Newbie here with possible chevy cutaway

[eekalot]

Good afternoon! The wife and I have been thinking it's time to start thinking about our mode of transportation for traveling. We have looked at sprinters and transits, thought about going new with transit most likely.  Until the other day....I spotted a Chevy express 3500 cut away school bus for sale. We have looked at it twice. Will test drive it in the next day or so.  Low miles with 64K on a 2003 model. It looks good, no obvious signs of damage/accidents. No rust - that's always a plus here in AZ!  

Any way, just wanted to throw that info out there to see what people thought. The asking price is over $15K . It's doable and no monthly payments to contend with! We will be doing the travel nurse scenario, so a livable space for a few months at a time is critical. This is a big as we would like to go however.

We are a little concerned that we may not get the parking preference at some RV places because of the schoolbus...right now it has been repainted white. I have a couple years to make interior and fix my mistakes as we go along. Not very stealthy by any means...

What are some thoughts that come to mind?

I will probably repost in another area to get more responses?

Thanks for looking!

 

[user 423]

Is the bus gas or diesel? Those skoolies do make some nice campers.

I'm not up on bus prices but $15k seems high for an '03, even with the low mileage.

Dealership or private seller?

Welcome to the forum!

 

[eekalot]

6.0 gas and its at a reseller/dealer unfortunately, it does have fresh paint , new tires ,brakes.

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome eekalot to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

highdesertranger

 

[maki2]

I would say start with a real low ball offer on it. Do some serious negotiating to save money. Also be sure to have it inspected mechanically before finalizing the deal and get cost estimates for any recommended repairs or things that are due for repair in the near future. Use those repair estimates to negotiate the price down to cover that cost.

You will be wanting to save money so that you can put it into a renovation instead of the dealers pocket.

Do not drool over it, play it cool and be very non committed, act very undecided about it. Keep your cards close to your chest.....lots of "well I am not sure about that", " I don't know if it is right for me", "it is pretty old for that asking price"

 

[eekalot]

What is a fair price to offer? I have looked around and can't seem to find one that is close to this. It's a 6 window bus wirh stock passenger door as the school bus door. I did a couple 4 door configurations with same door setup, but they were at a bus reseller back east.

 

[maki2]

Oh just read your posting again and noted "fresh paint job" You might already know about the following or you might not. Plus you could have forgot to do it even if you do know it.

Take a magnet along, that will help you check for any large areas of bondo that might be covering up rust repairs or dents from accidents. It can be difficult to tell with a new paint job what is underneath it but the magnet knows the difference between steel and bondo filler.

Also be sure to look at the VIN report to see if it was involved in any collisions. Used car dealers don't like to volunteer that up information up front. So pull up your own VIN report if they don't show you it. Do not take their word for the condition of the vehicle. They might be honest and upfront about EVERYTHING or they might only give the partial truth or they might not even be aware of all the facts which is the most likely scenario.

 

[eekalot]

Thank you all for input. I shall che k insurance today and see how that will play out .

 

[maki2]

your best place to go to find out average cost for a school bus is the forums for skoolies. I don't have any website address for them as I don't own a skoolie. But I did seriously consider buying a short one back in 2008 when one was for sale in my local area. However it got sold before my house did so that did not happen.

 

[eekalot]

Well well well....looks like the insurance run around has begun. I would think you have heard all of these details before...so I will spare you that.

Looks like I will have to try a different company or two until I find one that is going to work.

Right now I am waiting on progressive...geico is next, any others that have had good experiences?

 

[Firebuild]

I spotted a Chevy express 3500 cut away school bus for sale. We have looked at it twice. Will test drive it in the next day or so.  Low miles with 64K on a 2003 model. It looks good, no obvious signs of damage/accidents. No rust - that's always a plus here in AZ!   ..... Any way, just wanted to throw that info out there to see what people thought. The asking price is over $15K ....
Thanks for looking!

Hey there, this sounds really expensive to me. I love my skoolie but I paid $2500 for it on Facebook and I don't know of anyone who has paid 15K unless at least a significant part of the build has been completed. I'm sure you'll get lots of opinions here but if you haven't posted over at www.skoolie.net I'd suggest you do. Someone there will probably have this exact vehicle and should be able to tell you lots.

 

[Firebuild]

Well well well....looks like the insurance run around has begun. I would think you have heard all of these details before...so I will spare you that.

Looks like I will have to try a different company or two until I find one that is going to work.

Right now I am waiting on progressive...geico is next, any others that have had good experiences?

Insurance depends on what state you're in (I think AZ is much better thna where I am), but also how it's titled. I have a Ford E350 cutaway 4 window bus, but it's titled as a van so it wasn't hard to get liability (I wa sonly seeking liability). I'm with Liberty Mutual. If they find out it's a bus they will probably drop me LOL, but having "van" on the VIN lookup made insurance possible.

 

[eekalot]

I did post at skoolies and didn't generate very much interest. Other than people thought it was on the high side. I am seemingly unable to find another vehicle similar to this, close but not close enough.

I looked at a more than a few auction places and didn't find anything on initial search. I am trying to stay in the southwest for logistical reasons as well as to find something rust free.

Auction places at this time and the ones I was looking at seemed to have the much larger units available. Don't know if the smaller ones are in less demand so you don't see them as often or what.

Keep looking and looking....

 

[Firebuild]

I'm not sure where in AZ you are, but I just did a quick Facebook search in Phoenix and got many short bus options within a 100 mile radius (link below). Unless you're super attached to a gas engine, there are many out there. Gas will be harder to find for sure. Honestly, auction places and dealers are not where I'd be looking. I bought mine from a day care center directly; they listed it on Craigslist.  There's even one that came up in this search that's partly converted for $9,500 (it's a 4 window so roughly 20 feet long). The one you're looking at has low mileage and that's great, but it's not the most important thing in a bus. My experience with the folks at skoolie.net is, if it's a good buy, they're going to be enthusiastic. If they're not... it's probably not. [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]If you feel it's the bus for you, though, [/font][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif] go for it.[/font]
Here's my AZ search result:  https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/phoenix/search/?query=school%20bus&vertical=C2C&sort=BEST_MATCH

 

[Firebuild]

Correction, I said Craigslist but I meant Facebook.

 

[eekalot]

Thanks for link. I now see more "active " shorties than other places. This opens up my searching. So the hunt goes on!

 

[Firebuild]

I saw your post on Skoolie and it seems you're looking for one with the double van door in front; this might be harder to find but I bet you'll find it!

 

[eekalot]

Yes, thanks. I have noticed that it seems to be a unique door arrangement for sure!

 

[maki2]

The reason you are not finding other school buses is you are searching during the school year, but coming up towards the end of the year. The public and private schools won't be surplussing or trading or consigning their buses until summer time. If you can manage to hold off until June and July you might find a lot more to choose from.

The other time of year commercial vehicles go up for sale is at the end of a year when the companies use up the last of the years funds to take advantage of the tax write offs and end of the year inventory clearance sales on vehicles.

If you don't understand that this truly is a seasonal situation then you will be perplexed as to why you are not finding any short buses for sale.

 

[NctryBen]

So, my neighbor has a 2005 f550 ambulance for about that much. He got it thinking I could use it but I’m throwing my resources into a camper for my truck.