Reagan,
I can comment as to what happened to my Marathon, when it was involved with a fire. In my case my bus was in a hangar where another coach caught fire, and caught the hangar on fire. My coach had some pretty decent damage with everything on the roof melting, and lots of soot and smoke inside. But, I thought the coach was repairable. I took it to Marathon, and after an inspection they wrote a letter to the insurance company deeming the bus a total, and that that they would not fix it, nor would they supply parts to any other party that decided to fix it.
The bus was sold at auction, and was purchased for a very low price. The new owner showed up at Marathon a couple of months later to try to get it fixed, and Marathon refused (as per their letter) to fix the coach. In their eyes, this is no longer a Marathon coach.
So, I would guess that later on, if someone tries to sell this bus, even after it was fixed elsewhere, it wouldn't get the same valuation. So, I believe that's what the previous author was trying to say.
Ray