Municipal and Government Fleets
School Districts
The short answer
School bus body work gets scheduled around your calendar, not ours. We do collision, panel, rust and graphics work on buses at our Yorba Linda shop, take district purchase orders, and plan around the June to August window when routes are dark. We do not perform CHP inspections or terminal certification, only the body repair.
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What we see from this customer
A transportation director has two immovable dates: the last day of the school year and the first day of the next one. Everything else is negotiable. That is why we ask districts to get body work scheduled in the first week of June rather than the second week of August. A struck rear corner that needs panel replacement, primer, color and lettering is a two to three week job when the panel is on a shelf, and it is a six week job when the panel has to come from the body manufacturer rather than the chassis manufacturer.
Most districts we talk to run every bus they own. There is no spare sitting on the yard, so a bus in a shop is a route covered by doubling up or by a contracted charter, and both of those cost money that never appears on our invoice. We plan the disassembly and the parts order in the same week for that reason. If your district uses a board approved vendor list, tell us early. Getting added is a board agenda item with its own calendar, and it is not something that happens the week a bus gets hit.
On the regulatory side, be clear about what we are and are not. California school buses get an annual CHP inspection and your terminal has its own compliance file. We do not perform that inspection, we do not certify a terminal, and we do not sign inspection documentation. What we do is the body work that has to be right before the inspection happens: straight panels and body mounts, sound floor, correct reflective marking, legible lettering, and secure mounting for stop arms, crossing gates and lighting. All of it at our Yorba Linda shop.
Location: All work is performed at our Yorba Linda facility. We do not offer mobile, roadside, or fleet route service.
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What you are worried about, and the answer
Concern 01
The shop that has our buses will not commit to a date and school starts in August.
We give you a date after disassembly and parts sourcing, not at drop off. Bring the bus the first week of June and August is easy. Bring it in late July and we will tell you honestly what is achievable.
Concern 02
We do not own a spare bus. A bus in the shop is a route we have to cover.
Tell us at intake and we order parts before we tear down rather than after. A part ordered after teardown is the single biggest reason a bus sits in a shop doing nothing for three weeks.
Concern 03
Our purchasing office cannot release payment without a purchase order and a vendor packet.
We accept district purchase orders and supply a W-9, a certificate of insurance, our BAR license ARD00288521 and EPA identifier, plus estimates itemized by labor operation, hours, rate and part number.
Concern 04
Our fleet is three different body brands and repaired panels never match the yellow.
School bus yellow is a specified color, but it ages differently on a 2009 body than a 2019 body. We spray a card, check it against the actual panel under multiple light sources, and blend into adjacent panels rather than butting fresh paint against faded paint.
Concern 05
We need to know whether your work affects our CHP inspection status.
We do not perform CHP school bus inspections or terminal certification and we do not sign inspection documents. We do the body, floor, marking and lighting mount work that has to be correct before your inspection, and we document what was repaired.
Concern 06
Rust is coming through the rocker panels and wheel wells on the older buses.
Rocker and wheel well rust gets cut back to sound metal, treated behind the panel, then patched or replaced with new stock. Sanding and coating over corroded metal puts the same bubble back within a year, faster on a coastal route than an inland one.
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Services you need most
Service
Fleet Collision Repair and Refinish
Fleet collision repair returns a damaged commercial truck or van to service after an impact, covering cab sheet metal, box structu
Service
Cab Body Repair, Door Hood Fender and Bumper
Cab body repair addresses door, hood, fender, bumper, mirror, and step damage on a commercial cab without opening up a full collis
Service
Body Panel Repair and Replacement
Body panel repair and replacement covers sidewall sections, compartment doors, skirting, roof caps, and sheet metal on RVs, vans,
Service
Rust Treatment and Anti-Corrosion Coating
Rust treatment mechanically removes active corrosion, converts or encapsulates the sound pitted metal that remains, and applies pr
Service
Paint and Refinish
Full paint and refinish strips, corrects, primes, and resprays the exterior of an RV, van, trailer, or fleet vehicle in single-sta
Service
Decal and Graphics Replacement
Decal and graphics replacement removes cracked or faded factory artwork, prepares the finish underneath, and installs a new printe
Service
DOT Reflective Tape and Compliance Marking
DOT conspicuity tape and compliance marking installs certified reflective sheeting and required lettering including USDOT numbers,
Service
Flooring Replacement, LVT Vinyl Carpet and Tile
Flooring replacement covers removal of failed vinyl, carpet, or tile and installation of new LVT, sheet goods, carpet, or tile wit
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Vehicles you run
Vehicle
School Buses
School buses are riveted steel body panels over formed ribs on a truck frame, with body joint integrity carrying the safety case.
Vehicle
Shuttle Buses
Shuttle buses put a coach body on a cutaway van or truck chassis, and the joint between them is the weak point. Entry step damage,
Vehicle
Paratransit Vans
Paratransit vans carry a wheelchair lift or ramp, a lowered or reinforced floor, and securement track that is loaded in tension by
Vehicle
Cargo Vans
Cargo vans on Transit, ProMaster, Express, and Sprinter platforms carry trade tools, parts inventory, and route freight. Rear door
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Questions
Frequently asked questions
Do you perform CHP school bus inspections?
No. We do not perform the annual CHP inspection, we do not certify a terminal, and we do not sign inspection documentation. What we do is the body work that has to be correct before the inspection happens: straight panels and body mounts, sound floor, correct reflective marking, lettering to the required layout, and secure mounting for stop arms, crossing gates and lighting. We document what was repaired so your maintenance records reflect the actual work.
When should we bring buses in for body work?
The first week of June. A struck rear corner needing panel replacement, primer, color and lettering runs two to three weeks when the panel is on a shelf and six weeks or more when it has to come from the body manufacturer rather than the chassis manufacturer. The first day of school does not move, so your schedule has to absorb the parts risk. August drop offs get an honest answer about what is possible, which is sometimes no.
Can you repair rust on older buses rather than replacing them?
Usually, and it is normally worth doing. Rocker panels, wheel wells, step wells and the lower body skirt are the areas we see most. The work is cutting back to sound metal, treating what sits behind it, and patching or replacing with new stock. Sanding and coating over corroded metal puts the same bubble back within a year, and on a route near Long Beach or Oceanside it comes back faster than that.
How do we set your shop up as a district vendor?
Ask for the packet before you need a repair. We provide a completed W-9, a certificate of insurance, our BAR license number ARD00288521 and EPA identifier CAL000367879, and we complete whatever vendor form your business office uses. If your district requires board approval of a vendor list, that is a board calendar item with its own lead time. It is not something to start the week a bus gets hit in a parking lot.
Can you replace district lettering and reflective marking?
Yes. Lettering, district identification, unit numbering and DOT reflective marking are all in scope. We lay the pattern out on the actual body rather than trusting a template against a bus that has been repaired before, because a previously repaired panel is rarely where the template thinks it is. We match the layout your fleet already uses so a repaired bus does not read differently from the one parked beside it.
Tell us what you run and what happened to it.