Was looking at buying another H3 to convert but the pictures the guy sent me appear to be two different buses. One set is from 5-6 years shop when the bus was being converted with new slides and the other set of pics shows a similar bus with different slides. Been trying to iron this out but now the seller keeps coming up with excuses like the bus is 120 miles from where he is and after trying to make arrangements to view the bus in person, he said he will have to see what is good for him.
The strange thing is the bus is a 99 with only 8000 miles and never converted. The very wierd thing is the different pics that obviously show different work.
Time will tell!
It does smell like a scam to me. They are everywhere too. A friend of mine was looking for a small pull behind to replace her pop up and was checking Craigslist. She found one that was just a couple years old and in mint condition. The problem was that it was in a storage lot in Pennsylvania and the guy "worked off shore in the Gulf." After a little looking, she found the same trailer for sale in Fl, Ca, and Az. The seller wanted payment through paypal. Needless to say, when she started questioning the seller further, the deal went sour. I guess we all have to remember Buyer beware.
Ace that sounds like the h-3 40 I told you about and Believe you inquired on in Braidenton some time back.
It is for real it is a shell..........still and it only has 8000 miles in fact it has never been titled so once someone converts it it can be titled the current model year. Imagine that a 99/11 conversion LOL.
Last I remember we left it was we all agreed it was way too much doe.
As for the slides & the photos cant help you out there accept that there are HWH slides in the one 'I'm talking about.
Who did you speak to someone named Bob or Jeff or was it a Young lady?
Jeff Bayley has had a H-45 with slides for sale a long time started out wanting 200,000 for it I haven't talked to him in a while but his was located was in Saratoga FL I believe maybe the same bus mileage and year model sound the same,if so check the slides close they had a problem I know Prevost got real upset about the deal they did authorize the slides so I was told by Prevost,and HWH stop selling to public after that
good luck
Yes this is that bus it is all the same vehicle we are talking about. Agreed the old asking price was way out of line.
I was told 135 is what they are asking now. It has been moved and I confirmed that the photos Bob sent Ace were years apart but this is a legitimate sale here. Bob is registered with the state of Fla and I know him and trust and respect him too. He is not the owner just selling it for Jeff.
Ace,
If the seller (not the owner) is Bob Petty, he was at our rally. He had the Prevost with the matching open car hauler on the left side of the main drive (close to Sean) as you were coming in. Jack
Joe, I heard it was under a 100,000 now still about 2 times what I would pay for that one
good luck
Jack, not Bob petty. I know him like I know John. The guy selling t. the bus in question might be legit but it sounds like too many people have their hands in it.
He was asking 125k but says it needed tires a year and a half ago when we looked into it. He also said it was delaminating on the sides. From the pictures, it is definitely two different busses. One the work looks very professional, the other looks like I did it. Very bad job!
IMHO he, they or whoever wil never get 125k in the condition it is being shown. He tells me it has been sitting since he brought it to Florida with an occasional start. He'd be lucky to get 75k for regardless of the milage. Its still a 99 model.
Besides if he isn't wanting to send recent pics or meet me to show it, then it will just keep going down in value.
Quote from: Ace on January 19, 2011, 12:35:48 PM(snip) Besides if he isn't wanting to send recent pics or meet me to show it, then it will just keep going down in value.
As the price of diesel keeps going up (i.e. don't expect bus ownership to get cheaper in the future and don't expect a flood of newbies into the hobby to raise bus prices).
You be the judge...
Picture 1,3, and 4 are from the factory
Picture 2 is after it sits in Florida
If you notice, the drivers side with the slides is completely different. The LR slide is deeper in the bays on picture 2 and there are NO bay handles. How does it get professionally done then travel to Florida and just set and change configuration?
Quick- Call 911 Some one stole the luggage bay doors from the second picture.
Those are not the same bus.
Who knows if it's a scam. Sounds fishy. If there's not a physical bus to see, touch and drive, I would suggest you not waste a lot of time on it.
I've run into this scam multiple times on Craigslist and ebay. Typically done from overseas. Usually they post the same thing on multiple locations throughout craigslist, offering some
ridiculously new vehicle/tractor/boat, etc, with photos they've stolen from other ads, and a ridiculously low price which they want you to pay via paypal or wire transfer. I've seen them
use the claim that it's on a dock in some city ready to be shipped at their expense, etc.
Must work. They keep doing it.
I walked thru that bus this spring when it was in Braidenton.
Do you think the slides are homemade? I know it has HWH slides. I know that every time I think about it makes me feel sad it is a shame what has happend or not happened to it.
The bus is in Fla. it is not hiding and I'm sure anyone seriously interested in it will be happily led to it.
Good eyes Ace on the bay latches I would call bob back and ask him to explain that I cant.
Ace back in 08 when we did not think we would be able to keep our camper I had Bob come and get it and he took it back to Fla with him to give us a better chance at selling it. Marty Ryne the bus man knows and does business with him, Rod Daniels does too and probably many other mutual acquaintances we would all agree are all fair businessmen.
Hasn't the asking price come down about 100000 that's progress.
I wouln't be worried about Mr. Dingle.
That bus does not have Prevost factory slides Prevost never had slides till after 2002 or later several converters wound up in law suits for installing slides on the Prevost without Prevost approval and fwiw the slides Prevost installed at the factory cost them a bunch of cash because of problems but they worked the kinks out over the next few years.
I was told those slides were installed by a former HWH dealer in Washington State I'll check for his name,I can assure Prevost or HWH did not install those slides in a 1999 model Prevost maybe SAM did it lol
good luck
O/K here is all the pics I took in May 2010
http://prevostmotorhomes.ning.com/forum/topics/h3-shell-for-sale (http://prevostmotorhomes.ning.com/forum/topics/h3-shell-for-sale)
It ain't the best photos but it is a good representation of its current condition.
Has to be more to this whole story than what is on surface. Even with just 8,000 miles on it there is a good chance the tires are aged out and by the time you spend the conversion $ on it in today's market would it bring 125 to 150. if it were done 1st class. ?what toll has sitting out in brutal Florida summer sun done to it.? Looks good with slides could make a show piece. Looks to me to deal have money in one hand and seller clear title in other at same time. In Indiana we could check for leans or Levey's Thru DMV.
Ok you took pics in may 2010 which is all good but that still doesn't explain the pictures that were sent to me obviously being represented by a bus that appears to have been done professionally in a factory someplace.
The more pics I see of this coach, the less I want to offer. I can only imagine the REAL condition of it especially after sitting for so long and not being driven. Right now, every day, every month that passes by and nothing being done to it, just takes away from what little value it has.
That's a real shame too that someone really thinks they can get top dollar for a bus that has literally been abused from sitting rather than driven and to think that they feel they really have something worth something!
This is one of those buses you will see with weeds and grass growing up to the windows and rotting to the ground all because someone had a dream that fell thru and their ego cost them even more.
Oh well...
a bus that appears to have been done professionally in a factory someplace
This is exactly what this bus is these slides weren't installed in someones driveway. Someone asking way more for somethings worth is not a shame it is stupid.
Here are some facts about this bus.
Prevo sent that bus to HWH for slides and it went back to the factory in Canada afterwards. The thing was originally ordered by a leasing co but before delivery the 2 partners had troubles and it ended up in court and on or before 2004 1 of those 2 fellows got it. That is who Jeff actually bought it from. It was still untitled and still is.Bob said it had a transport paper that is how he crossed the boarder. It was 2004 and at the time an empty shell w/o slides was like 390 and he bought it for 235 again in 2004
As for the bay door latches. The bus was sent from HWH with bay doors that still opened UP someone at Prevo made an executive decision to change those to swing out doors like you normally see on slide out coaches and they changed them there before Jeff got it. Bob went and picked it up in Canada in 2004.
These slides in this coach were installed at HWH with Prevos knowledge.
The winner of this item will get new tires and other than that it is buyer beware
IMO it is a great platform it is on a chassis that is way less complicated
I'm not saying the slides were put in someone's driveway! What I AM saying is the pictures that were sent to me of the bus with the slides that sits in a warehouse or factory is done very very and looks very good. The pictures the seller, whoever it is, sent me sitting in a yard and in a driveway are different slides all together. HOW or WHY if this is the SAME bus be? Was the bus wrecked in that area and repaired, which the seller has not mentioned? Is this a case of two different buses? Could the pictures of the bus in the warehouse be a sample picture that was sent to the owner to show what THAT company could actually do for him and he somehow had it done someplace else?
If you look at the site that Joe Camper posted and BLOW the ones up, you can plainly see the very bad shape this bus is actually in. There are pieces missing and rust. That tells me that it has NOT been driven to keep things working well as it was told to me. The grass has grown up pretty high and items have been stored IN and around it so it doesn't appear to have been moved if any at all!
Last May or whenever it was that we contacted the owner, we offered him 80K sight unseen. I'm glad now that he refused the offer. If I were to offer anything to him now, it would probably be in the 20-30K range sight unseen and then that is questionable! I know he won't take that offer but if you look closely, 20-30k is a LOT more than what he has sitting in his yard! Some people are just not too smart!
Also I went to the HWH site and it appears that one or more of the pictures the guy sent me that I didn't post here were pictures taken directly off their site. Those were pictures of the slides on the INSIDE of "A" bus not necessarily THIS bus!
Like someone else said, there's more, a LOT more, to this story than we are being told regardless of who knows who and what he has done to help!
Facts are facts and if I was selling something, anything, I think I would portray it a little better than what is being done here with true facts and honesty.
I would first like to know who actually owns the bus, who they bought it from, when, and why was it never converted? The TRUE story, not a sales tactic!
Ace I modified my previous post I added to it.
I bet a few calls to the correct people could either verify or dispute what I am learning about it.
You don't want to meet the current owner, believe me.
New tires? From the looks of it and where its parked, it needs more than just tires. They might figure new air bags, lights, body pieces, windows, and who knows what thend varmints have chewed up. And just look at the rust.
And if I'm paying good hard earned money for something you better damn well believe I'm going to meet the owner. He ain't god!
And with that said, my thought of 20k is not far off!
Ace I'm not arguing price or value or anything like that.
You defined a friend of mine as a potential scam and I am fairly confident that not to be true.
I am going to try to convince as many folks as I can who are reading this that although I believe this sale is unique, weird, outrageous, sad, stupid, odd it is not a scam.
I hope we are agreeing to disagree here and you are not angry with all this.
Ya know he is getting a lot of exposure from it all LOL (just kidding)
Quote from: Joe Camper on January 20, 2011, 05:51:17 AM
I believe this sale is unique, weird, outrageous, sad, stupid, odd it is not a scam.
That's my definition of a great purchase! Something which is honest but has a chequered past is exactly the kind of thing I look for, because it usually means it will sell for far below it's normal value. Seems to me that this Prevost is a superb base for a very desirable, high-dollar motorhome. So it might need new tyres and some other bits - who cares? If it was complete and had a fully-documented history then it would be just-another bus sitting on a dealer's lot advertised at full-book price.
Case in point - my current car is a 7-series Beemer. Gold-plated history (personal car of BMW dealership boss) until six months before I bought it, when a fault developed in the entertainment unit (big box in middle of dashboard - stereo, TV, Sat Nav etc). Owner's son tried to repair it, failed, and also managed to blow the steering wheel airbag (connected the wrong wires together). Result - advertised for sale on Ebay with a big hole in the dashboard, and lots of loose electronic bits in the trunk (and to make matters worse was located in a small village in Northern Scotland). I was the only bidder, and paid less than half the market price by some margin. Took the assorted bits and pieces from the trunk and Ebay'd them, then spent that money on a new touch screen which was far bigger than the original BMW one. Then spent a bit more money on a cheap CarPC, a GPS unit, rear-view camera, power supply and various cables. Downloaded a free copy of RideRunner, and fiddled everything together using all the original bits of dashboard trim.
Now it does everything it originally did, and more. The dashboard looks completely stock apart from the bigger screen, and having now owned the car for two-and-a-half years it's still worth at least £1k more than I paid for it.
I was told once that in Chinese (or some other far-eastern language), that 'problem' and 'opportunity' were actually both the same word. That's probably not true, but it's a good philosophy anyway
Jeremy
You know there is a old saying if you need credit at a grocery store you ask the owner not the clerk if you have the serial number from the slides and the bus Paul Hanser at HWH can give you the answers and the correct answers no BS
good luck
Something still sounds fishy to me if everyone BUT the owner is trying to sell it. Why doesn't he come out and just give the background information?
I don't see the fact that they are factory slides or not has anything to do with the condition of the coach. I saw water stains on floor in pictures in several places. Lots of different stories here. The guy should have taken 80 grand unless he couldn't:possible reasons owes more than that on it or liens/levy on it. one of the situations that is sad and being magnified buy suspicious actions. Basically your buying a 99 bus that's worth the price of a 99 less obvious deductions. Tires and probably air bags(anything that will deteriorate because of age and extreme hot weather exposure. Including slide seals and Glass windows. Would like to have one in good condition with complete conversion for 80 grand but would have to be perfect for any more than that. By the way my shade tree slides do not leak air at 80mph or water. Guess I'm just cheap! Also if the guy has been offended by what has been said here maybe there is a reason-truth is the best cure for their problem. I'll be quiet now. . Prevost to me is a good bus not a social class. Bob
I couldn't agree more! All I was looking to do was move up in size and do another vonversion before I was too old to do it and Susan was intrigued with the idea too IF the price was right and this was until the story went south and then seeing the condition of the bus as it sits really turned her off.
I too like the Prevost for the quality, not the status as you all well know!
I truly wish this guy luck on selling it butt my offer stands at 20k as it sits!
Yep, very fishy.
The two buses in the photos Ace posted are definitely two different buses. All you have to do is look at the location of the cut in the body to confirm. It's lower in the yellow one than
it is on the white one.
I agree with the assessment of the other photos. That bus has been abused, and is worth maybe $20 - $30 as it sits, but I would never purchase it sight unseen and without
finding out more about the "papers" on it. You may find it was not imported legally and cannot be titled in USA.
Gumpy and others, to get a REAL feel for the condition of this bus in it's current condition or at least during last May please click on this site
http://prevostmotorhomes.ning.com/forum/topics/h3-shell-for-sale (http://prevostmotorhomes.ning.com/forum/topics/h3-shell-for-sale)
posted by Joe and once there, some of the pics can be clicked on to enlarge. Once you enlarge them, judge for yourself! This bus is junk and definitely not the one that was portrayed to me for a possible purchase. I mean look at where and how it is stored. That in itself should paint a picture! To me, using other bus pictures off of web sites or fake pictures to lure a potential buyer in is a scam, like it or not!
I never thought about the fact that it may have been brought into the states illegally but that could be a possibility and a good reason why it was never titled! Another reason why it will never sell and just be someone's yard knome such as it always has.
It's just a crying shame that someone would take this bus in a like new condition and just let it rot away because that is exactly what he is doing! Where has the common sense of people gone?
Quote from: Ace on January 20, 2011, 04:14:18 PM
Gumpy and others, to get a REAL feel for the condition of this bus in it's current condition or at least during last May please click on this site
http://prevostmotorhomes.ning.com/forum/topics/h3-shell-for-sale (http://prevostmotorhomes.ning.com/forum/topics/h3-shell-for-sale)
I must admit that I'm really struggling to see much wrong in those photos. What am I missing?
I've no idea what the market value is, and can't comment on any likely paperwork problems. But to state
"This bus is junk" seems....weird
Jeremy
Offering a possible explanation of the obvious modification (missing) of the bay door handles - If you look at Prevost bays post-slides, the bay doors are canted so as not to hit the slide when extended - if others are correct and this is pre factory slides they may have been modified to cant away from the non-factory slides - FWIW
Jeremy, did you click on joes link? Did you blow the pictures up to get a good clear view? If I'm the only one seeing the difference than something is wrong with my eyes and knowledge of these model buses.
Niles, agreed your reasoning on the bay doors but the pictures sent to me are pictures of a bus already done in a factory of sorts mixed with pictures of a bus sitting in a yard full of crap. You can't tell me they are the same bus with the same slides unless they were changed for whatever reason or the bus was wrecked and then repaired by an unauthorized person or shop.
For a bus with 8,000 miles there is a lot of water marks and wear on this bus, sitting in Florida isn't helping.....with the prices on really good buses dropping like a rock...........i don't see this as a good or great buy at 100k...........its over priced if you figure in what it takes to finish it!
Ace, sorry I forgot to say it - your right it doesn't look like the same bus - I was just making a comment on why the bays had no handles - HTH
I know Niles NP but today I found out that the plot thickens on this bus and the owner/s.
I was informed today by a close source that the portrayed owner is an obnoxious drunk that has/had a south American girlfriend which are now separated from each other and she might even be the REAL owner since her name might be on the title! Wonder where she is and why isn't she selling the bus?
"I was informed today by a close source that the portrayed owner is an obnoxious drunk"
No Ace, I don't own this bus ;D
I thought this thing had an MSO - therefore no "title"
Get the VIN # and run it through Tallahassee
then you'll get the true story
Niles, nobody is coming forward with the vin number so that may be hard to do.
If y'all know where this bus is sittin', can't ya go there and inspect it and get the VIN? Wouldn't that solve all the guessin"?
Yea that would do it but just like the Vin number and the REAL owner, that information isn't surfacing! I asked the guy I spoke with to arrange for me to come and inspect it and he had excuses as the bus was 120 miles from him and he would have to find the time. If I had a potential buyer, I think I would find the time but I'm sure by now that he has had correspondence and has figured out that someone is on to him and his bus and that's why he hasn't gotten back to me with ANY information or recent pics! The information he DID give was OLD and just enough to dangle the carrot so to speak!
People sell things thru intermediaries all the time for a host of reasons that does not constitute a scam.
I got the VIN with 1 phone call.
Maybe I will call HWH monday to see if someone there could verify the rest of what I was told to be true.
I have no knowledge or interest in this deal, only want to say that I would not be concerned about a couple of mis-matched photos. I have thousands of pictures on my computer and it is not inconceivable that I might click on the wrong one. I would not be questioning a seller's integrity without first hand knowledge that something is wrong.
These pics are far from what I call mis matched. They are pics of two different buses or taken at two didn't stages of ownership and god only knows what happened to it since the pics you see were taken.
B they way, the seller, not the owner has yet to come forward with further info on being able to inspect this bus. I guess you can say this is his/their loss.
Not a hard to tell if HWH installed the slides it will have tags with the work order on stamped on the frame also
good luck
Got a phone call yesterday from a guy who calls himself the REAL owner. He was very short and to the point about his bus. Said if I didn't like it, don't buy it! I said whoa fella, I just want the facts and history a there are a lot of rumors floating around. He had me explain whar has transpired. He even had me send him the pictures I was trying to describe because he had no clue what I was describing as in the differences in the pictures. After doing so, he wrote me to say he has never seen the pics that I sent him and for me to send him the original email where I hour them. I did and after that he said he said he questioned his friend Bob who I think is on this board about the pics and even after Bobs reply to him about being before and after slide pics, i'm still confused and feel very strongly that those are two different buses.
The real problem I think this guy has and probably why it hasn't or might not ever sell is that it still has an open canadian title. Talking to dealers here about that, they too agree that it might be a big hassle trying to get a U.S.title.
I think short of taking a huge huge loss or donating it to a cause, this guy might have himself a yard knome.
Is like to have it to convert but I have recently seen already converted buses that were professionally done for less than what he is asking. Thats what makes this story a crying shame!
Ace was he willing to give you the location of the bus, or VIN?
Just curious.
;D BK ;D
No BK, nada...