Prevost Repair & Maintenance Costs

[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.