Shipping Advice

[BlackJohn]

Take delivery off the dealer's lot then boogie home!


John

[peteg59]

A lot of businesses and municipal entities are really taking the "cover your a$$" mantra to the extreme. No telling why, but they're not giving any opportunity to create a potential court case from any negligence, anywhere, in their handling of the sales process.

The school district I bought my bus from required a copy of my driver license, even though I was not picking it up myself and fully informed them I had hired a professional shipper to pick up my bus.
They would not release the title without it!

Just another hoop to jump through on the path to actual possession of an asset...

[ATHandBanana]

Originally Posted by Danjo

What’s the GVWR?

The weight is 37600.

[ATHandBanana]

Originally Posted by Gustav

I have all of those. Not too common to hold a passerger endorsement.

I am unable to PM you. Would you be interested in hooking up and making a deal?

[Gustav]

I would only be 20-25% less than your quotes depending who pays for fuel. Always willing to try to help though.

[peteg59]

Have you tried uship?

[Brad_SwiftFur]

I'd be open to making a trip. I live in GA, the drive would take me 4-5 days.


Or you could travel with and I'd "get you out the gate" and give it a good pre-trip.

[ATHandBanana]

Originally Posted by Brad_SwiftFur

I'd be open to making a trip. I live in GA, the drive would take me 4-5 days.


Or you could travel with and I'd "get you out the gate" and give it a good pre-trip.

Sounds like we can make an arrangement. I'll pm you.

[ATHandBanana]

Originally Posted by peteg59

Have you tried uship?

I have listed it on Uship but have had no hits on it yet.

[o1marc]

I had a bad experience with UShip. They charged me for a pick up attempt ($200). They said the unit was not ready to load when they showed up with a truck that was too small to load it into. Charged my card, wasn't anything I could do. They hit me after the delivery. I'll never use them again.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by o1marc

I had a bad experience with UShip. They charged me for a pick up attempt ($200). They said the unit was not ready to load when they showed up with a truck that was too small to load it into. Charged my card, wasn't anything I could do. They hit me after the delivery. I'll never use them again.

I had a good experience with Uship the first time - price was sensible and my goods made part of a load the driver was already bringing past my door - certainly cost less than it would have cost me to go get it - the next time I tried to get the same product shipped, prices were obscene - I could have made 2 or 3 trips myself and still saved money - I eventually cut my order down and a friend who was heading my way brought it out

[Brad_SwiftFur]

Semi related to this topic:


https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulation...section/383.93


Scroll down to Question 3 ........ (for 99% of us, we fall under driveaway-towaway exemptions as far as the passenger endorsement goes.) And since most of us are not engaged in commerce, the "Commercial" part of the license is exempt too. The class B may not be, depending on what state you're in, but that's another topic for another discussion.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by Brad_SwiftFur

Semi related to this topic:


https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulation...section/383.93


Scroll down to Question 3 ........ (for 99% of us, we fall under driveaway-towaway exemptions as far as the passenger endorsement goes.) And since most of us are not engaged in commerce, the "Commercial" part of the license is exempt too. The class B may not be, depending on what state you're in, but that's another topic for another discussion.

You would need their definition of "empty", I assume it means no seats. Because Question #12 says to drive it off the school lot with seats in it requires an endorsement.

Question 12: Is a person who drives an empty school bus from the manufacturer to the local distributor required to obtain a CDL?

Guidance: Yes. Any driver of a bus that is designed to transport 16 or more passengers or that has a GVWR of 11,794 kilograms (26,001 pounds) or greater is required to obtain a CDL in the applicable class. A passenger endorsement is also required if the bus is designed to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver

[Brad_SwiftFur]

Originally Posted by o1marc

You would need their definition of "empty", I assume it means no seats. Because Question #12 says to drive it off the school lot with seats in it requires an endorsement.

Question 12: Is a person who drives an empty school bus from the manufacturer to the local distributor required to obtain a CDL?

Guidance: Yes. Any driver of a bus that is designed to transport 16 or more passengers or that has a GVWR of 11,794 kilograms (26,001 pounds) or greater is required to obtain a CDL in the applicable class. A passenger endorsement is also required if the bus is designed to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver

Good observation. Loophole in the Q&A section, it seems. Since Q3 addresses driveaway-towaway operations (and every new bus I've ever seen and driven was fully equipped with seats; they were not dealer-installed), I believe "Empty" refers to no passengers. The companies I have worked for (which were in fact driveaway-towaway operations) indicated that and added that having so much as a single passenger, even if it is a co-worker or family member, still constitutes having a passenger and in that case, the "P" endorsement becomes necessary. A bit absurd if taken to that extreme, but them's the rules for ya.


Looking down to Q14, it seems the Q3 exemption is specifically designed for driveaway-towaway companies.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by ATHandBanana

I have listed it on Uship but have had no hits on it yet.

I've used Uship. Its expensive and frustrating.

[peteg59]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

I've used Uship. Its expensive and frustrating.

They are pricey, but if you have to get something like a bus moved and you can't do it yourself, they come in handy.

They have customer service folks available if issues arise, who are friendly and helpful from my last recent experience with them in May...

[vintageracer]

I ship vehicles I purchase all the time. Open carrier from Washington to TN for a car or regular PU is at least $1500. Easily DOUBLE that or more for a bus.

Not to hard to double your purchase price of a bus with just the shipping cost alone. Is that bus still worth it to ya???

Expensive shipping for a large bus is a good reason NOT to buy a bus clear across the country far from where ya live and not spend the time and money to go and personally inspect it!

Driving cross country in a school bus is a LONG and EXPENSIVE drive when doing it yourself. Especially when your "new" bus takes a schidt on the side of the road.

My time is worth far more than my money that's why I ship vehicles I buy at auctions. If you do not buy bus's all the time I suggest anyone think long and hard before "Pulling the Trigger" on a long distance sight unseen bus purchase!

[peteg59]

Originally Posted by vintageracer

Not to hard to double your purchase price of a bus with just the shipping cost alone. Think long and hard before "Pulling the Trigger" on a long distance sight unseen bus purchase!

It did cost more to ship my bus from NC to NH than I paid for it!
After weighing my options, it was easier and way less headaches to get it shipped up vs taking time to fly down, rent a car, spend night in hotel, pick up bus, return rental, drive an unknown bus home 900 miles.
Glad I didn't do that, as the radiator was tender on the edges and would not have likely made the road trip.

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and spend the money, as long as what you're getting is worth it!

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by vintageracer

I ship vehicles I purchase all the time. Open carrier from Washington to TN for a car or regular PU is at least $1500. Easily DOUBLE that or more for a bus.

Not to hard to double your purchase price of a bus with just the shipping cost alone. Is that bus still worth it to ya???

Expensive shipping for a large bus is a good reason NOT to buy a bus clear across the country far from where ya live and not spend the time and money to go and personally inspect it!

Driving cross country in a school bus is a LONG and EXPENSIVE drive when doing it yourself. Especially when your "new" bus takes a schidt on the side of the road.

My time is worth far more than my money that's why I ship vehicles I buy at auctions. If you do not buy bus's all the time I suggest anyone think long and hard before "Pulling the Trigger" on a long distance sight unseen bus purchase!

putting more butterflies in my belly - lol - I'm planning to bid on a bus tomorrow, 600 - 700 miles from here - lol - if my karma holds I'll get a perfect, recently inspected bus that lacks nothing, and if my karma holds true, I won't be able to afford one if they are ridden with problems and would have to be hauled home - the one shining light I'm following is that I have bought vehicles from the same auction that were previously owned by that city and it had been very well maintained - for the buses in tomorrow's auction that aren't running, the city had declared that there were motor problems, transmission problems, or the bus needed several expensive ( major ) repairs - all of the non-operating buses were declared to be suitable for parts only

[Desmondgibbs]

Originally Posted by ATHandBanana

Good Morning All,

I am purchasing a bus from a dealer in Washington state and I need to transport it to North Carolina. I have gotten quotes from two companies placing it at $5k to get the job done. This is a very high price. I cannot retrieve the bus myself because the dealer will only release it to someone with a CDL license, which I do not possess at the moment. Any advice on this as it is the exact bus I am looking for and do not want to miss the oppurtunity.

Thanks!

What is so special about this bus would be my question. Aside from that you can check with uship.com on a driveaway service to NC. Also you can have the bus towed to the street and then drive it away. Lastly I have a bus for sale down here in FL that may be right up your ally. Not sure what you are looking for though.