Seasonality

[Inner Love]

In the first two weeks of January 2020, we had two dozen buses come through our listings, and I'm wondering if there was a seasonal impetus to this bump. Everybody knows about the School District Retirement season (May-September). I know that after Burning Man (Late September, Early October), there is a bump in skoolies for sale because burners think this is their last year. Do you know of any other times of the year where there is a small surge of bus listings, more than usual? ("tax bill due", "spring cleaning", "need to sell to have a Christmas this year"). Please note, I know data analytics is not the strong suit of the skoolie community. Since I'm not going to conduct a study on this, I would like to hear from EastCoastCB in particular. I expect to be shopping in Feb-April and will watch the auctions daily then. I don't want to spend a year searching but at the same time I don't wont to rush into a bus I won't love.



From what is implied in skoolie advice, the best time to buy is when the school districts retire their buses at the end of the school year. IMO, the second best times is when there are minor bumps throughout the year in the frequency of bus listings.


This thread is for all future buyers who want to know the better times to buy outside of summer.

[brokedown]

it's easy for schools to replace buses in the summer because they're not in use, so that's really the peak time... But often schools get grants for their fleets and have to use them by a certain time. it's certainly not rare that they would have to spend the money before the end of the year, and once the new buses are in use they need to clear out the old ones.

Some of those grants come with specific requirements on "disposal" of the old ones. Unfortunately, those can have "environmental" riders on them requiring the old units be destroyed. You'll find requirements like boring a hole through the block or filling the engine with sand while its running. Yes, California, I'm looking at you, demented bastards.

[Danjo]

We’re not all demented

[WIbluebird]

It takes several months for bus orders to get built at the factory, delivered to the dealer, pre-delivery inspection/work done and then delivered.


Typically new buses will start arriving at the dealers in May and go through August. Deliveries to the end customers start in the summer and usually they're all at their new homes by November.

Depends on the district. Some of them use all/most of their buses in the summer so they don't sell old ones until the new ones are delivered and in use. Other operations let 90% or more of their fleet sit all summer long so they are on a much more relaxed schedule.

Seems like the sellers that drop 10+ buses at auction all at once typically do it in late spring/early summer though.