New Armbruster-Stageway Coach

Rumors fly in this industry, and it isn't uncommon for a manufacturer or his dealer representatives to "inflate" sales numbers when talking off the cuff to prospects or the media. Is anyone aware of any of these having been actually delivered to retail customers? It would be interesting to know how many have been sold and built and where they went. In addition, it would be interesting to know how many of those that have been sold and delivered were traditioinal landau style and how many features limousine styling.
 
Keith Snyder said:
Rumors fly in this industry, and it isn't uncommon for a manufacturer or his dealer representatives to "inflate" sales numbers when talking off the cuff to prospects or the media. Is anyone aware of any of these having been actually delivered to retail customers? It would be interesting to know how many have been sold and built and where they went. In addition, it would be interesting to know how many of those that have been sold and delivered were traditioinal landau style and how many features limousine styling.
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We have seen actual cars produced and displayed from Amrbruster/Stageway. I would wonder this of the Rance Bennett Coaches, as only drawings exist of the XTS coaches, with no updates.??????
 
Kent Dorsey said:
I acknowledge that funerals are expensive. But we have been led to believe that a funeral is the third largest expense a person will face. The national average hovers around $7500.00 I would guess.
Curtis Rostad wrote a book and made a list of expenses that often exceed a traditional funeral...
Boat, snowmobile, motorcycle, swimming pool, motor home-travel trailer-rv, a patio deck, a fur coat, an oak bedroom suite, remodeling the kitchen, a home theater system, a college education, a wedding, trip for two to Europe, 2 week cruise, airfare-lodging family of four for week at Walt Disney World, braces for kids teeth (hey, mine were $6500 2 years ago), liposuction, drug rehab, complete set of dentures, virtually any surgical procedure, having a baby, 3 days in intensive care, a week in the hospital, a one month stay in a nursing home...
And so it goes...
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Ok let me rephrase it, traditional funerals are for those who aren’t cheap. :D

I think probably the fact that most people (not all) sadly leave the burden of their own funeral plans and cost of their funeral on the shoulder of their loved ones.

Curtis Rostad makes a very valid argument and one that there is no rebuttal to but the fact remains people in general are selfish and cheap when having to pay something out of their own pockets for something another person should have handled themselves, and in this case it’s their own funeral arraignments. This includes being cheap in regards to their own family members

So suddenly when grouchy old grandpa dies while parasailing on vacation in the Bahamas and he hasn’t taken the initiative in his 75 years of live to plan and pay for his own funeral arraignments it’s hard for his family to really want to dig into their own pockets for $10,000 (for a traditional funeral) when the cheap and easy way is to settle on a direct cremation (which still runs about $2,500) as their argument is if he really cared then he would have already made arraignments. Either way the end result is the same, less traditional funerals and more direct cremations all to save money.





Keith Snyder said:
Rumors fly in this industry, and it isn't uncommon for a manufacturer or his dealer representatives to "inflate" sales numbers when talking off the cuff to prospects or the media. Is anyone aware of any of these having been actually delivered to retail customers? It would be interesting to know how many have been sold and built and where they went. In addition, it would be interesting to know how many of those that have been sold and delivered were traditioinal landau style and how many features limousine styling.
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I know the owner of Armbruster-Stageway also “separately” owns a large livery service in a big city not located in Arkansas and that particular livery service uses these cars, so “technically” yes there are some “retail” sales. Sure we can split hairs and argue those sales don’t count as he owns both places but I bet his fleet of livery vehicles do get noticed as well as probably helps sell additional cars.

As for what cars he operates or how many Armbruster-Stageway have sold, well I doubt since we are not shareholders that we are ever going to be privy to those sales numbers but that still doesn’t prevent us from wishing a fellow PCS member the best in his endeavors and those that can support Armbruster-Stageway in any way to do so if they like the products.
 
RE the traditional funeral my wifes dad passed away in August at 103 actually two months shy of 104 and sharp almost to the end. Anyway he was a union president in Philadelphia and retired to sunny Florida, said being in Florida was why he lived so long. The original plans were for a full blown traditional funeral he set the $$$ aside for it. Then at 101 he told my wife cancel all plans for the full blown traditional funeral. My wife asked WHY? His answer there is nobody left to come I have outlived all my friends and I don't want you making a needless trip down here. SO he passed went strait to local funeral home then to cremation ashes sent north via Priority mail and then to family plot in Philadelphia VIA our transportation. Just offering a different slant on the cheap funeral.
 
Peter Grave said:
RE the traditional funeral my wifes dad passed away in August at 103 actually two months shy of 104 and sharp almost to the end. Anyway he was a union president in Philadelphia and retired to sunny Florida, said being in Florida was why he lived so long. The original plans were for a full blown traditional funeral he set the $$$ aside for it. Then at 101 he told my wife cancel all plans for the full blown traditional funeral. My wife asked WHY? His answer there is nobody left to come I have outlived all my friends and I don't want you making a needless trip down here. SO he passed went strait to local funeral home then to cremation ashes sent north via Priority mail and then to family plot in Philadelphia VIA our transportation. Just offering a different slant on the cheap funeral.
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my comment regarding "cheap" was more sarcastic than anything thus why I added the smile, again probably lost in translation but I digress.

However regardless of the individual reasons (which at times are justified) or the various circumstances the bottom line is the numbers don't lie. More and more people are opting for cremation as opposed to a traditional funerals and burial. Therefore the question arises on the viability of a small firm spending so much on a high-end funeral coach when as in your case priority mail did the delivery job more efficiently.
 
Keith Snyder said:
Rumors fly in this industry, and it isn't uncommon for a manufacturer or his dealer representatives to "inflate" sales numbers when talking off the cuff to prospects or the media. Is anyone aware of any of these having been actually delivered to retail customers? It would be interesting to know how many have been sold and built and where they went. In addition, it would be interesting to know how many of those that have been sold and delivered were traditioinal landau style and how many features limousine styling.
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I know the main man at Crain's Hearse sales in atlanta and after first show with their new car he told me they had over 150 orders for hearses. I have not talked to him recently but will call him next week and see how they are coming with building these fine cars.
 
be nice to see how they do. they are still one of the best adaptations so far seen. I guessing that more people are doing the semi traditional route like we did for Dad and Grandmother. as with cremations here you can get 6 in a plot. makes the 3 we have much more practical for family then scattering them out because no one thought to buy a quarter acer in the 1950's. but we had grave side rites and we carried him there in the car. now front line people would baulk at using a 1995. but better he was carried off in a 1995 Federal then a 2013 van. the cost of the cars is why livery service is so common. it's a lot cheaper to rent as the need arises then own just to let it sit. here we paid $5,400 for that service. had we gone north and put him in the national cemetery we could have got it done for $3000. quite a gap in price for the same thing. but the extra $2000 for the service I though was worth it.
 
Danny Ryder said:
I know the main man at Crain's Hearse sales in atlanta and after first show with their new car he told me they had over 150 orders for hearses. I have not talked to him recently but will call him next week and see how they are coming with building these fine cars.
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Did Crain acquire the Houston Brothers dealership? The three XTS hearses on the home page of the Houston Brothers website appear to be Armbruster Stageways.

http://www.houstonhearse.com/
 
Danny Ryder said:
I know the main man at Crain's Hearse sales in atlanta and after first show with their new car he told me they had over 150 orders for hearses. I have not talked to him recently but will call him next week and see how they are coming with building these fine cars.
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Update from Crain's. They have sold between 250-300 of the new armbruster stageway hearses so far. At the local location he sold 10 last week alone. Someone had question about Hosuston brothers having picture of these cars on their website. RIchard at crain's said that Houston's were only selling the armbruster hearses now in a new car line so they are working together on this. Hope this helps answer any questions. ALso said about a 4 month lead time after ordered for delivery.
 
Danny Ryder said:
Update from Crain's. They have sold between 250-300 of the new armbruster stageway hearses so far. At the local location he sold 10 last week alone. Someone had question about Hosuston brothers having picture of these cars on their website. RIchard at crain's said that Houston's were only selling the armbruster hearses now in a new car line so they are working together on this. Hope this helps answer any questions. ALso said about a 4 month lead time after ordered for delivery.
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Danny,

Thanks for the update and those are impressive numbers.
 
Danny Ryder said:
Someone had question about Hosuston brothers having picture of these cars on their website. RIchard at crain's said that Houston's were only selling the armbruster hearses now in a new car line so they are working together on this.
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Thanks for satisfying my curiosity. A rather interesting marketing agreement considering the two dealerships are less than 20 miles apart. Good luck to them with their newly formed collaboration.
 
it just goes to show that computation is the name of the game. the single player and there this is it take it or walk out may be at a close. a start up company offering better for less is what the industry has been looking for. to quote the Verizon add. can you here me now
 
Those numbers seem a bit high as there are approximately 1,000 new hearses built a year and in a matter of a year A-S has taken a third of the market seems hard to believe. I know the sales of the S&S and Superior have fallen off a bit but it is still difficult to see these numbers. I could be wrong.
 
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