks, A-Arms, air bags, brake canisters and the like. These should be replaced on a schedule commensurate with their designed life expectancy. Otherwise, you may find yourself stuck on the side of the road due to the failure of an item that was overdue for replacement.

David, it’s a far-gone conclusion that repair costs at a Prevost Service Center is usually more expensive than most other places. Sometimes I do question their charges. For example, a simple CAC pressure test should be able to be done in less than 2.1 hours. The 4 hours required to do a level 3 service on my bus included checking all 6 hub seals. Given the awful design of my Marathon 3-piece hub caps, it could have taken 2 hours to remove and replace them. They’re beautiful but a PIA to remove and replace, especially if you are unfamiliar with them and fail to mark them properly before you remove them. I did advise the Prevost Tech to mark the pieces well as he disassembled them. Whether he did or not, I don’t know. I watched a Tech at Marathon struggle with them for a half day trying to replace them all after a tire mobile mechanic removed them to install new tires without marking them and placed them all in a big pile on the floor. A while back, I replaced a front hub seal. It took about 30 minutes to replace the seal and refill with oil but another hour to get the damn hub cap back on and positioned properly. Right then and there, I decided that the next time they had to come off, I’d pay someone else to wrestle with them.

Regarding the annual costs to keep a Prevost maintained, a large portion of the expense is the cost of labor charged to service, replace or repair the myriad of parts found on a Prevost. It’s standard procedure for owners, including me, to question the amount of labor invoiced. Hell, in my world, an hour seems like a fleeting minute as it takes me an hour just to turn around. I would argue more with the $125 rate than the hours spent. Obviously, if you can do much of the work yourself, you may be able to keep the maintenance costs down. However, many owners are not equipped to do their own repairs and will have to pay up for someone else’s labor. I doubt that my annual maintenance costs on average will ever reach the $2000 to $3000 level but I think doubling those figures is a realistic average annual cost that can be achieved.

[CC_Guy]

The hourly rate is but one number in the service cost equation. Frankly, when time is not charged based on established book rates, the $125/Hour is somewhat meaningless. As an example, a shop that charges 6 hours at $100 for a specific service is no more expensive than one that charges $125 for 5 hours. The real question we would all like to know in advance, and it often seems like an elusive number, is how many hours will a given job take.