Where to buy your skoolie, where not to buy your skoolie!

[dentedvw]

Where to buy your skoolie, where not to buy your skoolie!
I hope we can make this a sticky, maybe it can be added to the wiki at some point.
There is a partial list, in with the parts/yards thread, but I think it really needs it's own thread.
Please, everyone chip in, and I will periodically update the original post with additions.
Post where you have found good deals, good buses, or bad deals, overpriced tore up machines.
I made two categories, I think you can figure out what it's about.
Feel free to make suggestions about what category any of them belong in.
Did I miss some? Post them, and I will add them!

Likely places to get a used bus:

• http://midwesttransit.com/ Have had good rapport with these folks, they can tell you what's what with any of their buses. Won't list prices for higher priced or nicer buses. You can get a list from them by asking though.
  http://www.firststudentinc.com/pre-owned-used-bus-sales
  http://www.bargainbusnews.com/
  http://ncschoolbussales.dpi.state.nc.us/ Probably some good buses here, but for crying out loud, this is the worst site ever!
  http://www.carolinabussales.com/school/index.php No prices listed at all, which makes it a pain to compare.
  http://www.busmartinc.com/BusMart/Default.aspx?id=3
  http://www.gormanent.com/used_bus_inventory.php
  http://motors.shop.ebay.com/Buses-/6728 ... 000&_rdc=1 Well, you know what's up here. Never know what you are going to get.
  http://www.craigslist.org Only the worlds largest classifieds site! Related sites like crazedlist.org let you search multiple regions at once.
  http://www.creativebussales.com/used_bu ... php?used=1
  http://www.buswest.com/totalinventory.aspx Mostly shuttle buses however
  http://www.centralstatesbus.com/used_buses.html
  http://www.taylorbus.com/buses/ Their search works pretty good!
  http://www.rockymtnbus.com/index.php?s=28 Prices seemed pretty high
  http://www.nwbus.com/
  http://www.tescobus.com/used-buses-for-sale.aspx Pretty expensive
  http://www.a-zbus.com/
  http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/browse ... ?catid=402 Government agencies can be sellers here, almost like a mini eBay
  http://www.governmentauctions.org/label ... 0buses.asp Not much there when ever I check, could be a seasonal thing though
  http://www.422sales.com/schedule.htm
  https://www.lemonsauctioneers.com/displ ... gories=400 What's in a name anyway, right?
  http://www.kerlinbus.com/buslist.asp?show=used
  http://www.triggbussales.com/buses.cfm
  http://www.westernbus.com/
  http://www.hoekstratransportation.com/index-1.asp
  http://www.unitedtruckbody.com/used_buses.htm
  http://www.ks-bus.com

Possibly you should avoid these places for your used bus:

• Floridachurchbus. I have read numerous tales of woe concerning overpromising and under delivering, all the way to straight out fabrications. The website is a HUGE mess (is it 1993 again?!), and the prices seem a bit high as well.
  http://www.usedbuslist.com/ Not terribly helpful though long winded at times, many links seem to take you in circles, never really getting anywhere useful. I couldn't even find any actual buses for sale.
  
  

[busdriver_phil]

http://www.422sales.com - Public school bus auction. Primarily in the northeast, but some great deals if you know what to look for.

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by slowlane

Nice regular people to deal with.
https://www.lemonsauctioneers.com/displ ... gories=400

Wait...people really buy buses from LEMON'S Auctioneers?! Talk about an unfortunate name...!

[dentedvw]

Originally Posted by Iceni John

http://www.interschola.com/auctions.php?store_categories_id=3

These folk help school districts sell their surplus items...

Everything they sell they list on eBay, so it's not truly another place. You still have to go to eBay to bid on them.

[Doodlebug]

/ttp://www.westernbus.com/ Nice people, nice web site. Leslie

[the_experience03]

www.unitedtruckbody.com gets my seal of approval. I bought mine there, as did Olddog. I haven't heard back from him in a while to know how he feels about his bus, but I know I've been happy with mine and they're good to deal with.

[Diesel Dan]

I had a good experience with ks-bus.com for my purchase. They were negotiable/reasonable on the price, picked me up at the airport, and overall were decent folk. Located in Lawrence, KS.

[Stopbit]

Originally Posted by Diesel Dan

I had a good experience with ks-bus.com for my purchase. They were negotiable/reasonable on the price, picked me up at the airport, and overall were decent folk. Located in Lawrence, KS.

I can second this, just got my bus from ks-bus.com and nothing but good things to say. Was really suprised when they even gave me a 30 day/30% warranty.

[dentedvw]

Just wanted to put this up again for those that haven't seen it yet. Is there any new additions for the list?

[buses4life]

I also found this website with many different selections of transit buses for sale to use for conversions. -->http://transitsales.com

Below is a pretty good list of their inventory:

Gillig Transit Buses --> http://transitsales.com/category/gillig ... -for-sale/
New Flyer Transit Buses --> http://transitsales.com/category/new-fl ... -for-sale/
RTS Transit Buses --> http://transitsales.com/category/rts-buses-for-sale/
Mid-duty Transit Buses --> http://transitsales.com/mid-duty-transi ... -for-sale/

[busloads]

One more site for school buses and transit buses - www.govdeals.com - public agencies such as school districts, colleges, cities, counties, regional transit systems sell buses on this site.

[bswyers]

Hi Guys! I work for central states bus sales and wanted to let you all know that the location of our used bus selection has changes to this address https://www.centralstatesbus.com/inventory/used-school-bus-for-sale/ Additionally I wondered if if would be helpful to have a skoolie section with maybe buses only under 10-15k? Let me know!

[Kitty]

When going the auction route, how do you know what is a good bus or not?

[WIbluebird]

Originally Posted by Kitty

When going the auction route, how do you know what is a good bus or not?

It varies wildly by state and agency selling the bus. Places like Ohio are rust belt but are very strict on bus inspections and as a result you get highly detailed auction listings with excellent service records.

On the other hand you have places like Florida where the school systems are subpar at best and skimp on transportation budgets. As a consequence you get bulk auction listings for buses that don't run, are stripped down for parts and they know almost nothing about the individual units.

Rural/small city school districts tend to be honest in their auction listings. Big cities generally have contractors that run buses into the ground or they have so many to dispose of that they often don't spend a ton of time describing them in detail.

It's always best to look at buses in person, I flew to Colorado for mine but the seller was great about answering questions and providing service records etc.

[Kitty]

Thanks for all that info!! As far as location in the us, where are the best places to look for a bus? I’m in Kansas.

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by Kitty

Thanks for all that info!! As far as location in the us, where are the best places to look for a bus? I’m in Kansas.

Colorado has some of the better buses out there. Many (all?) have supplemental braking systems and they really seem to take pretty good care of their fleets. It's so close to Kansas, too.

[o1marc]

My advice is to separtate the US in to4 quarters, NWSE, do not buy anything that lived in the NE quarter of the country. You may find a good bus from that area, but the chances are slim. The PNW has better equipt buses, supplemental brakes, auto snow chains, better drive trains. SE usually seem to have average to low spec buses and typically have more miles before they releases them. The SW has rust free buses.
All the dealers buy the same buses we can, but then double the price when they put them on the lot.

[Kitty]

Originally Posted by o1marc

My advice is to separtate the US in to4 quarters, NWSE, do not buy anything that lived in the NE quarter of the country. You may find a good bus from that area, but the chances are slim. The PNW has better equipt buses, supplemental brakes, auto snow chains, better drive trains. SE usually seem to have average to low spec buses and typically have more miles before they releases them. The SW has rust free buses.
All the dealers buy the same buses we can, but then double the price when they put them on the lot.

Thank you!

[Kitty]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

Colorado has some of the better buses out there. Many (all?) have supplemental braking systems and they really seem to take pretty good care of their fleets. It's so close to Kansas, too.

What about rust? With snow and rain, wouldn’t Colorado kinda match Kansas as far as the rust situation goes?

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by Kitty

What about rust? With snow and rain, wouldn’t Colorado kinda match Kansas as far as the rust situation goes?

I don't know about the rust situation in Kansas, but our Colorado bus was pretty rust free, the only rust we've seen is on the bottom of the service door on the inside. We're used to Chicago-level rust, where they salt the roads pretty heavily.