Find Used Buses
Whether you need a transportation vehicle to haul students, to transport your band or simply to have enough room to move items that you sell, knowing how to find used buses and how to purchase them will give you a tremendous cost savings over trying to find anything new. Your search will depend on your budget and how far away you are willing to find the bus, but you can easily track down the right vehicle for you.
Steps
- Start your used bus search locally.
- Check out the newspaper classified section to see if there are any used buses for sale.
- Also watch the newspaper for any local auctions that are selling used buses.
- Check out the inventory of local automobile dealerships online. While most dealerships do not list their entire inventory in their print advertising, you can generally find it on the website.
- Move out to a regional search.
- Repeat the same steps as you would for a local search, but do so using online tools for the closest big city.
- Review the online version of the newspaper of the closest large metropolitan area near you.
- Watch the online newspaper for auctions. You might even be able to flag the key term to alert you, if the online newspaper has that feature.
- Check out automobile websites in that area to search their entire inventories.
- Switch to a more comprehensive web search for your used bus search.
- Follow a few general rules about purchasing a used bus.
- Don't purchase a vehicle that is heavily rusted.
- Make sure that you are aware of the status and origin of any replacement parts.
- Try to not purchase a used bus that needs a lot of work done to it. You could invest more into repair than it is worth.
- Determine the needs of your organization or your personal needs before settling on a bus type or model.
- Have an inspection on any used bus that you are considering for purchase.
- Verify that the bus you are looking at has a legitimate title before purchasing the vehicle.
- Make sure that you have a business plan in place to handle the cost of the bus. You want to include all of the numbers associated with bus ownership including cost of the vehicle, insurance, licensing fees, maintenance, repair figures and/or cost for training of the driver.
Tips
- Speak to your insurance agent about the increase your insurance bill will see if and when you add a used bus to your collection of vehicles. You will probably see a large increase in premium due to the enormous liability that a bus can mean to you personally or to your organization.
