Dbacks2k4
Senior Member
I bought mine outside of Phoenix and brought it back to Iowa. I made 3 road trips to Arizona and back... 1600 miles each way. On the first trip out I'd reserved a storage spot at an RV storage place about 5 miles from the school district's transportation facility. I drove out there with fresh batteries, tools, etc. I got all the paperwork done with the district, got the batteries installed and limped it to the storage lot, then took a cab back to the district to get my car. I'd ran the diagnostics on the bus so I *thought* I knew what was wrong with it.
Once home I took the title to my local DMV and got title transferred and plates issued. I also arranged to get Personal Use of a Commercial Vehicle insurance through State Farm using a local agent with experience doing buses. It took about 3 weeks for him to walk the policy through underwriting and get me the ID cards. State Farm's insurance for old school buses is a manual process that takes an experienced agent talking to the right underwriters at the company.
On the second trip out I had an appointment to get the tow bars installed on my car while I fixed the bus (the idea being I was going to tow my car home behind the bus) which was now registered and insured. I replaced the IPR on the bus, but that only solved one problem because then the EGR valve went from partially functioning to failing full open on me, although I didn't know it at the time. Basically it went from driving with a sputter to stalling about every seven and a half seconds. After troubleshooting as much as I could in an outdoor Phoenix storage yard in July (not the greatest location OR timing) I decided to take it to a shop but they couldn't get me in for 3 weeks. So I came home.
The third trip out I took it to the shop, they couldn't diagnose it. It was a crappy mom & pop shop that came highly reviewed but had no ability to handle a computerized engine - the dude had never heard of Nexiq or Servicemaxx. He told me I must've used "crappy Chinese equipment" and I'd probably fried my ECM and the whole computer would need replaced
I took it to a dealer that told me it'd be another month before they could get it in. So I came home again, and that's when I arranged to have it hauled home on a flat-bed. The dealer lied and actually got it in within a day (neglected to tell me that - he mentioned it when I called to tell them I was cancelling my service appointment and that the trailer would be there 7am the next morning). Anyway, they had already diagnosed the EGR valve failure. He wanted $5 grand to fix the EGR. I told them no and they had to scramble to put it back together before the trailer got there but at least I had a diagnosis when it got home. $200 worth of parts when it got home and the bus runs like a dream.Long story short (or not so short) - 4 hrs away seems like a dream compared to 26 for me ha ha.
In your case I would see if the seller can hold it for a couple weeks. Make the transaction, payment, title, etc, then go back to actually get it when you have plates and insurance. Or just arrange to have it towed.
I got lucky and when I was shopping around for quotes the broker had a cancellation and was able to give me a low-cost bid as he needed to get a truck and driver from Phoenix to Chicago anyway and hauling my bus back to Iowa at a lower cost was better than not making anything at all.
