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REFURBISHMENT KEEPING SAFETY IN MIND Many operators are finding seat belts and wheelchair lifts are essential to the clients they serve. Rather than purchase a new fully equipped coach, Hotard says he sees many operators opting to add these items to existing vehicles. "Some customers have to provide seat belts to fulfill their contracts, and if they don't have all-new buses with seat belts, they can add them," he explains. "[Refurbishment] is a more economical way to provide a fleet uniformity; they can provide seat belts to certain schools or colleges or whoever might require seat belts." Pek points out that adding seat belts to a bus or motorcoach involves some structural work. "We need to insure that we work with the manufacturer to insure the subfloor structure that will be holding the wheelchair can keep up with the new seat belts, because it's certainly adding a lot more torsion on the old structure," Pek says. "In a lot of cases, you have to go back in and rebuild the entire structure." SAVE ON INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS Another benefit of refurbishing a preexisting coach is cost-savings when it comes to existing inventory as well as time saved on driver training. "Some of our customers are doing refurbishments because it's equipment that they are very familiar with already," Hotard says. "They don't have to retrain their drivers." By keeping the old coach, the operator can also keep any parts it may have acquired to service the coach. "The parts inventory doesn't have to change, so from the infrastructure standpoint, there's not a lot of investment in retraining and restocking parts, 46 < mETRO mAGAZINE JANUARY 2013 CoachCrafters technicians perform body and paint repairs in the company's 22,000 square foot facility in Tavares, Fla. as opposed to if you'd bought a new bus," Hotard adds. FINANCING THE PROJECT Deciding you want to refurbish your coach is only the first step — now you have to figure out how to pay for it. There is more than one financing option to consider. "Many customers who are at or near the end of their financing term can now use the equity in their current coach and refinance the upgrades they select," Hotard explains. "It is a great option for operators to upgrade their fleet with minimal cash outlay, reduced monthly maintenance expenses and manageable monthly payments." Pek points out that this option is "a good way for coach owners to add some life to an existing coach without having to spend $500,000 on a new coach." Another option is for operators to finance upgraded coaches with lease or load terms and "take advantage of Section 179 tax deductions on used equipment," Hotard says. Section 179 of the IRS tax code allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment purchased or financed during the tax year. In other words, if an operator buys or leases a piece of qualifying equipment, the full purchase price of that equipment can be deducted from the operator's gross income. Refurbishment financing is available through both BRC and ABC Companies. Photo Courtesy CoachCrafters Inc. parts at its warehouse facility. "We always work from a very detailed specification," Wolf explains. "There are typically over 600 different part numbers and subassemblies that go into an overhaul. Labor can easily climb to more than 1,000 labor hours per bus." "For companies that are just a little strained for capital, we'll work with them to finance the cost of their refurbishment over a three-year period," Pek says. "That makes it just a little more affordable for them." FIND A REPUTABLE REFURBISHER Pek cautions operators against using "the big repair shop next door" when refurbishing coaches. "Just because they do a good job of doing some collision work, doesn't mean they know how to access the parts," he says. "The electronic matrix of buses is more complicated than they're used to, and the bus ends up out of commission for six months." Having a coach out of commission longer than expected will put a dent in an operator's revenue. A company that specializes in refurbishment can finish a coach in 30 to 45 days, according to Pek. "There are a half a dozen really strong companies out there that offer bus refurbishment," he adds. "The benefit to working with those top four or five companies is that this is their focus. They know the buses inside and out, and in some cases, maybe even better than the operators do. "If [an operator] is going to go down that road to refurbishment, I would suggest they do their homework and make sure that they are sending their bus to a reputable company to refurbish," Pek adds. metro-magazine.com