How to Buy at Auction?

[Silverwheel]

Hi,
Since there's nothing near me that hasn't been eaten by road salt, I'm going to have to go somewhere to get my bus.
When I first decided to convert a skoolie, I was looking for a mid-size, now I'm looking smaller. Like a Paratransit or a short bus.
My question is: how do I buy one? I can't think that all the bids I see on the auction sites are people who have crawled under the thing, so is it like buying from ebay? The real auction takes place in the last five minutes, by people who are many miles away?
It doesn't seem practical to drive to, say, Houston to crawl under a bus, decide that I want it then get outbid by someone a thousand miles away.
I've got the money, I've seen sellers like Midwest Transport but no way am I spending that much money when I can see a dozen of what I want for a third of their prices.
Am I really going to have to buy sight unseen?
Also, how many miles is too many for a paratransit?
Thanks,

~S.

[o1marc]

Well there you go. You have to decide how much chance you're willing to take. I bought a bus from Butte, Montana on Craigslist, flew out and drove it back to Atl. after visiting Seattle. Could not have found a better bus. Could have bought a lemon, like my first bus> Flew to OKC to find the bus at the school was a POS. But they refunded the whole, so didn't lose anything more than airfare and a rental car home. They could have told me to pound sand a get the bus off their property. YMMV. Unfortunately your going to be up against MT and every other SOB (south of the border) dealers bidding them up to take them SOB. I've bought several buses from Govdeals, sight unseen, but a million questions to the seller before pulling the trigger, so far been lucky. Including the bus I bought for $900 and got paid $1300 after scrapping it after removing the wheels and tires. How many miles is too far? How bad to you want a good bus?
The last 5 minute bidders may or may not be from miles away, but are sharp bidders. Never bid anything before the last minute.

Go to the UserCP and fill out your profile with your location, it makes it super helpful to answer questions that may be area oriented.

[TheGOALS]

Originally Posted by o1marc

Well there you go. You have to decide how much chance you're willing to take. I bought a bus from Butte, Montana on Craigslist, flew out and drove it back to Atl. after visiting Seattle. Could not have found a better bus. Could have bought a lemon, like my first bus> Flew to OKC to find the bus at the school was a POS. But they refunded the whole, so didn't lose anything more than airfare and a rental car home. They could have told me to pound sand a get the bus off their property. YMMV. Unfortunately your going to be up against MT and every other SOB (south of the border) dealers bidding them up to take them SOB. I've bought several buses from Govdeals, sight unseen, but a million questions to the seller before pulling the trigger, so far been lucky. Including the bus I bought for $900 and got paid $1300 after scrapping it after removing the wheels and tires. How many miles is too far? How bad to you want a good bus?
The last 5 minute bidders may or may not be from miles away, but are sharp bidders. Never bid anything before the last minute.

Go to the UserCP and fill out your profile with your location, it makes it super helpful to answer questions that may be area oriented.

Do you mind sharing what types of questions you ask? I am a complete noob. My wife and I want to get into traveling part time with our daughter and we are fascinated with Skoolie builds and want to jump into it. However, I’m not very mechanically inclined... I’m worried about getting into a lemon. I know the style and features of a bus we want and to avoid the salt belt states because of rust but other than that I’m going into this completely blind. Appreciate any tips, thanks in advance.