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Old 08-31-2021, 01:58 PM   #6261
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EasternOvertime View Post
Can you guys keep an eye out for a full size bus (pre 2007) with either cummins or international motor. All i have found near me is 2009-2011 IC buses with either the maxxforce 7 (6.4) or the maxxforce DT (7.6L). I'm located in CT. My budget is 3-5k.
Stop looking locally, you'll be sorry if you do. Get completely out of the N.E. area. I would recommend an older bus, 03 or earlier. Stay away fromMaxxforce.

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Old 08-31-2021, 02:13 PM   #6262
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As to the 4x4 bus...I'm guessing the reserve was $30,000. For all we know, the winner put in a max bid amount of $50k. Regardless of the max bid entered, the actual bid will only increase (by the bid increment) to either an amount higher than the current high bid or the reserve (if the max bid is higher than the reserve). Since it jumped up to $30,000 instantly like that, the winner either bid exactly $30k or some figure greater than that. If the high bid was $12,500 and the reserve was $20k, the winner's bid would have only jumped to $20k. It ended up closing at $30,000 plus the fees...for a total purchase price of $33,000.

Without getting into the auto extension debate...I'll share some of my observations regarding the most popular auction sites in the hope that it helps someone:

GovDeals - I like that they offer descriptions of the items and their condition and, if an item is found to not be as described, it can be refused at the time of pick-up and your money refunded. You can ask questions through the site and those questions become part of the record and the description. I've found their admin staff to be great to work with. One downside is that items might have a reserve (which will be indicated in red text).

Purple Wave - They show lots of photos, but have almost no text descriptions of the condition. Some listings might say "non-operational unit" or something like that. My general assumption is that if the vehicle runs and drives, the listing will have a video of that vehicle running and driving. I personally won't bid on a Purple Wave vehicle without a video, because those seem to be the non-operational units. Purple Wave auctions never have a reserve. Their admin staff are efficient and they send the titles promptly, via certified mail.

Public Surplus - while I have an account there, I've never bought a vehicle through this site. Personally, I think the site is much less user friendly than the others above.
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Old 08-31-2021, 02:21 PM   #6263
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That should be easy enough to find with your criteria but I'd look well outside CT. East coast is one of the worst places in the country to buy a bus due to rust and overall market conditions.

Quote:
Originally Posted by o1marc View Post
Stop looking locally, you'll be sorry if you do. Get completely out of the N.E. area. I would recommend an older bus, 03 or earlier. Stay away fromMaxxforce.
Thanks guys, i guess i just had my hopes up so i could avoid shipping costs as its not cheap to have one shipped. Anyone have luck with all the surplus auction websites? I see someone mentioned govdeals here and another one i was looking at was govplanet which i believe is just a variation of ironplanet. I hate buying things site unseen.
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Old 08-31-2021, 03:52 PM   #6264
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rossvtaylor View Post
As to the 4x4 bus...I'm guessing the reserve was $30,000. For all we know, the winner put in a max bid amount of $50k. Regardless of the max bid entered, the actual bid will only increase (by the bid increment) to either an amount higher than the current high bid or the reserve (if the max bid is higher than the reserve). Since it jumped up to $30,000 instantly like that, the winner either bid exactly $30k or some figure greater than that. If the high bid was $12,500 and the reserve was $20k, the winner's bid would have only jumped to $20k. It ended up closing at $30,000 plus the fees...for a total purchase price of $33,000.

Without getting into the auto extension debate...I'll share some of my observations regarding the most popular auction sites in the hope that it helps someone:

GovDeals - I like that they offer descriptions of the items and their condition and, if an item is found to not be as described, it can be refused at the time of pick-up and your money refunded. You can ask questions through the site and those questions become part of the record and the description. I've found their admin staff to be great to work with. One downside is that items might have a reserve (which will be indicated in red text).

Purple Wave - They show lots of photos, but have almost no text descriptions of the condition. Some listings might say "non-operational unit" or something like that. My general assumption is that if the vehicle runs and drives, the listing will have a video of that vehicle running and driving. I personally won't bid on a Purple Wave vehicle without a video, because those seem to be the non-operational units. Purple Wave auctions never have a reserve. Their admin staff are efficient and they send the titles promptly, via certified mail.

Public Surplus - while I have an account there, I've never bought a vehicle through this site. Personally, I think the site is much less user friendly than the others above.
Your expanation makes sense if not for the fact it showed the $30k bid an hour before the closing time. If there was another proxy bid higher than the buyers $12500 bid, and the buyer had a $50k proxy bid, the second proxy bid would show $13k and then the buyer would trump that at $13500. Since his high bid of $12500, there were no other bids other than the buyer upping his bid by $17500.There may have been other bidders over $12500 had he not upped it, but I'd guess he wasted substantial money. If he had a higher than reserve proxy bid, it would not have shown before the auction ended.
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Old 08-31-2021, 04:52 PM   #6265
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i just had my hopes up so i could avoid shipping costs as its not cheap to have one shipped.
My bus came with cheap shipping ($300) - unfortunately it was cheaply shipped from Syracuse where it had sat rusting away for a few years, after a service life rusting away in Buffalo (for bonus points I realized later that the driver had delivered it to me after five hours of driving it at 67 mph, the bus' max speed at 2600 RPM). In the long run, you will pay a lot less for a cross-country one-way plane ticket and a few full tanks of diesel than you would pay fixing all the problems that rust causes. Check out my build thread if you want motivation for the ticket.
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Old 08-31-2021, 05:06 PM   #6266
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My bus came with cheap shipping ($300) - unfortunately it was cheaply shipped from Syracuse where it had sat rusting away for a few years, after a service life rusting away in Buffalo (for bonus points I realized later that the driver had delivered it to me after five hours of driving it at 67 mph, the bus' max speed at 2600 RPM). In the long run, you will pay a lot less for a cross-country one-way plane ticket and a few full tanks of diesel than you would pay fixing all the problems that rust causes. Check out my build thread if you want motivation for the ticket.
I can't tell you how much it was worth it getting my bus in Colorado for this reason.

Plus if you look in the right areas it is easier to score one with a good drivetrain and decent options. I have NEVER seen a wisconsin school bus ordered with an 8.3 Cummins or half the nice options that my BB AARE has.
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Old 08-31-2021, 05:08 PM   #6267
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I can't tell you how much it was worth it getting my bus in Colorado for this reason.

Plus if you look in the right areas it is easier to score one with a good drivetrain and decent options. I have NEVER seen a wisconsin school bus ordered with an 8.3 Cummins or half the nice options that my BB AARE has.
Colorado is the Shangri-La of the skoolie world. Buffalo is the seventh ring of Hell of the skoolie world.
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Old 08-31-2021, 05:50 PM   #6268
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Colorado is the Shangri-La of the skoolie world. Buffalo is the seventh ring of Hell of the skoolie world.
Actually my bus is Wyoming spec. They seem to order theirs with full understorage, factory AC and a cool air dam on the back. My 6th gear was unlocked already as well

This one just came up for sale a few counties over from the one that originally had my bus. It has one more understorage compartment and is a standard roof height but otherwise very similiar to mine.

https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/au...ew?auc=2877967
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Old 08-31-2021, 05:57 PM   #6269
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Actually my bus is Wyoming spec. They seem to order theirs with full understorage, factory AC and a cool air dam on the back. My 6th gear was unlocked already as well

This one just came up for sale a few counties over from the one that originally had my bus. It has one more understorage compartment and is a standard roof height but otherwise very similiar to mine.

https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/au...ew?auc=2877967
Air dam? You mean like one of these puppies? My bus came with one of those - that and the DT466e with 38K miles on it are my bus' two saving graces.
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Old 08-31-2021, 06:23 PM   #6270
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Healy Bus Co. in Lynn MA still has IH CE-300 buses for sale, in just as good a condition and not nearly as expensive. This one is already overpriced, IMO. The mechs at Healy are good people and they take good care of their buses.
Any non maxxforce buses? I saw a couple of their ads on marketplace but they were all 2009 model year
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Old 08-31-2021, 06:33 PM   #6271
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I don't know if this is the right place, but I've been looking at some of this guy's Thomas RE buses. It's about 9-10 hours drive for me, so I would't be able to do an inspection before. They all have either an MBE906/Allison 3000 or MBE926/Allison 2500. Any experience with the seller or opinion on the buses?

https://www.ebay.com/usr/betterprice...p2047675.l2559
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Old 09-01-2021, 10:20 PM   #6272
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'98 IC 3800 with a 5-speed manual and a DT466E (I think, maybe my eyesight is failing me) that maybe has an engine with 20K miles on it:

https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/au...ew?auc=2876793
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Old 09-09-2021, 05:32 PM   #6273
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OMG Fla Buses

I just got an email from GovDeals about the buses for sale in Fla. I know we like to bad talk Fla. buses for being worn out and cannabalized, but GOOD GOD, 2006 and 2007 buses with between 350k-400k on them. That's 2.5 times the average mileage a bus sees. There's a bus here in Dawsonville, If anyone has any questions about it, LMK. I'm going to go look at it tomorrow, though not really interested in it myself. It's 5 miles from me.

https://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?f...26&acctid=7039
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Old 09-09-2021, 05:36 PM   #6274
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LOL
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Old 09-09-2021, 06:44 PM   #6275
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I liked this bus, even though I end up buying another. Auction ends 9/14.



https://www.purplewave.com/auction/2...les-Bus-Kansas


I was nearby Anthony, KS, so I called and got an appointment with the manager of the school district's bus shop, Mark. Mark was super nice and knowledgeable about this bus and all 7-8 buses that their district is aging out. He's worked there 23 of the 25 years these buses have been in service, so knows all of them very well. He told me this bus is the best of the ones getting retired and auctioned, but he obviously took great pride in the condition of all the buses in his "over-maintained" fleet. Gave me copies of the entire service record, spoke with me for over an hour, and let me do a test drive around the parking lot.



He was adamant about communicating that the current odometer reading was not accurate, because it had been swapped out and he calculated the actual engine miles to be 206,924. Also, service record show tires are older-- (front-2004, rear-2002).



In short, if you're interested in any of the buses from Anthony, KS auctioned on Purple Wave, I recommend giving them a call.
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Old 09-09-2021, 08:22 PM   #6276
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At the very least it is nice to see they can go that far!
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Old 09-10-2021, 06:00 AM   #6277
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They must've been on very long regular routes their entire service life.

Either that or odometers were swapped out at some point.
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Old 09-10-2021, 07:00 AM   #6278
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rossvtaylor View Post
As to the 4x4 bus...I'm guessing the reserve was $30,000. For all we know, the winner put in a max bid amount of $50k. Regardless of the max bid entered, the actual bid will only increase (by the bid increment) to either an amount higher than the current high bid or the reserve (if the max bid is higher than the reserve). Since it jumped up to $30,000 instantly like that, the winner either bid exactly $30k or some figure greater than that. If the high bid was $12,500 and the reserve was $20k, the winner's bid would have only jumped to $20k. It ended up closing at $30,000 plus the fees...for a total purchase price of $33,000.

Without getting into the auto extension debate...I'll share some of my observations regarding the most popular auction sites in the hope that it helps someone:

GovDeals - I like that they offer descriptions of the items and their condition and, if an item is found to not be as described, it can be refused at the time of pick-up and your money refunded. You can ask questions through the site and those questions become part of the record and the description. I've found their admin staff to be great to work with. One downside is that items might have a reserve (which will be indicated in red text).

Purple Wave - They show lots of photos, but have almost no text descriptions of the condition. Some listings might say "non-operational unit" or something like that. My general assumption is that if the vehicle runs and drives, the listing will have a video of that vehicle running and driving. I personally won't bid on a Purple Wave vehicle without a video, because those seem to be the non-operational units. Purple Wave auctions never have a reserve. Their admin staff are efficient and they send the titles promptly, via certified mail.

Public Surplus - while I have an account there, I've never bought a vehicle through this site. Personally, I think the site is much less user friendly than the others above.
My best deal came from a PS listing. The crappy pic and description scared all the internet people away
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Old 09-10-2021, 07:02 AM   #6279
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Originally Posted by WIbluebird View Post
They must've been on very long regular routes their entire service life.

Either that or odometers were swapped out at some point.
Florida runs em long and hard. Horrible state to buy a bus from.
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Old 09-10-2021, 10:02 PM   #6280
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I'm pretty sure most of the rust on floors is from inside and not outside the bus. For that reason I would never worry about rust ona bus from Dawsonville. If it snows 1/4" the school will be closed for at least 2 days. If there is any ice on the roads anywhere in town, school will close. If one student can't get to school because of snow, the school will close and everyone stays homes. There is never any snow tracked into a bus here. I think we got snow maybe 3 times this year and it's always gone by noon. I had to laugh at the question here about the rust situation.

https://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?f...26&acctid=7039
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