Beautiful Coach - No Service Records!

[irishguy]

Hello all,

We've been on a long search for another coach. We found a 2000 Beaver Marquis (Jasper) - one slide. About a 5 hour drive from us. From all the pictures and videos the current owner has sent, it looks really good and "appears" to be in great shape. Only 55,000 miles. My wife loves it.

Big problem though. No service records.
The current older fella owner bought it two years ago with no service records.
He says he changed all fluids and filters as soon he got it but can't find the invoices.
When he bought it two years ago it had:
New Micheline tires - 2018 - less than 4000 miles
New disk brakes - no record - less than 4000 miles

So not one record of service/repairs for its 22 years!
Generator has 2000 hrs.
Hurricane hydronic heater: 5000 hrs - we have a Hurricane dealer/service centre in our city.
Has basement air conditioning system
Has "snaking" in a number of windows. The owner spent $4000 repairing the snaking in the front area windows. No record though
Has decal pictures of a lion head on three sides and one says "Cat Power". I assume the previous owner was a CAT engine fanatic. They are secured with 3m diamond shield. Not pleasing to look but we could live with it I guess. :(
Price: $52,000 US.

The current owner seems like a nice and honest guy but who knows for sure. He keeps it in a heated shop.

Would any of you buy a 22 year old coach with no service records?

[paul65k]

Originally Posted by irishguy

Hello all,

We've been on a long search for another coach. We found a 2000 Beaver Marquis (Jasper) - one slide. About a 5 hour drive from us. From all the pictures and videos the current owner has sent, it looks really good and "appears" to be in great shape. Only 55,000 miles. My wife loves it.

Big problem though. No service records.
The current older fella owner bought it two years ago with no service records.
He says he changed all fluids and filters as soon he got it but can't find the invoices.
When he bought it two years ago it had:
New Micheline tires - 2018 - less than 4000 miles
New disk brakes - no record - less than 4000 miles

So not one record of service/repairs for its 22 years!
Generator has 2000 hrs.
Hurricane hydronic heater: 5000 hrs - we have a Hurricane dealer/service centre in our city.
Has basement air conditioning system
Has "snaking" in a number of windows. The owner spent $4000 repairing the snaking in the front area windows. No record though
Has decal pictures of a lion head on three sides and one says "Cat Power". I assume the previous owner was a CAT engine fanatic. They are secured with 3m diamond shield. Not pleasing to look but we could live with it I guess. :(
Price: $52,000 US.

The current owner seems like a nice and honest guy but who knows for sure. He keeps it in a heated shop.

Would any of you buy a 22 year old coach with no service records?

The price seems a bit high(top of the market) for the model (single slide) but those are great coaches. I would ask for a complete RV inspection as well as a complete chassis inspection, either a truck/RV heavy mechanic or someone who specifically knows the Beaver chassis. With those in hand you can make an informed decision......much better than those of us on here that would be simply speculating

Good luck!

[irishguy]

Hi Paul,
The coach is located in a small town in the middle of no where with no truck or rv service centre nearby. Not good news. So I'm thinking that's not going to happen.

Out of curiosity, How much would that cost me to have those inspections? Assuming the owner would want to take it for a far away inspection.

[dizcom]

It would be hard to pass up. Those are really nice coaches. I wouldn't pay full boat for it though. Not without records. That's a big risk. At significant discount I might bite, but not at 55. Seller should understand. If not, I would walk away.

[jacwjames]

Normally you would be responsible for the sourcing an inspector. Do some searches and see if you can find a certified inspector close. Not sure on the cost but either way it is a crap shoot from what I've read.


We bought our 2002 Windsor in late 2008. Found it listed on Ebay and happened to be close so we went to look at it. I had/have quite a bit of maintenance experience in heavy equipment so I was comfortable with taking a look at it. I crawled all over, under, through the coach and tested every appliance, AC, water heater etc. Could not find one thing wrong!
BUT it did not come with any maintenance records. Went home and thought about it for a couple of days and decided to go ahead and buy it.

BEST decision I ever made. Still have the coach and although it's starting to show it's age a little it is still a lot nicer then some of the new stuff being built now.

[irishguy]

Dizcom and Jim,

It really is hard to pass up and a tough decision. Its the chassis, engine, tranny and generator history that worries me. At 55,000 miles, its done a lot of sitting the past 22 years.
The house part I would thoroughly check out myself before purchasing to make sure all is working.

[96 Wideglide]

Originally Posted by irishguy

Dizcom and Jim,

It really is hard to pass up and a tough decision. Its the chassis, engine, tranny and generator history that worries me. At 55,000 miles, its done a lot of sitting the past 22 years.
The house part I would thoroughly check out myself before purchasing to make sure all is working.

It has!

I'm at about 57.000mi on my '08, and if it hadn't been for the pandemic, it wouldn't be that low!

[AZ RV'r]

Maybe my thinking is wrong but... No service records are not a deal breaker for me.

First, if you buy from any dealer anywhere in the US... no chance you are getting service records.

Second, I'm going to guess that if you buy privately... way below 20% on the market will have complete records.

I sold our last coach near last Thanksgiving, four parties came to see it and NONE asked about service records... Including the last guy who bought it. I kept perfect records and threw them in the trash after the money was in the bank.

My most recent purchase, our 5th RV... the oldest we have ever owned is a 1998... again from a specialty dealer that does consignments and... you guessed it... NO service records.

To me its not a big deal, I just assume that I'm going to have to start from scratch with everything.

Good Luck whatever you decide.

[Hpozzuoli]

I wouldn’t hesisitate if I liked the coach. Give it a solid once over, have it inspected if desired. Send out oil samples if you want. You can be as diligent as heck, but as soon as you take your first drive you can throw a rod or get a shut down light. Point is, there’s always risk unless you buy something with a warranty and even then who knows. Don’t talk yourself out of something just for the sake of talking yourself out of it.

[vito.a]

I agree. Run oil analysis on the engine, trans, and generator. Have a certified inspector or find someone familiar with these coaches.

Beaver Marquis are some of the finest coaches ever built. I would jump on it pending inspection.

[Outbound]

By now you should know a good deal when you see it, if all looks good and your happy with the coach I would go for it, I would try again to lower price due to no maintenance records, hopefully it still has its owners manuals.

[deandec]

Originally Posted by irishguy

Hi Paul,
The coach is located in a small town in the middle of no where with no truck or rv service centre nearby. Not good news. So I'm thinking that's not going to happen.

Out of curiosity, How much would that cost me to have those inspections? Assuming the owner would want to take it for a far away inspection.

You might want to actually go look at the rig. Trust your gut, or then get an inspection.

Purchasing an older coach from your living room chair does not make sense to me. FWIW

[donr103]

Run a car fax on it 1st.. now .. if you get dates and location of original point of sale and dates of lic plate renewals then Google dates for floods and hurricanes and see if been down in those areas and you can put 2+2 together...
Then pull every dipstick and wipe on clean white paper towels.. check colors..
Next agree on price subject 2 full inspection.. 1 for chassis and 2nd for coach..
Then if anything comes up.. you can renegotiate price..
Use lawyer to escrow and finalized contract..
No one is getting 60,000.00 of my money and just walking off..
Yes I know you said 55,000.00 but tax and insurance ..
Just expect to spend another 20% of price for repairs and modification to your taste..
Also you can check date on tires yourself and see if true or not..
Good luck and keep us posted

[irishguy]

Thank you all for the great input. I'm glad there are opposing views!

We have a lot to consider before driving 5 hours one way to look at it. I'm more inclined to take a chance but my wife is the complete opposite. If I talked her into it and it turned out to be a bad coach, it would be dark times in our household.


As far as the price, up here in Canada everything is more expensive than in the States and that's not including the added federal and provincial taxes. There have been Monaco Signatures, Executives and Dynasties in the same 2000 -2001 years with way more miles for asking prices quite a bit higher.

Will keep you posted.