Bus Conversion for Sale Buyers Guide
Bus conversions offer the easiest chance to make huge mistakes in your choice and purchase. You have two MAJOR issues to investigate. Firstly, the bus foundation itself, secondly the quality and sensibility of the conversion process. If you are purchasing a conversion bus I highly recommend you work with a professional. They can find the right bus and help you investigate it before purchase. I know enough about buses and conversions to attest to the fact that there is a check list over 100 items long that need to be addressed. If you haven't read our Seven Commandments for buying ANY bus - read that first!
Read our bus make and model quick reference chart next. It identifies most major makes and models of buses used as conversion candidates, complete with a list of advantages and disadvantages. For instance, older conversion coaches offer huge advantages in quality and longevity over traditional RV's, parts are readily available for the most popular brands, and they are easy to locate and purchase. However, they can be substantially more expensive than an older Class A RV so you should compare the value.
Bus Conversions are without a doubt the best choice from an investment perspective. Many argue that a properly built and maintained bus conversion coach does not depreciate much if any after its 10th year. This is due to the prices for new ones being so extravagantly high. Buy a 10 year old conversion, use it for 5 years, and probably sell it for what you paid for it.
Bus to RV Conversions ADVANTAGES include: body, chassis, engine, and transmission are designed and built to last a lifetime. Many call the MCI's, Prevosts, and Eagles "million mile coaches" and they are. Hollywood movie stars, rock stars, politicians, and wealthy travelers call these coaches home for much of the year so they offer the most prestigious of choices.
Bus conversions are nearly indestructible, exterior maintenance is minuscule due to solid stainless steel, aluminum or fiberglass skins. Conversions are solid, the safest of ALL vehicles on the highway for the occupants, quiet, offer a smooth comfortable ride due to air ride or torsimatic suspension, do not get blown around in bad weather, and are the best cold-weather vehicles to live in (due to the occupants distance from the ground with storage bays and additional insulation underneath).
Parts for the major brands are available for even 30 to 40 year old buses from licensed dealers. More obscure brands, those made in foreign countries and imported, and models only produced one year, present problems however. See Bus Commandments for more detail.
Bus to RV Conversions DISADVANTAGES include: most expensive option for full time liveaboard comfort. It is easy to underestimate the total costs for enjoying this finest of motor home options. See Conversion Bus Issues for more detail. Huge, heavy, scary for some to drive, steer and backup.
Parts & service can usually only be obtained from big bus & truck
repair shops which may be difficult to locate. Parts for less known brands may
be impossible to find at any price.
Size - When it comes to buses which are going to get nothing but heavier as you modify them, longer and wider (like the 102" wide models) is NOT always better. Sure the bigger bus gives you more room, but remember the bus might have been already maxed out before you added 20,000 pounds of modifications.
Weight issues for your new coach should not be ignored, or underestimated. Build it too heavy and it won't steer right, will destroy the engine and transmission, will eat up the tires, smoke the brakes, flatten the suspension, burn extra fuel, and be slower in traffic. Make sure the company or individual had a plan for weight distribution and that they followed it. You MUST conduct a thorough test drive to get a handle on acceleration, fuel mileage, steering, braking, etc.
Slide Outs - are of particular importance on conversion buses. Most buses get a majority of their structural integrity from the body, not just the frame. If the slide out is not done perfectly and the welding overkill, the bus will buckle, sag and eventually the slide will be impossible to keep airtight, use properly, or keep working. Slides need to be literally "blueprinted" by a structural engineer. My advice, unless your rich, is to NOT purchase a conversion bus with a slide-out. Most of the buses with slides cost over $250,000 and these are among the most incredible land machines in the United States.
NOTE: After evaluating the information above on SPECIFIC issues related to this particular platform you may find the prepurchase checklist helpful. It covers GENERAL issues you should be aware of for ALL platforms. It is a valuable resource for evaluating a bus, motor home, or RV for purchase. Take it with you when shopping.
Just follow our advice, buy wisely, do your homework, build smart, and stay within budget, and you will enjoy the entire bus conversion for sale process.
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