Has anyone ever purchased a bus without seeing it in person first?

[KAT-MVP-EF]

I bought mine on a local online auction without seeing it in person, The auction listing said it was running when parked just before COVID-19 shut the schools down and we did ok. 2000 Thomas MVP-EF with 172000 miles for just $1600.00.

[Dirtdoctor]

School auction in Kentucky. Bought it , flew out drove it home To California 6 yrs later it’s still running fine. Bus Maintenance manager answered all
My questions prior to the auction. Gave me 5 yrs of records when I picked it up
140,000 miles at time
Of auction.

Cheers

[Myrtle]

Count me in as one of those. Purchased our 1982 Bluebird at a Ritchie Bros auction based solely on the photos and description. It was exactly what I was looking for. 1st bid came in at $1500, I countered with 2K and then the bids stopped. Next had to explain to the wife that we owned a bus that was 1600 miles away. Called a local HD shop and asked if they could check it out to see if it would go the distance. If it turned out to be a total wreck I instructed the manager to leave it for the next auction date. Battery and rear brakes needed servicing and apparently the V6 Detroit was recently replaced with Mercedes MB900 which explained when I tried to research the bus I could not find any models other than new ones with this engine. Repairs cost as much as the bus did but well worth it as we drove it home taking our time to the West Coast without any issues. Other than learning when the fuel gauge reads just over a 1/4 it means it is empty. Would I do it again? Absolutely!

[Lewportal]

I have used online auctions for cars,homes,land and bus purchase. I did contact the seller and asked questions and then put my faith in God on the purchase.
Pray on it and if it's right pull the trigger.

[Ranchorossa]

Bought mine directly from the school district via auction sight unseen. It is an '09 with just over 100k miles. Was able to talk to the supervisor and was told that it was a great bus and needed nothing. They did not offer a maintenance history though. So I put my bidding hat on entered the auction. When you see the same bidder number bidding on multiple vehicles, you know it is a dealer you are up against. Dealers have to make a profit. So when they quit bidding, thats the time to enter a higher bid. My bus cost a lot but is in mint condition. No idea why they wanted to sell it. As it turns out, the guy I was bidding against was a dealer in Phoenix who really knows his stuff. So I guess the answer is, yes, you can buy sight unseen but just do as much research as possible. The bus in the same auction as mine sold for $1500 less, but it had to be towed off of the lot. Good luck.

[musigenesis]

I guess the question should be "has anyone ever purchased a bus after seeing it in person first?"

[Ranchorossa]

That would spoil the surprise!

[rossvtaylor]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I guess the question should be "has anyone ever purchased a bus after seeing it in person first?"

Haha! Very true, sir.

[Shorty Wandermeyer]

Originally Posted by cntryby

I've been turning wrenches in some form or another for 40 years. This is relevant because I called the county bus shop who had the bus and talked to the service manager and the tech who maintained the bus. I knew how to ask the questions I wanted answers to.

They were really cool and let me ship stuff to their location so I could pick them up when I went to get the bus. I sent suspension air bags, and tools. I figured if needed I'd get a bottle jack locally, to heavy to ship.

I had all those conversations before I ever bid.

Ended up not needing to do anything but fuel up to get home. Didn't even have to add oil.

I have some repairs to do, but I knew that when I bid. If I had to pay someone else to do the repairs, it wouldn't be worth it for me.

I did have fun on the trip.

I took the same approach. Contacted the Maint. Mgr. at the county Bus Barn. The guy was very helpful and cool...yet careful not to guarantee anything. All he'd say was...'I think you're on the right bus'. It was! 6 new tires, two new batteries...not a dent and both AC worked etc. Got back to birth records and the guy even filled the tank for me. We've actually stayed in touch and I've been sending him picts of the progress. Evangelizing for the Skoolie religion

[Spediz]

Two years ago l flew from Alaska to Seattle to pick up a bus I planned on buying I had seen a video of it. I did not have many other options at the time. I tried to hire someone to go look at it but no one was willing .
What I would do again is take more time to look it over . I am very pleased with my bus , I am a woman who knows nothing about the mechanics of a bus. I was blessed with a good rig. However there is a leak over driver area , some flickering lights and a key missing . I could have used these things to negotiation a price reduction maybe . But they knew I had flown in from Alaska
Obviously this is not the best way to buy a bus but one has to do what they have to do .
I bought my bus at the end of October so I drove my bus home across Canada and through Alaska in some bad early winter weather. It did a great job in snowy mountain passes on reg tires so I feel that I found a sound bus .

[buslivesmatter]

Originally Posted by Bowers

I bought mine on a local online auction without seeing it in person, The auction listing said it was running when parked just before COVID-19 shut the schools down and we did ok. 2000 Thomas MVP-EF with 172000 miles for just $1600.00.

Wow. That's a steal. How'd you get that price? It seems like I cant find anything small for less than $2k.

[buslivesmatter]

Originally Posted by Rock-N-Ruth

Ruth and I have purchased two buses from the Gilbert School System in Phoenix AZ, through publicsurplus auctions. The first one we bought in July of 2019 is a 1998 International RE Amtrans. It had 142,000 miles on it. Auction said condition unknown. May need batteries or towed. We called Kent Rawlison the maintenance manager. He said, " it ran when we parked it." We got the bus for $1880.00 14,000 miles later we are so happy we want to buy a spare.... So we just bought a 2001 International RE Amtrans with 157,000 miles on it from Guess where. We got that one for 1425.00 or so. It's got a bunch of vandalized windows and the windshields are vandalized as well. No worries to us. Flat glass is cheap.

Both busses have the same engine T444E and Allison Transmissions. The one we are living in now has an Allison 5 speed automatic with a T handle selector, might be the AT 545. The new bus has the MD 3060

We haven't picked up the second bus yet but will let you know when we get it.

In my humble opinion, based on some experience over the years, large city school systems tend to have decent bus maintenance budgets.

If you are going to buy without physically inspecting, school systems not on the coast and not in road salt regions are best. Remediating rust is a real labor intensive pain in your backside.

Thank you. This is helpful. I'm keeping this in mind when I search for my bus as well. It seems the mid to shorter sizes are much harder and more expensive to find at a low price.

[EastCoastCB]

I just bought a Wanderlodge without seeing it in person.
I'm a VERY happy man today!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz9wK2OLv90

[buslivesmatter]

Originally Posted by Myrtle

Count me in as one of those. Purchased our 1982 Bluebird at a Ritchie Bros auction based solely on the photos and description. It was exactly what I was looking for. 1st bid came in at $1500, I countered with 2K and then the bids stopped. Next had to explain to the wife that we owned a bus that was 1600 miles away. Called a local HD shop and asked if they could check it out to see if it would go the distance. If it turned out to be a total wreck I instructed the manager to leave it for the next auction date. Battery and rear brakes needed servicing and apparently the V6 Detroit was recently replaced with Mercedes MB900 which explained when I tried to research the bus I could not find any models other than new ones with this engine. Repairs cost as much as the bus did but well worth it as we drove it home taking our time to the West Coast without any issues. Other than learning when the fuel gauge reads just over a 1/4 it means it is empty. Would I do it again? Absolutely!

Nice! I love this.

[buslivesmatter]

Originally Posted by Lewportal

I have used online auctions for cars,homes,land and bus purchase. I did contact the seller and asked questions and then put my faith in God on the purchase.
Pray on it and if it's right pull the trigger.

That's a good word. I've been looking at some land stuff too. Good to know other people have purchased it.

[joeblack5]

Congrats Charlie, I knew you wanted one and you were talking about selling the house and doing something big...I guess this was it.

Johan

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by joeblack5

Congrats Charlie, I knew you wanted one and you were talking about selling the house and doing something big...I guess this was it.

Johan

Thanks Johan! Yes this the BIG thing!

I just didn't want to give too many details or get too excited till I had it sitting here!

[jayb]

Originally Posted by buslivesmatter

Is that absolutely insane or is that normal to purchase a bus without seeing it in person first? I ask because I see some seemingly good buses for good prices in some online auctions. Some allow pre-inspection and some are strictly online due to covid.

What would yall recommend?

I bought mine in an online auction. Only a 5 hr drive away. There was a video of it running. It's OK.

[Mystique74]

Originally Posted by cntryby

I bought sight unseen, other than pics, then flew from Atl to LA to Alq rented a car to get to Aztec NM picked up the bus and drove home 1600Miles.

But yeahhhh... I'm insane.

Same here. Flew to Virginia from Atl. Took a LYFT for 1 hour to pick up the bus I only saw pics of. Drove 11 hours to get back home. No issues. I’m insane too.

[cntryby]

Originally Posted by Mystique74

Same here. Flew to Virginia from Atl. Took a LYFT for 1 hour to pick up the bus I only saw pics of. Drove 11 hours to get back home. No issues. I’m insane too.

The voices say I'm not aloneeeeee.