What is the best resource for used Skoolie busses?

[Spitfire-SKO]

We are looking for a Type A bus and wondered if there was a favored site for used bus sales.


I have already checked the used Skoolies forum and pickings are slim at this time.



Ideally would like to find something by the fall but this is too important to rush so will be patient.



What about contacting school bus companies directly about planned retirements/swap outs? Has anyone had any success with this?



Also looking for recommendations on the best years/makes/models/drive train and mechanical and posted a discussion at https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f33/which-type-a-platform-should-we-choose-44058.html should there be any recommendations.



Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

my local school districts sell them straight out of the bus barn.
some send them through auction sites.

 

[Stovebolt-SKO]

After a bit of research to determine what we needed and wanted (Requirements versus desirements ), we found what we were looking for on Craigs List. I did have to go 3 states away to find the one I wanted.


My requirements:
1. Wheelchair lift toward the front
2. Pre emissions


Desirement

3. Flat-front diesel pusher (either a Carpenter or AmTran with either a Cummins or DT466)


As a professional truck driver, a conventional bus is just another truck to me. I wanted something more challenging/fun to drive:biggrin: And I didn't want to have to deal with a dog house.



Best resource is *this* web site. Read all you can and learn all you can and it will help you develop an acquisition plan ("Requirements/Desirements").


Whether its a school bus, transit bus, shuttle bus, coach .... you can generally find what you are after in the online classifieds. I did. Be advised, though, you may have to travel to bring it home.



You can try the auctions (as stated above) and get some awesome deals .... IF you know exactly what you are bidding on. But the school bus auctions are a gamble, especially if you can't preview the lots (check to see if it even runs....) or even get told what the actual condition of the vehicle is. For work a year back, we bought a school bus (2004 or 5 IC conventional) at auction for about $350. Beautiful condition. Even drove it back to the shop .... but the transmission (MD3060) wouldn't go past 3rd gear (that fix is hard and expensive) but it was okay as we only wanted it for parts for one of our dump trucks. And some of the non mechanical parts even cross fit to my RE3000


I asked the Boss about the beautiful set of Alcoa wheels. He picked up a hammer ....


Good luck!

 

[cadillackid]

After a bit of research to determine what we needed and wanted (Requirements versus desirements ), we found what we were looking for on Craigs List. I did have to go 3 states away to find the one I wanted.


My requirements:
1. Wheelchair lift toward the front
2. Pre emissions


Desirement

3. Flat-front diesel pusher (either a Carpenter or AmTran with either a Cummins or DT466)


As a professional truck driver, a conventional bus is just another truck to me. I wanted something more challenging/fun to drive:biggrin: And I didn't want to have to deal with a dog house.



Best resource is *this* web site. Read all you can and learn all you can and it will help you develop an acquisition plan ("Requirements/Desirements").


Whether its a school bus, transit bus, shuttle bus, coach .... you can generally find what you are after in the online classifieds. I did. Be advised, though, you may have to travel to bring it home.



You can try the auctions (as stated above) and get some awesome deals .... IF you know exactly what you are bidding on. But the school bus auctions are a gamble, especially if you can't preview the lots (check to see if it even runs....) or even get told what the actual condition of the vehicle is. For work a year back, we bought a school bus (2004 or 5 IC conventional) at auction for about $350. Beautiful condition. Even drove it back to the shop .... but the transmission (MD3060) wouldn't go past 3rd gear (that fix is hard and expensive) but it was okay as we only wanted it for parts for one of our dump trucks. And some of the non mechanical parts even cross fit to my RE3000


I asked the Boss about the beautiful set of Alcoa wheels. He picked up a hammer ....


Good luck!

the boss destroyed a perfectly good set of alcoa wheels???

 

[Stovebolt-SKO]

Um, no. He was protecting them. From me...

 

[Spitfire-SKO]

I am going to inquire at the company that provides bus services to the district and see what they have to say. If I do go that route how do I know I am not getting gouged on price.

 

[Stovebolt-SKO]

Again, I'd check all the online classifieds to see what busses are going for -- ebay, Facebook Market Place, Craigslist ... whatever you can think of. The more you check, the better idea you'll get of what the going market value is.



It seems to be one of those things where you just have to check as many sources as you can to get an average. Asking folks for anecdotal evidence is an iffy proposition...


Best *i* can do ...


Good luck and happy shopping!!

 

[Spitfire-SKO]

Again, I'd check all the online classifieds to see what busses are going for -- ebay, Facebook Market Place, Craigslist ... whatever you can think of. The more you check, the better idea you'll get of what the going market value is.



It seems to be one of those things where you just have to check as many sources as you can to get an average. Asking folks for anecdotal evidence is an iffy proposition...


Best *i* can do ...


Good luck and happy shopping!!

Thank you. I will check classifieds and such once I get an idea what make/model and type I will be considering. Also at this point got another discussion going on what mechanical and drive train are best so that will definitely factor in.

 

[Stovebolt-SKO]

As far as what engine/drive train is best .... I think you are going the get a lot of opinions on that. I do not consider myself an expert. I only know what I know and that is for myself, I went with what I was familiar with -- the International DT466E engine (we have several of them at work in our smaller dump trucks and they are great engines that do not give us much problems). I am not experienced with the Allison automatics and I may have made a bad decision in getting a bus with the MD3060 ... but time will tell.


Again, the more you search, the more you read, the more you digest, the better informed you will be. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Lots of questions. The true experts will not tire of helping you/us.


Online, it can be a challenge to know who's a real expert and who isn't. So the more informed you can make yourself, the better able you will be to tell.


There are some true experts on this site. But it may take you awhile to figure them out. *I* am not one of them. Wish I was. But I am learning like you, being new to the schoolieverse.

 

[Kentucky Dreaming]

Stovebolt, you like me are open minded and willing to learn from the folks here who know lots more than us.

Tons of peeps who are willing to share their expertise. read and ask.

 

[Dbacks2k4]

I've gotten a couple buses from purplewave.com auctions. Site doesn't seem to be that popular and sometimes you can score a deal.

 

[cadillackid]

I've gotten a couple buses from purplewave.com auctions. Site doesn't seem to be that popular and sometimes you can score a deal.

I bought one from onlinepros they specialize in texas auctions..

many of their busses are pretty rust free and often have factory A/C. they are pretty good about disclosing mechanical issues or if a bus is "tow away only"..



do look close as their buyer fees can be more than others.. they arent a constant source of busses like the government auctions.