I don't know if they are cheap or not.

For example any of us that has purchased a bus prior to the collapse in pricing that started a year or two ago has seen the resale value of our coaches drop significantly. But so has the value of every other bus (except those owned by people who missed the memo about low prices).

That situation has created a possible problem. When your bus has a relatively high value (compared to what you paid for it) it is easy justifying an expenditure to maintain it, refurbish it, repaint it, etc. But when its value drops significantly does that mean the owner will just drive the hell out of it and not spend money to keep things current?

The bus value has dropped, but that does not mean the cost to maintain or repair or refurbish it has not. In fact relative to the value of the bus, those things have jumped significantly. If a person had a coach worth $300,000 it might be easy to rationalize spending $15,000 to do some serious repairs on an engine that is showing signs of serious problems. But as we have seen some values have fallen so significantly, that the $300,000 coach is now worth $150,000, at which point the owner may just decide to sell the coach rather than spending 10% of its total value just to fix something that may go undetected in a sale.

I'll wager there is a lot of deferred maintenance going on right now because not only have bus values dropped, but the owners are also poorer due to the economy.

If I were to buy a cheap bus right now I would be all over it so I knew exactly what its condition was before a penny changed hands. As to the value of my coach, who cares? When we bought it it was not with the intent to trade up. It was to be a coach we would own a long time, and therefore would maintain with that thought in mind. My coach and many others have dropped in value, but I still intend to maintain it and as it becomes time to change the flooring or reupholster the furniture we will do that even though proportional to the coach value those upgrades will make less sense.

If I were to buy a coach right now I would find the best coach for the total money, meaning I would pay more for a coach that needs nothing, or a lot less for one that needs some work so my total cost is in line with the market. I have seen some coaches you would not be able to give me. I have also seen some coaches that were bought for so little it makes me wonder why anyone would even consider a new coach.