Thinking of buying a bus. Want some opinions.

[Grimreaper86]

I have a bus I'm working on....but I was thinking of getting a second bus; for a variety of reasons I'd rather not get into.

Regardless.

I have about $3500 to spend on another bus and I'm supposed to go see a bus today that's almost the same as the bus I have now. It's a 97 International with 217,838 miles on it that someone converted to a party bus. Has three ac units and a generator that can power them and be operated from the inside. Looks like a nice sound system. I'd take out most of the seats and the stripper pole but the sound system and ac could stay all day esp cause the ac and generator are connected via breaker box so possible expansion to that could be potentially easy. It's to the T444e instead of the the dt466e that mine has but it looks just as big...looks like 26ft or something like that.

On the other hand we have a bus recently retired by a school system which is considerably newer. It's a 2013 about the same length. It's also an International. One pick of the odometer shows something like 160xxx miles. Regardless, it was used by the school until last month when they got new ones and it has regular maintenance records. The guys wife works for the school it came from and they owned it since it was new. Still has seats but they know a pastor that wants just the seats for their church bus so that could be perfect. It has a DT466 Maxforce engine and I imagine it still carries a DEF system. Obviously it doesn't come with some of the addons that the older bus has but all I know about the older bus is that it had regular oil changes.

What do you guys think?

 

[virusharpist]

I have a bus I'm working on....but I was thinking of getting a second bus; for a variety of reasons I'd rather not get into.

Regardless.

I have about $3500 to spend on another bus and I'm supposed to go see a bus today that's almost the same as the bus I have now. It's a 97 International with 217,838 miles on it that someone converted to a party bus. Has three ac units and a generator that can power them and be operated from the inside. Looks like a nice sound system. I'd take out most of the seats and the stripper pole but the sound system and ac could stay all day esp cause the ac and generator are connected via breaker box so possible expansion to that could be potentially easy. It's to the T444e instead of the the dt466e that mine has but it looks just as big...looks like 26ft or something like that.

On the other hand we have a bus recently retired by a school system which is considerably newer. It's a 2013 about the same length. It's also an International. One pick of the odometer shows something like 160xxx miles. Regardless, it was used by the school until last month when they got new ones and it has regular maintenance records. The guys wife works for the school it came from and they owned it since it was new. Still has seats but they know a pastor that wants just the seats for their church bus so that could be perfect. It has a DT466 Maxforce engine and I imagine it still carries a DEF system. Obviously it doesn't come with some of the addons that the older bus has but all I know about the older bus is that it had regular oil Sprunki Game changes.

What do you guys think?

- If your goal is to get something rolling quickly — say, a second income generator, a mobile project you want on the road sooner than later, or you like the vibe of a built-out bus — go with the 1997. It's plug-and-play in many ways, and you can tailor the interior how you want without worrying about major system installs.

- If you're thinking long-term, reliability, and clean slate, the 2013 is probably your better bet. The modern platform, lower miles, and clean usage history could mean fewer surprises. BUT—be prepared to put in the sweat equity (and possibly cash) to build it out.

 

[nikitis]

The T444E is a great engine. the 97 if there's no computer issues is probably the better buy hands down. The EGR, DPF, DEF on the modern buses are gonna cost you needlessly. More stuff to just break down too.

 

[nikitis]

I'll also note that, the 2 years I've been on here observing (I know it's not a lot but I read a lot and read the old posts too). I get a sense that more people have had issues with the DT466 than they have with T444E at this late stage in 2025. That's not to say that either wouldn't ever have problems, both engines have 30 year old versions of them as of today, and if we're comparing them in a longevity test, I would say the T444E ever so slightly wins. The DT466 is slightly more powerful, and thus desirable, but the T444E may last slightly longer.