For Sale: Perfect #VanLife platform? A school bus!

Jeff Glucker

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There are a lot of choices out there for vehicles that you can turn into weekend adventure camping rigs. My personal favorite right now would have to be the Ford Transit with the EcoBoost engine and all-wheel-drive setup. Those are spendy though, and my shopping routine is more akin to Craigslist trolling than dealership visits. And that’s how I found someone selling three used school buses. Each one could be a perfect starting point for a van-life-style build.

You have easy access to the living space with the side door. These are built stout and designed to be run for many miles. Just strip out all the extra seats you no longer need, get a bed and kitchen space in there, and you’re good to go.

Here’s the full text of the ad:

These buses are very clean, have been fleet maintained, run perfectly, have clean titles, have AC, low miles are are ready for conversion or to haul people!
2010 Ford E450 95k mi 6.0 Dsl $9500
2010 Ford E450 101k m6.0 Dsl $9400
2009 Chevy Express 160k 6.0 $7900

You can click here to go see them for yourself. If you’re a Ford fan, you’ve got choices and there’s an option available for the Bowtie faithful as well.

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

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4 responses to “For Sale: Perfect #VanLife platform? A school bus!”

  1. danleym Avatar
    danleym

    Had a coworker do this. He ran into a lot of issues finding a company to insure it. I don’t remember all the details, but IIRC it involved finishing the conversion and having the DMV recode it as a RV before he could find insurance at an acceptable price.

    Reply
    1. mdharrell Avatar
      mdharrell

      In Washington there’s potentially an additional problem with having an appropriate drivers license for such vehicles. Here, if a vehicle requires a CDL for its original purpose, then it still requires a CDL to operate even in an otherwise non-CDL setting up to the moment it gets officially reclassified by, for example, conversion into an RV. Until the post-conversion inspection and paperwork are complete, you’d better have a CDL if you want to run it on the road. This includes school buses of any capacity.

      Reply
  2. Scoutdude Avatar
    Scoutdude

    While the miles seem low the question is the total engine hours and those are top dollar prices. I’d say this person picked them up at their local auction on the cheap and is seeing just how much money he can make. Check Govdeals.com and publicsurplus.com for gov’t auctions near you. You can also check for the smaller auction companies in your area that sell gov’t surplus. I’ve purchased from my state and a couple of counties over the years.

    Reply
    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      I happily clicked on the category “tanks” on GovDeals…only to witness a long list of sewage and oil tanks. Oops, this isn’t SovietGovDeals.

      Reply