2003 Collins Super Bantam Skoolie has a partial conversion

[DeeBee]

Hello everyone. I am glad to be here. I need your advice on purchasing the referenced bus located in Texas. I live in NY. Cost was $15K. Dealer will take $12K. Not sure if it is a good deal. Need expert advice. I am still praying for final move! The bus is 2003, had 2 owners but low mileage - 43,863. Seems like it may have been in a flood or is salvage according to CarFax CarFax says: http://prntscr.com/23lxye7 Is that what it means??
Vehicle was last serviced 9-17-21.
I have some print screen pics of vehicle because they were too large for this program.

Outside:
Pic 1: http://prntscr.com/23lyaer (dual rear wheels)
Pic 2: http://prntscr.com/23lyfw2
Inside:
Pic 3: http://prntscr.com/23lykxt
Pic 4: http://prntscr.com/23lynyq
Pic 5: http://prntscr.com/23lyqh3
Underbody:
Pic 6: http://prntscr.com/23lz2qg
Pic 7: http://prntscr.com/23lz8d5

Any advice, at all, will be appreciated.



DeeB

[Trooper2]

Originally Posted by DeeBee

Hello everyone. I am glad to be here. I need your advice on purchasing the referenced bus located in Texas. I live in NY. Cost was $15K. Dealer will take $12K. Not sure if it is a good deal. Need expert advice. I am still praying for final move! The bus is 2003, had 2 owners but low mileage - 43,863. Seems like it may have been in a flood or is salvage according to CarFax CarFax says: http://prntscr.com/23lxye7 Is that what it means??
Vehicle was last serviced 9-17-21.
I have some print screen pics of vehicle because they were too large for this program.

Outside:
Pic 1: http://prntscr.com/23lyaer (dual rear wheels)
Pic 2: http://prntscr.com/23lyfw2
Inside:
Pic 3: http://prntscr.com/23lykxt
Pic 4: http://prntscr.com/23lynyq
Pic 5: http://prntscr.com/23lyqh3
Underbody:
Pic 6: http://prntscr.com/23lz2qg
Pic 7: http://prntscr.com/23lz8d5

Any advice, at all, will be appreciated.



DeeB

Do you have a link to the dealer at for the bus ? I would say it’s over priced and too far away . It’s probably rust free. Without a link it’s hard to tell what it has beyond a dinette and a couch .

[rustymetalgirl]

Hi, and welcome!

For what it’s worth, I think I have met and driven that bus. The one I saw was at a dealership in Cleburne, TX. I think it was around March or April of this year. The list price at that time was $15k.

It was very clean and drove well. The quick conversion was nicely done and the paint job was done by the dealership’s body shop. The original floors, walls and ceilings are still in place and I don’t think there was any sort of plumbing. It was being marketed as a hunter’s base camp. I think it did have maybe a shore power hookup and some 120v outlets.

Ultimately around May of this year, I purchased a very similar model 2009 from the dealer without any conversion because I wanted to do it myself and I didn’t want to pay for work that I wasn’t going to keep.

I found the dealership and the sales person to be very nice to deal with, and I felt that I got a fair deal on the bus I got. They seem to deal mostly in Collins buses, which I particularly wanted. Most of their used inventory seems to come from day care centers trading in on newer models, so they have a fair number of fairly low mileage vehicles, unlike actual school buses, which are usually kept in service for longer.

If you would like any more information about my experience, I would be happy to share. Hope that helps!

[DeeBee]

For what it’s worth, I think I have met and driven that bus. The one I saw was at a dealership in Cleburne, TX. I think it was around March or April of this year. The list price at that time was $15k.

It was very clean and drove well. The quick conversion was nicely done and the paint job was done by the dealership’s body shop. The original floors, walls and ceilings are still in place and I don’t think there was any sort of plumbing. It was being marketed as a hunter’s base camp. I think it did have maybe a shore power hookup and some 120v outlets.

If you would like any more information about my experience, I would be happy to share. Hope that helps!

Hi Rustygirl! Thank you so much for your response. Did you think the $15K price was good for the bus? It seems the rear heater will need to be removed. Did you see any signs of flood? Did the bus you bought still have seats?

Can I asked what you paid for it ... or not! I am at the point of a deposit so if you can give any more light, your comments are important.

[kidharris]

Looking at the carfax pic, it appears to me that it is saying that there are not any problems