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I recall I had plenty of S Yorks 827’s out of Rotherham but not so many of their well used Astras.I think we got mainly ex Essex Escort and Sierra estates out of Colchester.I remember discovering something ‘untoward ‘ at the auction where they did not declare all the entries so I complained to Essex Fleet office.From then on they would notify me about what was being entered and they got more money for them.As for the Met,I must have had hundreds of Sri autos and Astras which were really good,these were often average mileage with clean interiors and out of WOMA. Regarding stuff being supercharged,those Senators were,we were carefull who we sold them to. I am enjoying this thread but I imagine most people will be bored by it !

My thoughts exactly , By the time I've taken the car , complained about the bloody mess they make , took it again , Re done it when it comes back its quicker to do it once and have done with it . Employ a valet guy omg that's hard work , There's only two ways of doing things in my world , MY WAY & the bloody GATEWAY. I always feel sorry for the gateway hinges They hear me but don't bloody Listen. Do it yourself , save money , save sanity , simples

While the majority may have been heavily used,there are still hundreds of good ones being sold off,you would be surprised..Unfortunatley as Tango has confirmed that when they are decommissioned they take little care and leave dashboards in a mess and wiring exposed.If they replaced the dash’s with stuff that was originally removed,the tax payer would get an average of a grand more per car. May I be nosey and enquire which forces you were with around the millennium because the chances are I will be able to remember what cars they used.

AD must be on holiday.Remember to contact him you must send him a deposit first. Dave may have been seconded to Merc HQ Stuttgart to advise them.

I think I remember Paul a youngish nice guy.I don’t think he had very much stock and he must have been promoting his business.The rest of us were doing the opposite because we did not want the other traders to know.WOMA was good,you would probably know me and our main buyer Nigel,then there was Greengrass ( blue overall,big boots and a beard ) ,the Finneys and Rod Stewart....those were the days.We were on the road night and day bidding against each other and offering each other fake information of one sort or another.

What is the exact make and model? Year? Mileage? A grand off for a service and pads sounds a bit generous/desperate to me.

If he was told not to drive it and ignored this and done 200 miles plus , then he'd be on his own . and as for the brake pads , he knew they was a bit low due to pdi , again his choice , he wan wanted money off .

If the man has caused more problems by driving the car when told not to- you should tell him, and get him to contribute fairly to the repair. You are perfectly within your rights. Dont just roll over- if he’s caused costs he should pay his fair proportion.

She's about in the secret room. Or is she....

They are right in general.However it depends which force they are from.In my experience each force has different policies.Things have changed of course but stuff gets off sold for all sorts of reasons.Last year our local BCA was flogging off the recently sacked Chief Constables low mileage,1 year old,full spec RR Sport !

In the earlier days it was met but in the later stage it was various as I did management so i would be chucked around from essex to South yorkshire. I agree that punters might go mad about them as most think they're supercharged

I even had to replace the gate hinges the other week

I have got through a few valeters since September: 1st one, brilliant but completely unreliable, always off sick type, GF issues etc 2nd ones, again brilliant but became arrogant, turned into detailers refusing trade work as we don't pay enough. 3rd ones, really good hand car wash types, cars brilliant afterwards but had to deliver and collect them and if it rains, need doing again. Current one, very average, several attempts to get a car clean, doesn't listen or act on what I tell him. His added value is that he is a nice guy, 100% reliable, great with customers, polite, knowledgeable, parks stock with precision, nice to have around as a doer. I wish I could have a hybrid on them all but what do I expect for £9/hr?

Just shown this thread to two retired traffic cops who work here doing some driving for us . They are rolling around laughing on the floor at police cars being in any fit state to sell

Nick's back.... Mrs AD must have hidden his phone in the sand

We bought loads out of WOMA,mainly ex Met stuff.The unmarked cars are still good of course.Infact the best deal we have done of late was a fully spec’d petrol 3.2 Avant.In the 90s there were only 4 or 5 ex police car specialists and all did well.We traded as The Ex Police Department,sounds rediculous but punters would squabble for stuff so we had to introduce an ordering system....I kid you not !

Before we opened the garage, Ryan used to do some trade valeting to bulk up his work load. £40 Full valet and £90 with machine polish to the trade for most sized vehicles - South Wales area

Back in the day they were OK. Used to buy from WOMA and Leeds. The unmarked/CID/covert/posh uniformed stuff was ok. But I shudder to think what it's like putting together a 'modern' police car interior? Plus most manufacturers nowadays supply 'police spec' vehicles from new, same as 'taxi spec'. I seem to remember in the '90s Autocar magazine doing an article on a dealer that specialised in ex police. I've still got a couple of Astra 3 roof linings with sunroof delete if anyone is interested!

Where's my bucket and sponge

Why don't you just save ya money and valet it yourself. I baught a decent hoover, decent carpet cleaner which gets the carpets and seats up nice Then just some decent dash cleaner which is really good Tesco's own best I've used yet after buying on eBay etc. And a clean on outside with some paper mats in. Takes me about a hour just over and they come out fantastic make sure they smell nice too Save ya money and get your hands dirty!

What’s all this nonsense from some of you about them not being driven in anger & not abused!?!!!! Fuck me, it’s not Dixon of Dock Green out there nowadays

That applies to the "ladies" as well especially the bumps and scrapes A lot of plod cars are now coloured for unmarked used. A lot of response and traffic cars do have basic seats because leather and half leathers cost a lot more for the public purse. Remember the old s60 and v70 they had the ugly looking grey cloth seats which werent really available in public spec cars which had eithee full leather or half leather. Having said that a lot of crims do use high performance cars so plod now have S3"s and Imprezas Golf R's etc which are public spec and since they're used as unmarked cars not many have tons of computers in them. One cop show had a BMW 130i They're not driven in "anger" i can assure you that too. A lot of driving can be done in 3rd gear ie depending on the car you can do 15mph in 3rd gear and get up to 50/60 as well. Whilst some may say not good for engine you're not dipping thw clutch again and again. One idiot i knwq changed gears in his Meriva every 5mph so by 25mph /30 he would be in 5th gear then drop if down to 4th 3rd etc when he slowed down. Am like "how often do you change ze clutch Senor?"

Speaking of on the missing list -Where's AD? (and Dave 12334567789202..)

I think he just wanted to make a statement, maybe hes busy reconditioning a knackered plod car

maintained to a good standard yes probably, as for driven better than or being better than a one lady owner car, then.....er nope

Eric Cantona Seagul ramble, so only read if v bored: I’m not that old (47), but I have always liked the music of Bob Dylan. I wasn’t around for when he defected to electric (my dad was there -so he always said), but, I’ve always liked his recordings and so on over the last 40 odd years. Last year, my Mrs bought us tickets to his show at The Bournemouth International Centre near us. They were an extortionate price, but I thought, oh well, it’s Dylan. Will be a good show and he's the man.... Anyway, the day comes and it’s packed outside etc. He’s obviously raking it in still! Never mind the queues and the extortionate prices for the drinks in a plastic cup and the bottles with no lids:It’s Dylan. Worth the money and you get what you pay for... Anyway, after the first opening bars (musical) I realise I’m a sheep and been duped. It’s utter crap and tuneless noise. Never mind that I can’t recognise the song that I think he said was blowing in the wind. Must be a new jazzed up better ‘all bells and whistles’ version that I’m not getting. Maybe the next song will be better. It wasn't. Utter taking the piss, over complicated drivel. He was literally laughing all the way to the bank without a care to us, the audience. Almost as if WE actually weren’t his customers or he at least didn’t give a damn. We were not near the front in the ‘even more pricey’ seats. The people that were there seemed oblivious to it and were clapping and going along with it. They would clearly pay double and not moan or wake up From a bit of a distance, everyone else, it was clear, had realised also the emperor wasn’t wearing any clothes. It’s all I could do to sit through it. As we left, a busker outside was singing early Dylan stuff. It was brilliant. I gave him a couple of quid, as did others.... Of course this is my side of the story. The people in the front row singing, will disagree and say it was worth the money and more, as he is ‘the best’. One of us is wrong of course. It might be me....

Hello mate, I have someone who works part time for me and does all the cleaning and valeting. I have had to train him up over last few years but he is defo up to standard now and reliable for me. I have 20-25 cars at my site and it is much better than giving it out to the local kurds/romainian car washes as you will be spending a lot of money on poor quality valeting and more swirl marks than a twister ice cream lol. As for you and your dad if you guys can manage it then good on you! Saving costs initially however after a while though you will start to focus more on the business itself which is that you are a car dealer not a car wash detailer so outsourcing or having your own staff on it would be much more effective. My time is better spent on sourcing more stock, dealing with customers etc Prior to that I had a mobile guy that came to my pitch and charged £10 mini valet or £50 full vallet full interior washed, machine polished and engine was shined up using the trade special can of xxxxxx . It all depends on the stock £500 micra vs £5k Audi A3 and how clean or filthy they are 5 dogs and a chain smoker or a 1 lady owner bible in the glove box only used for sunday church. Once the cars have been done you have to remember they don’t sell straight away and with the weather it’s very unpredictable so overtime you will need to wash them again and again or shine them up before potential viewings etc so that we’re it gets expensive at car washes and will be the test of your time doing it by hand. Retail is detail especially on cars, if it’s perfectly shining when the customer arrives the sale is more likely on = show me the money baby (unless it’s the last price crap then I walk back into my office lol). Anyways I hope this helps. Cheers, A.