In-House Motorcoach Maintenance and Bus Repair Services in NC, SC, & VA
Every coach in our fleet is maintained by our own technicians in our own shop. We've done it that way since we bought our first bus in 1980, and it's the reason we can tell you exactly what has been done to the coach that pulls up for your group.
Our maintenance operation runs out of a 5-bay facility with 2-bay wash lanes, giving us full control over how our fleet is serviced. Repairs, inspections, and cleaning all happen in-house, on our timeline, so every coach that goes out the door meets our standard.
Our maintenance division handles routine service, scheduled component replacement, and repairs across the fleet, and it works out of a 12,000-square-foot facility at our Randleman, North Carolina headquarters.
Why We Keep Bus Fleet Maintenance In-House
Control over timing is the first reason. When a coach is due for service, we schedule it against our own charter calendar instead of someone else's shop capacity. A bus does not sit waiting for an outside appointment while a trip approaches.
Control over standards is the second. Our technicians work on Prevost motorcoaches every day, maintaining them to factory specifications rather than to whatever a general commercial shop considers acceptable. We put our 100th Prevost into service in February 2020, which breeds familiarity with the systems.
The third reason is accountability. If something on one of our coaches fails, the people who serviced it work down the hall from the people who booked your trip. There is no vendor to blame.
Our Preventative Maintenance Program
Early on, we realized that preventative maintenance is a large part of what separates a reliable bus operator from an unreliable one. Every time a piece of equipment fails, we evaluate whether it could have been prevented. When a pattern shows up, we build a preventative maintenance program around that specific item and follow it strictly.
We now run more than 60 preventative maintenance programs across our charter buses and support vehicles. They range from standard oil changes and air filter swapouts to major system components that get replaced on an age schedule, before we would typically expect them to fail. That last category is the expensive one, and it is the one most operators skip, because replacing a working part costs money today to avoid a roadside failure that may never happen. We do it anyway.
Even a thorough program cannot prevent every failure. When something does go wrong, our own technicians handle the repair.
Motorcoach Services, Our Maintenance Division
In 1996, we separated maintenance from day-to-day bus operations and established Motorcoach Services as a separate business. Today, it's the primary maintenance provider for all of Holiday's equipment, and it also provides bus repair services to outside clients, including other bus companies, entertainer coaches, RV owners, and motorhome owners.
Running an outside service business keeps the shop sharp. Our technicians see equipment and failure modes beyond our own fleet, and that experience comes back to the coaches our passengers ride.
What This Means for Charter Bus Safety
Charter bus safety is mostly decided before anyone boards. Federal regulation requires every commercial motor vehicle to pass a periodic inspection at least once every 12 months under 49 CFR 396.17, and requires drivers to file a written vehicle inspection report at the end of each driving day, flagging any defect that would affect safe operation. Those are floors, not goals.
Our preventative maintenance program sits well above that floor, and it is a large part of why we have held a Satisfactory DOT safety rating, the highest rating the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issues, since we started.
For a group planner, the practical version is this:
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When you book a coach for a school trip, a team, or a corporate group, you are trusting an operator's maintenance program with your passengers. Ask any charter company you are considering who services their buses and how often. The answer tells you a great deal.
Charter a Coach by the People Who Maintain It
Before you book any charter, ask the operator who maintains the bus. With Holiday, the answer is our own shop, our own technicians, and a maintenance record we can walk you through for the specific coach assigned to your group. Send us your dates and headcount, and we will put together a quote.
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Bus Repair Services
Does Holiday Tours perform its own bus repair services?
Yes. All maintenance and repair work on our fleet is performed in-house by our own technicians at our Randleman, North Carolina, facility. We have handled our own service since 1980 and formalized it as a separate division, Motorcoach Services, in 1996.
What is preventative maintenance on a motorcoach?
Preventative maintenance means servicing or replacing components on a set schedule before they fail, rather than waiting for a breakdown. Holiday runs more than 60 preventative maintenance programs covering items from oil changes and air filters to major system components that are replaced on an age schedule.
How often are charter buses inspected?
Federal law requires every commercial motor vehicle to pass a periodic inspection at least once every 12 months under 49 CFR 396.17. Drivers must also complete a vehicle inspection report at the end of each driving day, noting any defect affecting safe operation. Holiday's own preventative maintenance schedule adds service intervals beyond those federal minimums.
What does a Satisfactory DOT safety rating mean?
Satisfactory is the highest of the three safety ratings the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration assigns to motor carriers, ahead of Conditional and Unsatisfactory. It indicates the carrier has adequate safety management controls in place. Holiday has held a Satisfactory rating since our company began operating.
Where is Holiday's maintenance facility located?
At our headquarters at 10367 Randleman Road, Randleman, NC 27317. The maintenance building covers more than 12,000 square feet on a fenced property that also houses our offices and coach parking.
Need Bus Repair Services for Your Own Equipment?
Motorcoach Services works on more than Holiday's fleet. We handle bus fleet maintenance and repair for other charter companies, entertainer coach operators, RV owners, and motorhome owners throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Your coach gets the same shop and the same technicians who have maintained more than 100 Prevost motorcoaches since the early 1980s.