Starship Mileage

[Lakeside 94]

10 hours ago, met said:

Do you 'promote' the ex-police thing or play it down. We used to do a few back in the day but mostly ex CID/covert stuff, no white cars; a few MOD too?

Make it well clear. We’ve even done a few ex panda cars. Sell well but need to be sold a lot cheaper than none police as no matter how much prep you do and regardless of how well mechanically maintained they are they still feel worn. Punters tend to overlook that when they see the 4 page long maintenance record though. I think some people like the novelty of owing an ex old bill car too.

4 hours ago, trade vet said:

Metpol from WOMA ?

Thames Valley/West Mids from BCA/Birmingham.

[BHM 994]

Years ago I used to flog quite a few ex-police & ambulance service cars. All faults would be declared on the lot sticker, they used to be bought for sweet f.a. at the block, destickering, replace the radio & spend £150 on a painter for the roof and whoosh! Out of the door for a good profit within days.

Then all of a sudden about 5 years ago they started making bottom book money with no fault declarations made & whenever I’ve taken any notice they still do - no good to me at that money. If I’m buying a scruffy Focus estate with holes in the roof, screw holes in the dashboard, no radio and a needing a good wash & brush up then I expect to pay peanuts for it.

[Lakeside 94]

5 minutes ago, BHM said:

Years ago I used to flog quite a few ex-police & ambulance service cars. All faults would be declared on the lot sticker, they used to be bought for sweet f.a. at the block, destickering, replace the radio & spend £150 on a painter for the roof and whoosh! Out of the door for a good profit within days.

Then all of a sudden about 5 years ago they started making bottom book money with no fault declarations made & whenever I’ve taken any notice they still do - no good to me at that money. If I’m buying a scruffy Focus estate with holes in the roof, screw holes in the dashboard, no radio and a needing a good wash & brush up then I expect to pay peanuts for it.

I do exactly as you did, de-stickered, mop and polish, any holed trim replaced and a new stereo. Some of these modern day “half the dash” stereos are getting expensive though.

 

Prices have been the problem since xmas last year, even ex-pandas full of holes are fetching cap clean. God only knows who’s making a profit on them after all the work involved.

Edited March 23, 2018 by Lakeside

[trade vet 704]

1 hour ago, Lakeside said:

Make it well clear. We’ve even done a few ex panda cars. Sell well but need to be sold a lot cheaper than none police as no matter how much prep you do and regardless of how well mechanically maintained they are they still feel worn. Punters tend to overlook that when they see the 4 page long maintenance record though. I think some people like the novelty of owing an ex old bill car too.

Thames Valley/West Mids from BCA/Birmingham.

We have had one or two Thames Valleys from there lately,they are usually good but I prefer Met stuff.Patrol cars are not worth the bother now.

[trade vet 704]

1 hour ago, Lakeside said:

I do exactly as you did, de-stickered, mop and polish, any holed trim replaced and a new stereo. Some of these modern day “half the dash” stereos are getting expensive though.

 

Prices have been the problem since xmas last year, even ex-pandas full of holes are fetching cap clean. God only knows who’s making a profit on them after all the work involved.

Back in the 90s we would give them all a full shoot £125 and plastic w/trims £5 and an MOT with few workshop bills.If you remember ,Police policy then was to service them before they blocked them.I think in the end,we may have forced them to change their disposal policy.....All Our yesterday’s again !

[BHM 994]

Yes, not too long ago they had a full service before being blocked & anything with “issues” was clearly auctioned as such.

All of a sudden it was as if someone flicked a switch - no declaration of problems, service history no longer given, no pre-auction service. God knows why or how they now make book money.

[sparky 274]

I can't get my head around ultra high mileage cars, nor can I get my head around ultra low mileage cars. Each to their own I guess.

[trade vet 704]

11 minutes ago, tradex said:

I thought most Police forces lease their cars nowadays and have done for a long while?

Mate of mine runs a BT workshop and they service the local plods cars, they (plod) are ruthless on price and not many OE parts used.

I think Thames Valley were the first to lease unmarked or civilian spec vehicles and that was long ago.They probably lease a lot more than vehicles now.When you see the state of some forces vehicles at the block,they must struggle to get Wonga to finance them.

[sparky 274]

I sold an S max recently to a couple who went to look at an ex police one at a garage in Manchester. Amazingly being ex police didn't put them off although they were a little put out when viewing by it only having 4 seats. 

[Lakeside 94]

I doubt police could ever lease motorway/panda cars. They are factory built to order in “special” spec with added fuse boxes/wiring/backup batteries, dash modifications etc. By the time they’ve ripped it all out when de-fleeted the resale value would be virtually nil for the lease company and the damage bill for the the police would be through the roof. Same with Royal Mail, all their vans are company owned.

Thames valley police have their own fleet workshop and all parts used are oe. States that on their service print outs.

[metcars 397]

I think I've still got a couple of Astra G headlinings without the sunroof hole if anyones interested?

[BHM 994]

Co. Durham & Cleveland forces use local main dealers for their panda car maintenance & have done for years - I used to chase up the dealers for the service history.

I suspect as times have changed & the chill winds of cutbacks bite so the maintenance regimes been ‘slackened’. 

[trade vet 704]

5 minutes ago, BHM said:

Co. Durham & Cleveland forces use local main dealers for their panda car maintenance & have done for years - I used to chase up the dealers for the service history.

I suspect as times have changed & the chill winds of cutbacks bite so the maintenance regimes been ‘slackened’. 

We found Cleveland and North Yorkshire stuff to be fairly good but Durham and Northumberland poor to average.We used to get them from all over the U.K. even the RUC ...that’s another story !

[andymc1973 199]

drive Vaxhall used to always have a few in

[BHM 994]

 

2 hours ago, andymc1973 said:

drive Vaxhall used to always have a few in

....I hope their servicing is better than their descriptions of their p/xs on DA.