Would you buy an ex Police Car ?
Discussion
Most of this thread seems to be thinking more about the bigger police vehicles, traffic cars and such. But what about the smaller liaison / support staff cars? I looked at a an ex-Met Skoda Fabia estate yesterday that drives fine, above average miles for the year (80,000 on a 54-plate) but it's cheap and doesn't have many holes in it (just a couple inside the glovebox), and good bodywork. Nice spec too. Full history printout obviously, and though 80,000 miles around London puts me off slightly, it's for the wife so is going to have a pretty gentle life from now on. Would you?
This one as well. 
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ROVER-2000-SC-AUTO-WHITE-POL...
Not this one though...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ford-crown-victoria-police-c...
I'm not old enough to get the whole "Blues Brothers" thing.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ROVER-2000-SC-AUTO-WHITE-POL...
Not this one though...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ford-crown-victoria-police-c...
I'm not old enough to get the whole "Blues Brothers" thing.
tog said:
Most of this thread seems to be thinking more about the bigger police vehicles, traffic cars and such. But what about the smaller liaison / support staff cars? I looked at a an ex-Met Skoda Fabia estate yesterday that drives fine, above average miles for the year (80,000 on a 54-plate) but it's cheap and doesn't have many holes in it (just a couple inside the glovebox), and good bodywork. Nice spec too. Full history printout obviously, and though 80,000 miles around London puts me off slightly, it's for the wife so is going to have a pretty gentle life from now on. Would you?
I've said it in other threads, treat each car individually. I've seen many pandas etc being driven around low on oil and with a long list of defects because they have a huge number of drivers and nobody cares. I have also seen others at out stations with a couple of drivers who treat the car as their own.Mr Trophy said:
What an odd car to want. I noticed in the ad that he states that the lights/sirens etc are out of action; 'Equipment fully disconnected from the main car battery by the use of an inline fuse'.This is basically telling you that you can easily put them back into action again and then drive around pretending to be a policeman, maybe pulling people over. Just an odd car to want as a personal car, maybe potential buyers are wannabe police that could never get into the force, or just plain and simple modern day dick turpin types who could easily get people to pull over and then rob them and nick their cars.
I bought an ex Thames Valley '98 Omega saloon for £460 about 3 years ago, purely for some cheap 'ring hoonage. It had 82k on the clock. 1st year it had had been used as a motorway patrol car and had covered 60k miles. From then on it had been used as a skid-pan trainer and only covered 20k in the next 10 years. I've had to spend a bit on it since I've had it; clutch, exhaust, shocks, brakes and usual service items like filters and fluids plus I put some Toyos on it. But nothing that I wouldn't have expected to have to buy given the age and mileage of the car.
Sure it's still a shed and the exterior is very scruffy (you can even clearly see where all the stickers were, including the orange triangles indicating were the dolleys are fixed!) but it's got a very clean and comfy interior, 200+bhp, RWD, Manual, LSD, ABS, TC, a huge boot, devours motorways (145mph on the autobahn), goes sideways for fun and I'm never concerned about leaving it anyway or getting parking dents. It even came with Pagid brakes. It's been a top daily hack for the £1000 or so it's cost during the last few years of ownership.
Sure it's still a shed and the exterior is very scruffy (you can even clearly see where all the stickers were, including the orange triangles indicating were the dolleys are fixed!) but it's got a very clean and comfy interior, 200+bhp, RWD, Manual, LSD, ABS, TC, a huge boot, devours motorways (145mph on the autobahn), goes sideways for fun and I'm never concerned about leaving it anyway or getting parking dents. It even came with Pagid brakes. It's been a top daily hack for the £1000 or so it's cost during the last few years of ownership.
Elroy Blue said:
None of our T5s were ever chipped. (Apart from the paint!)
Neither are ours. The only cars I've ever known us have remapped are the Diesel Octavia vRS's we have in the north of the county. All others are standard engine wise.For those wondering what Volvo do to their Police Spec cars here's a brochure (it's from 2002 but the general gist is the same).
In short, reinforced chassis, self-leveling suspension, bigger brakes and lots of electrical and minor trim changes.
http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/pdf/brochures/PoliceCa...
And to answer the question. No, I wouldn't buy one. Not having watched numerous people be sick, bleed, urinate, and s
t in them. That's before I even start thinking about the mechanical side!tog said:
Most of this thread seems to be thinking more about the bigger police vehicles, traffic cars and such. But what about the smaller liaison / support staff cars? I looked at a an ex-Met Skoda Fabia estate yesterday that drives fine, above average miles for the year (80,000 on a 54-plate) but it's cheap and doesn't have many holes in it (just a couple inside the glovebox), and good bodywork. Nice spec too. Full history printout obviously, and though 80,000 miles around London puts me off slightly, it's for the wife so is going to have a pretty gentle life from now on. Would you?
Also a lot of the ex M.O.D (government) cars are well worth a look most up in the miles but all well looked after and have serv printoutthehappyotter said:
Neither are ours. The only cars I've ever known us have remapped are the Diesel Octavia vRS's we have in the north of the county. All others are standard engine wise.
For those wondering what Volvo do to their Police Spec cars here's a brochure (it's from 2002 but the general gist is the same).
In short, reinforced chassis, self-leveling suspension, bigger brakes and lots of electrical and minor trim changes.
http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/pdf/brochures/PoliceCa...
And to answer the question. No, I wouldn't buy one. Not having watched numerous people be sick, bleed, urinate, and st in them. That's before I even start thinking about the mechanical side!
Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww... I would never have bought one before, a mate is Traffic and I have heard *all* the stories. He never mentioned anything like that though!For those wondering what Volvo do to their Police Spec cars here's a brochure (it's from 2002 but the general gist is the same).
In short, reinforced chassis, self-leveling suspension, bigger brakes and lots of electrical and minor trim changes.
http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/pdf/brochures/PoliceCa...
And to answer the question. No, I wouldn't buy one. Not having watched numerous people be sick, bleed, urinate, and s
t in them. That's before I even start thinking about the mechanical side!
I'd not touch one personally, however one of my mates had a Astra Mk4 back in the day as a cheap run around.
He picked it up cheap at the auction and wasnt too fusssed on the condition. On further inspection, it had received a good few bumps over its time - Plenty of dodgy filler behind the front and rear headlights, boot etc.
It was an unusual car too - 3 door astra poverty spec, but with SRI seats and had some sort of protection film on all the windows to stop them being smashed in.
He picked it up cheap at the auction and wasnt too fusssed on the condition. On further inspection, it had received a good few bumps over its time - Plenty of dodgy filler behind the front and rear headlights, boot etc.
It was an unusual car too - 3 door astra poverty spec, but with SRI seats and had some sort of protection film on all the windows to stop them being smashed in.
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