Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 08-08-2019, 12:22 PM   #41
Bus Nut
 
PatrickBaptist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Johnson City TN
Posts: 441
Year: 2004
Coachwork: IC/AMTRANS RE
Engine: T444E 7.3 w/ MD3060
Rated Cap: 36000lbs / 78pass / 39'
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mom2three View Post
I bought a bus for $9.5 and have no regrets whatsoever. It was everything I was looking for. Auctions did not appeal to me, I wanted to know what I was buying, wanted to know everything worked and I could make the drive from where I bought it all the way home, which was over 1,000 mile drive. You can't put a price on piece of mind, IMO. It can cost ya.
Yeah but what kind of bus?

__________________
If you would like to check out my website that has all sort of information especially for the T444E/7.3PSD engines check out www.PatrickTheSalvageGuy.com I've got helpful downloads and articles as well as a link to my YT for other how to videos mainly on the F series trucks.
PatrickBaptist is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-08-2019, 12:26 PM   #42
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 1,349
Year: 1990
Coachwork: Thomas 4 window w/lift
Chassis: G30~Chevy cutaway
Engine: 5.7/350 Chevy Vortec
Rated Cap: Just me and my "stuff"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mom2three View Post
I bought a bus for $9.5 and have no regrets whatsoever. It was everything I was looking for. Auctions did not appeal to me, I wanted to know what I was buying, wanted to know everything worked and I could make the drive from where I bought it all the way home, which was over 1,000 mile drive. You can't put a price on piece of mind, IMO. It can cost ya.
While its good that you feel you got a good deal at that price, buying at auction can definitely save $$ for the savvy buyer.

Most auction vehicles can be inspected prior to sale.
If one can't get to the auction site, one could hire an inspector to pre check it before placing a bid.
Even if you spend $3K for an auction bus, $500-$1k for inspector, and $2k for trucking bus to you, you save $$ over a stealer's high priced bus.

That all goes away however if you're able to successfully negotiate the stealers price to a more reasonable one...
peteg59 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-08-2019, 12:35 PM   #43
Bus Nut
 
PatrickBaptist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Johnson City TN
Posts: 441
Year: 2004
Coachwork: IC/AMTRANS RE
Engine: T444E 7.3 w/ MD3060
Rated Cap: 36000lbs / 78pass / 39'
Quote:
Originally Posted by peteg59 View Post
While its good that you feel you got a good deal at that price, buying at auction can definitely save $$ for the savvy buyer.

Most auction vehicles can be inspected prior to sale.
If one can't get to the auction site, one could hire an inspector to pre check it before placing a bid.
Even if you spend $3K for an auction bus, $500-$1k for inspector, and $2k for trucking bus to you, you save $$ over a stealer's high priced bus.

That all goes away however if you're able to successfully negotiate the dealers price to a more reasonable one...
I love a buyer that doesn't want to negotiate myself, I make a living reselling all sorts of junk. I wouldn't trust a sellers claim of reliability, after all they are looking to make a buck or few. I trust my own judgement far more. Life is all about haggling and I work to hard for my money to pay to much for stuff, especially driving 1k to get it. Like you said have someone do a prepurchase inspection, I've done those before back when I was into hot shot trucking vehicles. That's why I asked her what kind of bus, never know it might be a bus just 10 years old or less and worth the price.
There are lots of people that don't grasp the art of negotiating, if you aren't very knowledgeable about what your buying then the ball is never in your court. I didn't negoiate by first 2 vehicle purchases well at all when I was young, just saw what I wanted and made sure to get it and told myself I didn't care about wasting money I had what I wanted. Today I work too hard for my money and have a family to provide for so I have to get the most out of my money and well if i have problems i can fix it myself, kills me how many RVers out there that can't do simple work on their own rigs. But was fine with me, it put money in my pocket when we use to live in parks.
__________________
If you would like to check out my website that has all sort of information especially for the T444E/7.3PSD engines check out www.PatrickTheSalvageGuy.com I've got helpful downloads and articles as well as a link to my YT for other how to videos mainly on the F series trucks.
PatrickBaptist is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-08-2019, 12:36 PM   #44
Bus Nut
 
PatrickBaptist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Johnson City TN
Posts: 441
Year: 2004
Coachwork: IC/AMTRANS RE
Engine: T444E 7.3 w/ MD3060
Rated Cap: 36000lbs / 78pass / 39'
Quote:
Originally Posted by peteg59 View Post
While its good that you feel you got a good deal at that price, buying at auction can definitely save $$ for the savvy buyer.

Most auction vehicles can be inspected prior to sale.
If one can't get to the auction site, one could hire an inspector to pre check it before placing a bid.
Even if you spend $3K for an auction bus, $500-$1k for inspector, and $2k for trucking bus to you, you save $$ over a stealer's high priced bus.

That all goes away however if you're able to successfully negotiate the dealers price to a more reasonable one...
I love a buyer that doesn't want to negotiate myself, I make a living reselling all sorts of junk. I wouldn't trust a sellers claim of reliability, after all they are looking to make a buck or few. I trust my own judgement far more. Life is all about haggling and I work to hard for my money to pay to much for stuff, especially driving 1k to get it. Like you said have someone do a prepurchase inspection, I've done those before back when I was into hot shot trucking vehicles. That's why I asked her what kind of bus, never know it might be a bus just 10 years old or less and worth the price.
There are lots of people that don't grasp the art of negotiating, if you aren't very knowledgeable about what your buying then the ball is never in your court. I didn't negoiate by first 2 vehicle purchases well at all when I was young, just saw what I wanted and made sure to get it and told myself I didn't care about wasting money I had what I wanted. Today I work too hard for my money and have a family to provide for so I have to get the most out of my money and well if i have problems i can fix it myself, kills me how many RVers out there that can't do simple work on their own rigs. But was fine with me, it put money in my pocket when we use to live in parks.
I got a good deal on mine and had no problems making the 450mile drive home with it. I got to test drive it an hour before buying so I felt good about it after running it around a good while.
__________________
If you would like to check out my website that has all sort of information especially for the T444E/7.3PSD engines check out www.PatrickTheSalvageGuy.com I've got helpful downloads and articles as well as a link to my YT for other how to videos mainly on the F series trucks.
PatrickBaptist is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-08-2019, 01:06 PM   #45
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: PNW
Posts: 22
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Bluebird All American
Chassis: AA RE 3903
Engine: 8.3L Cummins Allison MT643
Rated Cap: 36200
Quote:
Originally Posted by PatrickBaptist View Post
Yeah but what kind of bus?



I just updated my bus info on my profile.
Mom2three is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-08-2019, 01:19 PM   #46
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: PNW
Posts: 22
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Bluebird All American
Chassis: AA RE 3903
Engine: 8.3L Cummins Allison MT643
Rated Cap: 36200
Quote:
Originally Posted by peteg59 View Post
While its good that you feel you got a good deal at that price, buying at auction can definitely save $$ for the savvy buyer.

Most auction vehicles can be inspected prior to sale.
If one can't get to the auction site, one could hire an inspector to pre check it before placing a bid.
Even if you spend $3K for an auction bus, $500-$1k for inspector, and $2k for trucking bus to you, you save $$ over a stealer's high priced bus.

That all goes away however if you're able to successfully negotiate the stealers price to a more reasonable one...

I didn't want to leave it all up to chance in an auction (didn't want to get attached to a bus and then lose it, and so forth), didn't want the hassle of dealing with an inspection across several states without being there, myself. I have trust issues, what can I say.

I have many reasons why I didn't find going the route of buying from an auction viable for myself.



I am not saying that using auctions is a bad deal for someone more savvy or looking for a deal, just that it wasn't for me.



I also wanted to buy from someone who I could call up and ask for advice, buy parts from, or take my bus to when there were issues. I can do that. It was a desert bus, hardly had any rust to deal with (more dust than rust), they removed all of the seats for me, I have a rebuilt engine in it, I have great tires, batteries, etc. There has been nothing wrong that I have found thus far and I couldn't be happier. I was well taken care of and have a good business relationship with the person I bought it from. I practically have a brand new bus for that price. That is a deal, considering how much it costs to rebuild an engine, alone.

I have no regrets. It was money well spent.
Mom2three is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-08-2019, 01:38 PM   #47
Bus Crazy
 
Sleddgracer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: south east BC, close to the Canadian/US border
Posts: 2,265
Year: 1975
Coachwork: Chevy
Chassis: 8 window
Engine: 454 LS7
Rated Cap: 24,500
Quote:
Originally Posted by peteg59 View Post
While its good that you feel you got a good deal at that price, buying at auction can definitely save $$ for the savvy buyer.

Most auction vehicles can be inspected prior to sale.
If one can't get to the auction site, one could hire an inspector to pre check it before placing a bid.
Even if you spend $3K for an auction bus, $500-$1k for inspector, and $2k for trucking bus to you, you save $$ over a stealer's high priced bus.

That all goes away however if you're able to successfully negotiate the stealers price to a more reasonable one...
I recently missed out at getting one of a group of about 16 buses at auction - they went from a low of $3500 to a high of $6500, likely averaged at $5000 - just the other day, the first 3 of them that I've seen have shown up for sale at a dealer for between $8500 and just shy of $13,000 - those buses, for the most part, didn't need so much as a washing before they were on the resale lot
Sleddgracer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-08-2019, 03:40 PM   #48
Bus Nut
 
PatrickBaptist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Johnson City TN
Posts: 441
Year: 2004
Coachwork: IC/AMTRANS RE
Engine: T444E 7.3 w/ MD3060
Rated Cap: 36000lbs / 78pass / 39'
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mom2three View Post
I just updated my bus info on my profile.
Atleast you got a good engine and trans. Happy camping.
__________________
If you would like to check out my website that has all sort of information especially for the T444E/7.3PSD engines check out www.PatrickTheSalvageGuy.com I've got helpful downloads and articles as well as a link to my YT for other how to videos mainly on the F series trucks.
PatrickBaptist is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2019, 02:06 PM   #49
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: PNW
Posts: 22
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Bluebird All American
Chassis: AA RE 3903
Engine: 8.3L Cummins Allison MT643
Rated Cap: 36200
Quote:
Originally Posted by PatrickBaptist View Post
Atleast you got a good engine and trans. Happy camping.

Thank you!
Mom2three is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2019, 05:13 PM   #50
Bus Nut
 
Dog Rescuer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Montana
Posts: 581
Year: 2000
I bought my bus from https://www.tampabusmarket.com. I paid $4500 for it - it did come with new front tires and three newer batteries - and they helped me troubleshoot some things during the build - plus I could get spare parts from them. My bus was from north Georgia - (https://www.tampabusmarket.com bought it at auction in Georgia for $2.4K - it was in good shape). It did not have anything more than surface rust on the inside floor.
I could have gotten the bus cheaper at auction - if I waited - I tried bidding on a few that went over my budget during the last hour of the auction. So I was happy that I could test drive the one from Tampa and get the support while building.

The same bus (style / size) at https://www.wesellschoolbuses.com was $11K. I could have paid more to have it painted (their prices are all listed on https://www.wesellschoolbuses.com) - but I was able to get mine converted and rolling for about the same as I would have paid for the https://www.wesellschoolbuses.com bus.

I find that buses are worth what people will pay for them. Wesellbuses are nice people - and they found a market to keep doing what they do - selling to churches, new skokie folks, or overseas. Tampabusmarket sells a lot to overseas and to farmers for transporting workers - and they sells to Tacobus, skoolies, food trucks... etc.

With buses, it's not always that you get out of it what you pay for it - you can have issues from any place you buy it - whether a used bus place, private seller, or auction.

I would buy from https://www.tampabusmarket.com, again. I likely would not buy from wesellschoolbuses. I might buy from an auction, or a private sale. But that does not mean any one is less good - again, the value is with what the buyer will pay for it. I have a friend who bought a bus from wesellbuses, converted his bus - and has traveled across the US and into Canada and Mexico with very little issue. He feels he got a great deal and that's what counts.



Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_6205.jpg
Views:	9
Size:	316.6 KB
ID:	36335
__________________
- Roger (Dog.Rescuer)
Dog Rescuer is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:32 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.