Florida Auction! Ends Today 6/13/17

[Robin97396]

What strikes me as odd is WHO is bidding up the re-sellers and exporters that high? Most of us bow out much earlier, so is it the exporters competing with the re-sellers?

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

What strikes me as odd is WHO is bidding up the re-sellers and exporters that high? Most of us bow out much earlier, so is it the exporters competing with the re-sellers?

Gideons is pretty sketchy. I'd almost assure you they have shill bidders.

[Robin97396]

I'm still not making sense out of $8k school buses at auction. We buy them all day between $2,500 and $4,000, unless they are something really special. We could buy a coach for the price they're paying for school buses. Doesn't make sense.

[cadillackid]

exporters will pay crazy money for busses.. so doesnt surprise me if they bid against each other.. I dont know what the buyers from these countries must pay BUNCHES for american busses that they could never get otherwise..

im convinced thats why BGA prices their busses so high.. exports are a HUGE part of their business.. and then every now and then they sprinkle a few reasonably priced busses in to keep it interesting for individuals or churches / secondary schools..

right down the street is Tampa bus market whos prices are higher than auction but for a dealer are pretty reasonable.. my guess is they dont have the busses exporters want.. i notice they have a lot of CAT / MBE / T-444E / cummins 5.9 stuff.. exporters rip through 8.3 and DT-466 stuff and pay huge for it.. when i got my short bus in texas, the exporters bid the heck out of ratty lookin 22 year old WAyne busses with mechanical DT-466s in them..
-Christopher

[Robin97396]

That still doesn't make sense. Have you seen the roads down there? They'll hardly ever get up to speed.

Have you ever seen those, apparently buses, down in Mexico with the bodies stripped off. They appear to be driving FE buses without a single body panel on them. I'm guessing it's for agriculture.

[cadillackid]

im guessing electronics parts or parts for anything other than the Navistar stuff is hard to get... even the DT-466E's share some parts with the ford Powerstroke 7.3 as its a HEUI engine.. so very similar injectors and theory of operation.. plus DT-466's can be rebuilt over and over... parts for Cats / MBE's / and newer cummins electronic stuff is likely hard to get down there..
-Christopher

[Dog Rescuer]

I bought mine from Tampa Bus Market - I know I could have gotten it cheaper at Auction - but the guy has been great with any help that I have needed - especially spare parts.

I stopped by there the other day - he sells a lot to farmers to haul workers.

Originally Posted by cadillackid

exporters will pay crazy money for busses.. so doesnt surprise me if they bid against each other.. I dont know what the buyers from these countries must pay BUNCHES for american busses that they could never get otherwise..

im convinced thats why BGA prices their busses so high.. exports are a HUGE part of their business.. and then every now and then they sprinkle a few reasonably priced busses in to keep it interesting for individuals or churches / secondary schools..

right down the street is Tampa bus market whos prices are higher than auction but for a dealer are pretty reasonable.. my guess is they dont have the busses exporters want.. i notice they have a lot of CAT / MBE / T-444E / cummins 5.9 stuff.. exporters rip through 8.3 and DT-466 stuff and pay huge for it.. when i got my short bus in texas, the exporters bid the heck out of ratty lookin 22 year old WAyne busses with mechanical DT-466s in them..
-Christopher

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

I'm still not making sense out of $8k school buses at auction. We buy them all day between $2,500 and $4,000, unless they are something really special. We could buy a coach for the price they're paying for school buses. Doesn't make sense.

our roads are the nicest in the immediate southeast.

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Dog Rescuer

I bought mine from Tampa Bus Market - I know I could have gotten it cheaper at Auction - but the guy has been great with any help that I have needed - especially spare parts.

I stopped by there the other day - he sells a lot to farmers to haul workers.

it sure seems like you did real well with your experience there. you got a real decent bus for the $$ there and service is defimitely worth something, esp if you are new to busses and need help with a few pieces..

last month I saw a white skoolie marked for a construction company jump on 275 south from downtown st pete and exited at a construction project in sarasota.. (ironically a hotel im putting a network in)... so im guessing the construction company couldnt find workers willing to travel down to sarasota so he picked them up in the bus in st pete.
-Christopher

[CaptSquid]

Originally Posted by WIbluebird

Their website is poorly laid out and very little info or pictures are available. They do have some good stuff though.

If you write them, they'll respond. You have to request the pix. Other than that, their site is laid out better than what it used to be.