If you’re here, you might be wondering how to buy a school bus! This was us just six months ago. Hopefully, the things we have learned so far will help you out.
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What? You Want to Buy a School Bus Too?
For the past few years, we (Richard and I) have dreamed of moving overseas. We planned to wait until we were empty nesters, which meant waiting one more year. But, right around Christmas, our youngest informed us that he wanted to graduate early and/or get his GED, which upped our timeline by several months.
Then, while visiting my sister and her husband over the holidays, the conversation of skoolies, or school buses converted into tiny homes came up. As the night progressed and the drinks flowed, we found ourselves on Facebook Marketplace looking for school buses to buy. That very night, we found one that sparked our interest and also sparked serious conversations about living the skoolie life.
The skoolie bug had bitten us! We didn’t buy that bus, but on our 5-hour drive home, that’s all we talked about. How to buy a school bus became our main topic of conversation.
Read More to Find out What We Did Next
First, we did the obvious and went to the internet. My goal was to connect online in as many ways as possible. I joined several Facebook Skoolie groups to gather information, and to see if any skoolies were listed for sale.
Other online places I plugged in to were Instagram, TikTok, and websites, including www.skoolielivin. I read and read some more about what to look for when you buy a school bus that you plan to convert into a tiny home on wheels. There is a LOT of information out there, and sometimes it conflicts. Keep reading to see what I mean.
So, What do You Look for When Buying a School Bus?
First, let me add a disclaimer. We do not claim to be experts on how to buy a school bus. We are just two soon-to-be empty nesters who read a lot of things on the internet and then did the best we could for our needs. Please take what we share and then use it as you see fit for you and your needs.
To start with, we discussed the following criteria:
- style of bus
- size of bus
- engine type
- transmission
- brake types
- mileage
- price/budget
- condition
- distance from where we live
Style and Size
Even though we’d seen buses on the road our entire lives, we’d never paid too much attention to the different styles. Dog nose or flat nose? Transit or school? Van or bus? There are many articles you can read to help you decide, and here is one by Trail and Summit for you to check out. When it came to style, I immediately fell in love with the flat nose buses. Aesthetically, they were my jam.
We decided we wanted a mid-size bus, mainly for maneuverability and access to state and national parks. The Roving Foleys has a wonderful blog that gives current (2022) requirements for national parks. I realized that when it is my turn behind the wheel, I would feel safer and more comfortable with a shorter bus. Also, there would only be two of us on the bus the majority of the time, so we didn’t think we’d need more space.
Engines, Transmissions, and Brakes…Oh, My!
As for engines, well…this is one place where the topic can get somewhat intense in online message boards. People have very strong opinions, which is fine. I really didn’t know anything (and don’t know much now), when we started looking. The International DT 466 comes up often as a skoolie fave. So does the Cummins 8.3. These are engines typically found in longer buses. The ‘go-to’ transmission seems to be Allison. This post by School Bus Tiny House goes into great detail, as does this blog by Paved to Pines. I believe you can find wonderful information in these articles. We have a Cummins 5.9 with an Allison transmission.
With brakes, there are air and hydraulic types to consider. The general consensus is that air brakes are preferable. Our bus has hydraulic brakes and it was almost a deal-breaker for me due to all of the comments I’d read online about air vs. hydraulic. I am sure there are pros and cons for both. Richard assures me it is a fine choice for us and our needs. Stay tuned to see how my thoughts about our hydraulic brakes evolve over time.
Condition, Mileage, and Tires When Buying a School Bus
Next, we considered condition, mileage, and tires. We knew that rust was an absolute no-go. The problem is, how much rust matters? Zero rust is best, but definitely inspect the bus you are considering buying. Buses that are from places where it snows often tend to have more rust, so check that out. Bring a flashlight, get underneath, use your phone and take photos, etc. Be as thorough as you can so that you feel confident about the bus. There are checklists available for what to look for when buying a bus that I will link here. I am certainly not the one to speak about this. This post on Skoolie.net message board by a user named Gray seems pretty thorough. Lastly, bring a qualified mechanic if you can to check things out.
Mileage is an interesting topic because there are many things to consider. Road miles vs. hours is something to research. The way I understand it, the bus’ odometer can read a certain number of miles, say 250,000, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all those miles were created equally. Hours represent engine revolutions and wear and tear that may not show up in the mileage. On a Skoolie.net message board, I read a great post with tips about this by a user named Cheese Wagon. Honestly, this was eye-opening information for me.
Tires are fairly straightforward. You can easily see how much tread is left on tires. Sometimes it takes someone with more experience to tell you more precisely how much life is left on your tires, but either way, inspect them closely. Tires for a school bus can get pricey very quickly. By pricey I mean several thousand dollars. If you remotely think you will need new tires for your bus, just go ahead and factor that cost into your purchase/conversion budget. Don’t forget to have a spare too!
Where to Shop When Buying a School Bus
To be honest, this was my favorite part of our buying a school bus process. I loved searching ads and postings for a school bus for us. Here is a list of some of the top places to look when trying to find a bus to buy.
- Facebook Marketplace
- Facebook Skoolie and School Bus groups
- Craigslist
- Online auctions such as publicsurplus.com or govdeals.com – have read great and not-so-great stories of people buying from auctions. It might be the perfect route for you.
- eBay
- Private dealers -There are a few who rise to the top of message board conversations. I don’t have personal experience with them, but I will list them here.
- AAABUSSALES.COM-Arizona
- WeSellSchoolBuses.com-Florida
- MidwestTransitEquipment.com-Illinois
What to Pay When Buying a School Bus
These are just observations, but here is what we have discovered. Dealers will be the most expensive, but with a purchase from them comes some assurances you might not get when buying on your own.
Auctions fluctuate, obviously. Just remember that you will usually be buying sight unseen. Set a maximum bidding price and don’t go over that. I promise you will need that money you were going to spend to win that bus on something else once your conversion starts.
Private sellers are where you should be able to find the most wiggle room with negotiations. One of the trade-offs is that if they are flipping the bus, they may not have much background information to give you about the bus’ history. If you are buying a bus that has already been converted, just be open-minded. There is not an established market for skoolies, so the prices may vary wildly.
Just know that a conversion can be as costly or as cheap as you desire, but from everything we’ve read and what we have experienced so far, it will almost always cost more than you thought.
Our Buying a School Bus Experience
Now, after everything you’ve read, you can hear how our buying experience went down.
Our search began in early January 2022. We had talked about our maximum price, which was about $8000, but we definitely hoped to find one less expensive. One of the first buses I found was almost exactly what I wanted, but had a hefty price tag of $24,000. I was shocked.
We quickly realized we wanted a flat nose, mid-size bus. We wanted a Cummins engine and Allison transmission. I was hoping for no wheel wells and a higher ceiling model. We also wanted one in as good condition as possible.
Within a few weeks, we’d found one about 3.5 hours east of where we live. On a cold Saturday morning, we bundled up and headed that way to check out the bus. I honestly thought it was ‘THE ONE’. When we arrived, I let Richard do all of the checking out tasks. I mainly looked for rust and checked the tires. When we took it for a test drive, I recorded it with my camera so that we could send the footage to my brother-in-law who drives school buses on the side. That bus turned out to be a no-go for us. Something was amiss with the engine.
By this time in our search, I was realizing that buses similar to what we liked were few and far between. I was keeping in touch with the owner of the $24k bus, hoping he would drop the price in half (wishful thinking, I know). I also found one on eBay that seemed nice, but it was located in Seattle. The thought of flying to Seattle from Austin and then driving a bus home just made us too nervous. I let that one go and it sold soon after.
We considered dog-nose buses, but I just wanted to keep waiting. Then, a week later, another bus in Texas showed up that seemed close to what we wanted. So, on another early Saturday morning, we jumped in our car and drove 3.5 hours north. The bus was from a second-hand seller who flips buses but works with diesel engines. The bus was in fair to good condition but definitely needed some love. We inspected her, test drove her, and within an hour or so, were driving her home.
What We Bought
We bought a 1997 BlueBird flat-nose bus. She is 28’ long and 7’ feet wide (all buses are about that wide). She is a front-engine, Cummins 5.9L with an Allison transmission. When we bought her, she ran fine, but we haven’t driven her in a few months. We did decide to replace all of the tires. We bought Falken tires. The bus needed to pass inspection so that we could get it titled as a motorhome in Texas. Stay tuned for how we navigated that. There is still much to do on the bus, which hasn’t been named yet. We will be updating here, on IG, and on YouTube too.
If you’re wondering how to buy a school bus, there are many things to learn and even more paths you can take to get there. What has worked for us is to do our research online, reach out to others who have gone before us, and try to put any worries aside. We just take things one step at a time, and so far, that is working out!
