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It's unfortunate that these cities, fire districts, airports, etc., think sometimes that the low bid is the best bid. We were able to sway our city council a few months ago, after receiving bids for a new rescue pumper, that the lowest bid from Rosenbauer/Central was not the way to go. They underbid Pierce by $35,000 but we we're still able to go with Pierce. We heard too many negative things about the Rosenbauer/Central quint that a nearby fire district received a month or so before.
Jeff, well said. You get what you pay for. USAF always went low bid, and sometimes they got junk. The Oshkosh's were the exception. The folks in WI always seemed to make quality vehicles.
We had a Pierce Dash as our first custom rig, and liked it a lot. Then bought two Sabres, had a lot of trouble getting Pierce to addess warranty issues. We now have two Central States quints, three CS engines, one more CS engine on order. Guess everyone has different experiences with apparatus manufacturers!