Long-term maintenance costs

[GI-Jane]

Good morning, all.  Over the typical lifespan of a charter service bus, any breed, what would be the generally accepted estimate for maintenance expenses?  Maybe $'s per 100,000 miles, or such.  I am looking for a budgetary number from a reputable source that would be acceptable for projections that a banker would want to see. In other words, I am looking for something more than a number in the back of someone's mind.  I am looking for something that is published or documented.  Ballpark stuff.  But fairly recent numbers.  Do you know where I could find something like that?    Thanks.  Kirt

[buswarrior]

going to be difficult, those sorts of numbers are proprietary information, and will make or break a business if they get 'em wrong.

Nobody likes sharing the secrets of how they make or lose money.

The trucking industry might be a better place to look, since it is bigger, profit margins are a lot tighter and there are many more independent operators than in busing.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[HighTechRedneck]

It will also vary significantly by the generation, brand and features of the bus you choose.  And if it is a used bus, your actual experience with it will be heavily effected by how well it was maintained by the previous owner(s).  It will also vary by the region of the country and your choice of shop(s) to have maintenance done at.

If you are interested in a specific brand and/or generation of bus, your most accurate method would be to obtain the preventative maintenance schedule for it (from the manual for it) and take that to the bus shop that you would plan to use and see if they would be willing to put some estimates on it.  That will still be subject to varriance due to the previous care issue, but if the goal is to satisfy the interests of a bank or investor for a small business startup loan, that should be sufficient.

[Tenor]

As has been said, numbers are hard to guess at.  It really depends on the condition of your coach right now.  If you have good tires, that could save you over 2k, but figure you will eventually need tires.  How are your airbags?  Are the air beams rusty?  If you need to plate your beams and replace the bags, I'd budget another 2k.  My numbers could be conservative.  How are the brake shoes?  I think the best way to look at a used coach, is not to look at repairs on an annual schedule.  You need to find out how much it will cost to complete the neglected repairs and replace the pieces that were designed to wear out, like anything made of rubber.  Once you have the repairs done, maintenance is not very bad since we don't put anywhere near the miles on the coaches to wear out the pieces we replaced!  It must be said though, that the coach still needs to be used enough to prevent the repairs you made from going bad again through lack of use!

Good Luck!
Glenn

[kyle4501]

Sean shared a spreadsheet concerning the costs he has incurred on his Neoplan that he is full timing in.
He included everything - there are lots of things there you might not think of . . .
Granted, he is full timing, so his situation will likely be different than anyone elses, but you can get real world numbers & details to start with.

I found this with a search for "operating costs" in the search box on the right under mi name banner at the top of this page.
http://www.busconversions.com/files/Per-Mile-Operating-Cost.xls

The above is courtesy of
-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com


Maybe he'll chime in with the latest updated version.