Ex Police Cars - problem after problems

[TangoVictor32 90]

They're usually bought with half of a dashboard so all the computers can be put into the car (hence you see the T5 Volvos with after market stereos and odd plastic trimmings) 

The cars come cheaper this way. Otherwise the cop shop mechanics could keep the standard units and dashboards and reinstall them when they sell the vehicle

Then you got the wiring issues.

Nowadays the blue lights can fit into the actual headlights themselves....so you can imagine how the wiring would be....

The cars are maintained to a good standard i can assure you that. 

But i think that service history never comes with the car when it's auctioned off. 

Apart from the fact most cars have had good 2nd and 3rd gear thrashing the cars arw driven much better than "one lady owner"  (seriously would you buy a car from one lady owner who crunches the gears...and stalled it many times with Lots of bangs) 

Edited August 28, 2019 by TangoVictor32
Soft

[awc1000 93]

30 minutes ago, TangoVictor32 said:

They're usually bought with half of a dashboard so all the computers can be put into the car (hence you see the T5 Volvos with after market stereos and odd plastic trimmings) 

The cars come cheaper this way. Otherwise the cop shop mechanics could keep the standard units and dashboards and reinstall them when they sell the vehicle

Then you got the wiring issues.

Nowadays the blue lights can fit into the actual headlights themselves....so you can imagine how the wiring would be....

The cars are maintained to a good standard i can assure you that. 

But i think that service history never comes with the car when it's auctioned off. 

Apart from the fact most cars have had good 2nd and 3rd gear thrashing the cars arw driven much better than "one lady owner"  (seriously would you buy a car from one lady owner who crunches the gears...and stalled it many times with Lots of bangs) 

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

[Casper 272]

1 minute ago, awc1000 said:

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

I guess it depends on the owner lol 

[awc1000 93]

2 minutes ago, Casper said:

I guess it depends on the owner lol 

true lol, but the worst thing iv'e ever had to worry about with one lady owner cars is the odd clutch now and again, and even then it will only be with one of the usual suspects like C1 / aygo's etc.i'll take that low mileage / historied / lady owned original car over a plod mobile every time thanks.

here's the reality with police cars - they are regularly driven in anger, they ALL have had a bump - some serious, they are used as battering rams, they have had most body fluids weeping inside them, they are de -fleeted when life expired or fooked, they have fook all pedigree, they are an auto electricians nightmare.etc etc.

they do have a following in certain areas as a used car, the only positive being they are / used to be cheap motoring, but lets not kid ourselves that they are any good.

[Casper 272]

33 minutes ago, awc1000 said:

true lol, but the worst thing iv'e ever had to worry about with one lady owner cars is the odd clutch now and again, and even then it will only be with one of the usual suspects like C1 / aygo's etc.i'll take that low mileage / historied / lady owned original car over a plod mobile every time thanks.

here's the reality with police cars - they are regularly driven in anger, they ALL have had a bump - some serious, they are used as battering rams, they have had most body fluids weeping inside them, they are de -fleeted when life expired or fooked, they have fook all pedigree, they are an auto electricians nightmare.etc etc.

they do have a following in certain areas as a used car, the only positive being they are / used to be cheap motoring, but lets not kid ourselves that they are any good.

I guess there also treated like most pool cars I worked in a garage years ago we had a little 106 ex avis or hertz damaged repaired the workers and mechanics thrashed the poor thing to death .

I agree from a customer point of view

lets take for example a 12 plate astra diesel and for taking sakes there both white 

I guess a customer would rather pay a bit more for a 60k example owned by miss/mrs jones from new with full vauxhall history 

than ex plod 100 k miles different drivers worn seats and patchy history 

as others have said the renovation process is so much harder now too  with half dash radios etc .. not like the old astras or peugeot 309s of yesteryear . 

In saying that if i could by one cheap id run it for myself same with written off repaired etc

Edited August 28, 2019 by Casper

[trade vet 702]

Where is Taz ? he started this topic.

[Stalker 180]

49 minutes ago, trade vet said:

Where is Taz ? he started this topic.

According to his profile he is in Leeds

[MattR 177]

49 minutes ago, trade vet said:

Where is Taz ? he started this topic.

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

[NOACROSS 414]

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

[TangoVictor32 90]

11 hours ago, awc1000 said:

true lol, but the worst thing iv'e ever had to worry about with one lady owner cars is the odd clutch now and again, and even then it will only be with one of the usual suspects like C1 / aygo's etc.i'll take that low mileage / historied / lady owned original car over a plod mobile every time thanks.

here's the reality with police cars - they are regularly driven in anger, they ALL have had a bump - some serious, they are used as battering rams, they have had most body fluids weeping inside them, they are de -fleeted when life expired or fooked, they have fook all pedigree, they are an auto electricians nightmare.etc etc.

they do have a following in certain areas as a used car, the only positive being they are / used to be cheap motoring, but lets not kid ourselves that they are any good.

That applies to the "ladies" as well especially the bumps and scrapes

11 hours ago, Casper said:

 

lets take for example a 12 plate astra diesel and for taking sakes there both white 

I guess a customer would rather pay a bit more for a 60k example owned by miss/mrs jones from new with full vauxhall history 

than ex plod 100 k miles different drivers worn seats and patchy history 

as others have said the renovation process is so much harder now too  with half dash radios etc .. not like the old astras or peugeot 309s of yesteryear . 

In saying that if i could by one cheap id run it for myself same with written off repaired etc

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?" 

[Casper 272]

45 minutes ago, TangoVictor32 said:

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?" 

I was meaning a lot of cars in general people don't care cause they don't own them .. in saying that my parents had an ex europcar for 8 years and it never missed a beat .. 

[BHM 994]

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 

[Casper 272]

20 minutes ago, BHM said:

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 

Its like i said in my experience drivers don't seem to give a feck if its not there own well a lot of them anyways .

[trade vet 702]

2 hours ago, NOACROSS said:

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

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.

[TangoVictor32 90]

43 minutes ago, BHM said:

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 

Am only sharing my 30yrs experience and 15 of being commander of chief in some of the elite cars 

[trade vet 702]

37 minutes ago, BHM said:

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 

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.

 

 

16 minutes ago, TangoVictor32 said:

Am only sharing my 30yrs experience and 15 of being commander of chief in some of the elite cars 

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.

[metcars 397]

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!

[Mark101 536]

58 minutes ago, trade vet said:

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.

From your rear view mirror?

[trade vet 702]

31 minutes ago, met said:

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!

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 !

[MattR 177]

15 minutes ago, C B said:

And @Nick M.K. Probably skiing in the Alps or similar. 

While we're sat in the office with nothing else better to do !!

Nick's back....

Mrs AD must have hidden his phone in the sand

[Casper 272]

Not seen much of trade-girl either maybe its the forum holiday season and we've not been invited 

[David Horgan 564]

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 

[Casper 272]

2 minutes ago, David Horgan said:

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 

Well help them up David never mind posting here lol 

[TangoVictor32 90]

3 hours ago, trade vet said:

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.

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 

[trade vet 702]

41 minutes ago, David Horgan said:

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 

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 !