Looking At Purchasing Used Ambulance

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Oldgator73

Oldgator73

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Joined
Dec 28, 2017
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Dover, DE & Mouth of Wilson, VA
We are in the early stages of researching purchasing a used ambulance to retrofit for a cross country trip next summer. We will tow our 17? TT with it. Anybody have experience doing this?
 
look thru this auction site.....http://www.kenporterauctions.com/

This is an municipal Auto auction on the west coast but there is probably one on the east cost.  I been here with friends and bought 2 vehicles here.
 
sightseers said:
look thru this auction site.....http://www.kenporterauctions.com/

This is an municipal Auto auction on the west coast but there is probably one on the east cost.  I been here with friends and bought 2 vehicles here.
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Thanks. They do have a couple ambulances.
 
Make sure you verify that any vehicle you're interested in at KPA is available for public auction. Some items, like the two currently listed ambulances, one is dealer only, the other is public. The listing will specify which it is.
 
NY_Dutch said:
Make sure you verify that any vehicle you're interested in at KPA is available for public auction. Some items, like the two currently listed ambulances, one is dealer only, the other is public. The listing will specify which it is.
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I noticed the ?Dealer Only? entry. Thanks. Ebay and FB Marketplace has several good choices.
 
Oldgator73 said:
I noticed the ?Dealer Only? entry. Thanks. Ebay and FB Marketplace has several good choices.
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"Dealer only" vehicles at auction often means there's some safety issue with the vehicle that prevents it being sold to the public before it's repaired. It could be as simple as needing new brake pads or a tail light lens, but it's something that prevents it from passing a mandatory state vehicle inspection. In CA, it could also be a smog test failure I think...
 
Oldgator73 said:
I would posit sites such as Ebay and FB Marketplace do not have the dealer only rule. At least no that I have noticed.
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Private vehicle sales are usually not covered by state inspection rules, but KPA is likely considered a "sales agent" for the selling parties and would be subject to the CA rules. Private sales are generally considered "As is" sales and leave meeting the inspection requirements up to the buyer.
 
I would think you would have more useable room in a small box truck than an ambulance with it's built in equipment disadvantage.
>>>Dan
 
NY_Dutch said:
"Dealer only" vehicles at auction often means there's some safety issue with the vehicle that prevents it being sold to the public before it's repaired. It could be as simple as needing new brake pads or a tail light lens, but it's something that prevents it from passing a mandatory state vehicle inspection. In CA, it could also be a smog test failure I think...
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On all those 'Dealer only' cars and trucks,  there are licensed dealers standing all around at the auction,  the standard practice is to palm him a couple hundred dollar bills as you shake his hand .....and he will bid on any vehicle you want.

We often put a code scanner in the OBD2 port and see if it's a easy problem or not.
 
I was looking at a small city bus with a wheelchair lift for my wife to use if she needed it. It would be an easy conversion to a Class C m/h.

Many very good municipal vehicles are sold when they reach a set number of years old.
 
My son bought a retired ambulance that had been partially retrofitted as a camper.  I've had to do some work on it, both in person and over the phone(mechanics with kids will understand). 
All I can say is take a good look at the electrical system.  They lay what seems like 2 miles of wire over the top of the factory truck harnesses for all the lights, sirens and medical equipment.  Most body manufacturers pull from the same pool of workers who built our coaches so you can imagine what it looks like.  Now, put the ambulance in a room full of monkeys and have them pull all that wire out when they remove the equipment to resell the shell.
Prepare to get a real education on auto electric problems.  Oh, and I'm not sure I'd get one with a Ford diesel in it either.  ::)
 
I can't really add anything to the discussion, sorry...but I want to say that I have often looked at ambulances on the road thinking they would make good sturdy RV's.... the one's built on the larger medium duty trucks, not the smaller e-series ones...maybe those too, but the bigger ones catch my eye.  I really like the way the boxes for the "house" are built.  Looks to be much sturdier and better constructed than low to mid range RVs, and looks good too

good luck with your project.
 
Brad, you're right on in your thinking.  The kid's "waaah-ambulance" (I like to give him a hard time)is really solidly built, body wise.  It's on an E350 frame and there is no wood used in the construction(except what we added for beds and cabinets).  Pretty sure it would survive incidents that would leave my Bounder as a pile of scrap.  It's just that whoever down-fitted it was a butcher and just cut wires off with no regard to whether they were live or not.  Has been a nightmare as my kid has limited mechanical ability and no understanding of electricity at all.  Would be better if we didn't currently live 1500 miles apart.
Oh, and there's the "window" they installed by cutting a hole in the body and siliconing a piece of plexiglas over it(yes, it leaks).
 
I?m looking at a Type III with a 16? box. The reason the ambulance is attractive to me is most come with  generator, rear heat and a/c, cabinets, seating that can be easily converted to a bed and countertops. Some even have a fridge. 50 amp Power is usually included also. Plus tons of outside storage. I don?t want one that someone has done any work to. I want one that a city, county, etc has retired. I?ve seen some with as little as 60k miles.
 
Oldgator73 said:
I?ve seen some with as little as 60k miles.
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It may have 60,000 miles on the odometer, but there's a good chance it's spent several times that amount of time idling at the scene of an accident and between calls.  Idling time is just as hard on an engine, especially a diesel, as running at speed.

Old_Crow said:
Oh, and I'm not sure I'd get one with a Ford diesel in it either.  ::)
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The original 7.3 L Powerstroke (1994-mid 2003) is a real workhorse, right up there with the Dodge Cummins in terms of performance and lifespan.  The Ford diesels to be wary of are the later ones, the 6.0L and 6.4L but even these can be made reliable and long-lived through retrofits.
 
Well, I wrote a nice long answer to this post last night and for some reason, it didn?t take. Long story short, I spent a 35 year career in the fire and ems business and from my experience I can tell you that an ambulance will have the wheels run off it and be run right into the ground before it?s sold. Maintenance will be sketchy throughout its service life. Often units that have been replaced by large departments will be bought up by smaller agencies and then further put through the ringer. They cost a lot to buy up front and a lot to maintain so when they are put on the market for sale, it?s generally because they have become more expensive to keep on the road than they are worth.  Also, I never saw a unit with a generator. Inverters, yes, but no gennys. Just my opinion.
 
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