Looking for 1 or 2 late model school buses.

Busted Knuckle · September 16, 2011, 09:37:23 AM

Howdy I have a driver/customer who has school buses leased on to the county school system in the next county over from us.
His buses are getting close to "aging out" and he needs to find 1 or 2 buses 2000 or newer to upgrade and stay in compliance with the required age limits on his buses.

We were just talking about it and everywhere around here wants crazy full blown retail prices for them.

If he could get a good enough deal he's go ahead and buy 2 but he really needs 1 SOON!

He prefers a Flat nose model with diesel engine an auto trans. He ain't too worried about brand of bus, engine, or trans, he just needs it to be no older than 2000. (newer is better, but he also has to be able to afford the deal too.)

Anyone know a good source or no of a any school districts that are selling off some of their older buses?

BK

Chaz · September 16, 2011, 09:53:38 AM

BK,
Have him call Batesville Com. School Corp. 812-934 two one nine four. Talk to Ed Krause. I don't know that he does or doesn't have any for sale, but he may. We were talking the other day and it seems he has a couple that might work. I'm just not sure if he would let go of them or not. He can also drop my name.
Later...
Chaz

demodriver · September 16, 2011, 10:58:30 AM

Ive got a friend who manages a school bus service. I will see what they have for sale.

Eric

wildbob24 · September 16, 2011, 10:42:40 PM

BK,

Saw this one on eBay:

http://tinyurl.com/04bluebird

Bob

eddiepotts · September 17, 2011, 04:43:43 AM

Try this. https://www.onlinepros.com/display.cgi?categories=400

demodriver · September 17, 2011, 05:25:49 AM

My friend said that they dont sell theres til they are 12 years old and they dont have any that are close to the sale date except two short bus's.

Runcutter · September 17, 2011, 09:47:36 AM

Bryce, here's what Spike and Jim Michaud have available. http://www.busesonline.com/bus-sales-listings.cfm?type=1&subtype=4

Hope this helps.

Arthur

Busted Knuckle · September 18, 2011, 02:58:00 PM

Thanks for the info guys. I'll pass it on to Ronnie when I see him this week.

I tried telling him he should just buy 1 new one this yr and 1 new one nest yr and that then he'd be good to go for 12-15 yrs
(I think he said they must be under 13yrs old or he has to pay a $800 inspection fee with no guarantee it will pass for another yr certification, if it don't pass he has to fix what it fails for and pay for another $800 inspection) the school system has some private contractor come in and do the inspections and there are some operators running 20+ yr old buses that do this yearly and keep running the same buses again & again)

He is like the rest of us though & financially challenged. Although he has good credit & would have no problem getting the loan. His worry is that right after making the commitment to buy new buses the school system would abandon the lease operator program or some big mega corp. Like Laidlaw would come in and take over ALL routes and leave he & his colleagues sitting holding the bag and no routes to use the buses on.

I know I have more than enough headaches than to get involved with school buses. (even though Ronnie did try to get me into a deal buying out an elderly gentleman that has 5 routes & 7 buses. (5 in use and 2 spares & all outdated and doing the $800 a yr inspection fee deal)
As I told Ronnie;
#1) I have 2 many headaches now!
#2) The buses are more of a liability than an asset @ that age.
#3) If the buses are already out of date then really the only thing to buy from the old man that is wanting to retire is his contract for the 5 routes and then acquire newer buses to run them with.

BK

wildbob24 · September 18, 2011, 10:15:32 PM

Here's some more:

http://tinyurl.com/01Genesis

http://tinyurl.com/2002Thomas

Bob

Len Silva · September 19, 2011, 05:11:30 AM

Has your friend given serious consideration to the Obama tax cuts for business? As I understand it, he can write off up to $500,000 per year in NEW equipment purchases. I don't think it applies to used equipment as part of the reasoning was to stimulate growth in manufacturing.

That would seem to me to be a major consideration in the decision.

Busted Knuckle · September 19, 2011, 05:26:48 AM

Quote from: Len Silva on September 19, 2011, 05:11:30 AM
Has your friend given serious consideration to the Obama tax cuts for business? As I understand it, he can write off up to $500,000 per year in NEW equipment purchases. I don't think it applies to used equipment as part of the reasoning was to stimulate growth in manufacturing.

That would seem to me to be a major consideration in the decision.

Len I'll have him check into that!

Shoot $500,000.00 per year write off for new equipment huh? Hmm, new bus about $500,000 dollars, maybe we need to check it out also!

BK

belfert · September 19, 2011, 06:49:46 AM

I did two minutes of research and found that this applies to both new and used equipment. They've taken the Section 179 deduction and increased the cap to $500,000 this year. A small business is required to depreciate any equipment purchases over the cap amount. The IRS is allowing you to deduct from your taxes this year the full cost of the equipment. They are not giving you any "free" money to help buy the equipment.

I don't understand the point of depreciation anyhow. The government is essentially getting an interest free loan. You pay taxes up front and the government gives them back over 3 to 7 years or so. I know a small business that bought hundreds of thousands of new equipment as they were growing like crazy, but they didn't understand they would owe taxes and get it back over a number of years. They ended up leasing a lot after that as the taxes put a huge dent in the bank account.

Len Silva · September 19, 2011, 07:19:44 AM

There is nothing free about it. The idea is a temporary stimulus to help shock the economic system into recovery. All it means is that you can take the 500K depreciation all at once instead of spreading it out over a number of years, thus putting some short term money into the economy.

It's not a gimmee, nothing magic about it, just the hope that it will help a small business today, so that they will be in a better position to pay their taxes in future years when things get better.