How much should I bid on this bus?

[KC10Chief]

I am bidding on a 1993 International Carpenter bus with the 7.3L diesel and AT545 tranny. The bus has about 174,000 miles on it. The bus is on publicsurplus.com and is located about 15 miles from my house. I've been to see it twice and it looks to be in pretty good shape other than a few windows that won't go up all the way. It's a 10 window bus. The guy gave me the keys to go try it out. He said it's been sitting for about a month since they took it out of service. I let the glow plugs heat up and it fired right up. No smoke or unusual noises. They even let me take it for a drive and it shifted smooth and went into all of the gears just fine. I was really pleased with how well it drove. The guy was telling me that it's governed at 60 mph but could be turned up. That's perfect for me. Also, he had all of the maintenance records for it since it was brand new. It's never had anything major. I saw a tie rod on there, an alternator and stuff like that. So anyways, the auction ends Saturday and I am currently the high bidder and the price is around $2025 I think. What's the highest I should go on a bus like this? I like the bus, but I don't want to pay a lot more than it's worth. Keep in mind that I was planning to get a bus from anywhere in the country, even New York state. It would cost me well over $600 to fly up there and drive it back. I'd be willing to pay a little extra just to buy one close to my house. What do you guys think? I really didn't want to pay more than $2,500 for a bus, but I could go up a little if it were worth it. Thanks for any info!

[the_experience03]

Did it have the roof welds taken care of? That sounds like it is right around the years when carpenter had some issues. That would dictate how much I'm willing to pay by a long shot not because it's dangerous, but because a lot of places are dumping them off cheap with the weld problem.

[wmah]

I'd rather be in a carpenter bus with bad welds over a cheaply constructed stick and staple rv any day. I'd be careful too about not over bidding on a 93 unless it is almost rust free with no body damage.

And judging by the auction listing that bus may have the bad welds so what the_experience03 said should be considered.

[the_experience03]

I just want to reiterate...the bad welds are GOOD for you. I don't think we really need to worry about flopping our buses over and good welds or bad welds....it's gonna hurt if you do. It is a good bargaining chip though when looking at the price.