Discussion
Seen a few for sale on ebay, obviously with high mileage but how well looked after in terms of maintenance are they? Do they have an increased service interval service plan and is it at a main dealer? Fully accept they will have been driven with a lead foot, but that's no bad thing depending on where it's been driven, i.e. motorway miles.
SteBrown91 said:
They aren't main dealer serviced either.............
The last time I was at My local BMW dealership there were three fully decked out patrol cars parked outside and when I asked if there'd been an incident, I was told: "No, they're just in for service work........We get them in quite regularly"Yeah, totally depends on the car. We have a dealer near us that sells on ex-plod stuff, my Mrs had a Fiesta diesel from them that used to be an unmarked drugs squad car, we had to take a trip to the DVLA office to re-register it from police use. Apart from none of the fuses actually being where they were meant to be (which was interesting one night when the main beam fuse failed in a country pub car park) it was a great little car.
Greendubber said:
As someone who drives them every day..... not for all the tea in China.
Just watching the: "Police, camera, road, traffic, motorway" programmes on TV tells Me the exact same thing when it comes to the patrol cars! - These cars take an absolute hammering, even from cold, because they're just a tool of the trade! (The footage of them slamming over speed bumps during a chase should tell you all you need to know!).Ex CID cars might be a bit different though!
think it really depends on what your buying,
followed an unmarked traffic 330 up the a87 during the week, never above 60 just pootling along. i'd imagine something like this does this 99% of its day up there.
same with most of the traffic cars, i'd imagine a lot of time idling and crusing up and down motorways with infrequent hard running.
might be different down south but.
panda cars not a bloody chance, most seem to end up as minicabs
followed an unmarked traffic 330 up the a87 during the week, never above 60 just pootling along. i'd imagine something like this does this 99% of its day up there.
same with most of the traffic cars, i'd imagine a lot of time idling and crusing up and down motorways with infrequent hard running.
might be different down south but.
panda cars not a bloody chance, most seem to end up as minicabs
I'm in the job too
Driver training cars are an absolute bargain. Washed and cleaned after every days training (or at very least every Friday). Serviced when needed and put straight into the garage for any niggles or warning lights. Yes they do high speeds etc but are rarely driven roughly over speed bumps or rallied across rough ground.
I would buy one.
Traffic cars are generally quite well looked after too. They do high miles (fair bit of motorway work) and also tend to be sat running for hours at road accidents. They are serviced on time and put into the garage quickly when niggles occur. most drivers check the levels before going out each day. They are kept pretty clean. They can have weird electrical wiring due to all the lights and equipment fitted. Usually driven by advanced drivers only so driven fast but properly.
I would buy one.
General patrol cars.
Treated terribly. Rarely washed (should be weekly), interior cleaned monthly at best, when things go wrong they aren't taken to the garage as the shifts need to keep as many vehicles as possible at the stations to patrol. Oil and water are rarely checked by anyone. Driven by anyone who has a driving licence and over pretty much any ground at speed. Rallied over speed bumps and carry all kinds of manky smelly folk in the back. Especially now the austerity has kicked in, the fleet is being kept longer and doing more miles.
Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
Others I.e surveillance cars, gaffers cars, special duty vehicles
Somewhere in the middle. Worth a look.
The ideal scenario to have is to know someone in the force that the car came from who can tell you the real use and history of the car.
Driver training cars are an absolute bargain. Washed and cleaned after every days training (or at very least every Friday). Serviced when needed and put straight into the garage for any niggles or warning lights. Yes they do high speeds etc but are rarely driven roughly over speed bumps or rallied across rough ground.
I would buy one.
Traffic cars are generally quite well looked after too. They do high miles (fair bit of motorway work) and also tend to be sat running for hours at road accidents. They are serviced on time and put into the garage quickly when niggles occur. most drivers check the levels before going out each day. They are kept pretty clean. They can have weird electrical wiring due to all the lights and equipment fitted. Usually driven by advanced drivers only so driven fast but properly.
I would buy one.
General patrol cars.
Treated terribly. Rarely washed (should be weekly), interior cleaned monthly at best, when things go wrong they aren't taken to the garage as the shifts need to keep as many vehicles as possible at the stations to patrol. Oil and water are rarely checked by anyone. Driven by anyone who has a driving licence and over pretty much any ground at speed. Rallied over speed bumps and carry all kinds of manky smelly folk in the back. Especially now the austerity has kicked in, the fleet is being kept longer and doing more miles.
Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
Others I.e surveillance cars, gaffers cars, special duty vehicles
Somewhere in the middle. Worth a look.
The ideal scenario to have is to know someone in the force that the car came from who can tell you the real use and history of the car.
Glasgowrob said:
think it really depends on what your buying,
followed an unmarked traffic 330 up the a87 during the week, never above 60 just pootling along. i'd imagine something like this does this 99% of its day up there.
same with most of the traffic cars, i'd imagine a lot of time idling and crusing up and down motorways with infrequent hard running.
might be different down south but.
panda cars not a bloody chance, most seem to end up as minicabs
Just about every response to this topic from serving officers that I have ever read support this response:followed an unmarked traffic 330 up the a87 during the week, never above 60 just pootling along. i'd imagine something like this does this 99% of its day up there.
same with most of the traffic cars, i'd imagine a lot of time idling and crusing up and down motorways with infrequent hard running.
might be different down south but.
panda cars not a bloody chance, most seem to end up as minicabs
Greendubber said:
As someone who drives them every day..... not for all the tea in China.
As does a chat with a sergeant in the Police that I happen to know.Yes they spend the majority of time pootling along at the speed limit, but they also get thraped from cold up to the red-line, smashed over speed humps and curbs, rammed into other cars and are generally abused. These cars are not cared for by the crews who drive them, they're just a tool to get the job done!
Glasgowrob said:
think it really depends on what your buying,
followed an unmarked traffic 330 up the a87 during the week, never above 60 just pootling along. i'd imagine something like this does this 99% of its day up there.
same with most of the traffic cars, i'd imagine a lot of time idling and crusing up and down motorways with infrequent hard running.
might be different down south but.
panda cars not a bloody chance, most seem to end up as minicabs
Traffic dont just do traffic, ours are just fast pandas that are allowed to ram stuff. They may be cared for a little bettwr than the pandas but dont let that fool you into thinking they are treasured. followed an unmarked traffic 330 up the a87 during the week, never above 60 just pootling along. i'd imagine something like this does this 99% of its day up there.
same with most of the traffic cars, i'd imagine a lot of time idling and crusing up and down motorways with infrequent hard running.
might be different down south but.
panda cars not a bloody chance, most seem to end up as minicabs
The large amount of smashed up BMW's I see everyday shows you how much of a hard life they have.
Greendubber said:
Traffic dont just do traffic, ours are just fast pandas that are allowed to ram stuff. They may be cared for a little bettwr than the pandas but dont let that fool you into thinking they are treasured.
The large amount of smashed up BMW's I see everyday shows you how much of a hard life they have.
Where I live there's no way you could even think that the panda cars are treasured!The large amount of smashed up BMW's I see everyday shows you how much of a hard life they have.
Due to the various budget cutbacks inflicted on the Police, most if not all of the panda cars you see driving around the city are ancient (they're still running 10 year old Corsa's!), and are pretty much completely worn out (they're probably worth no more than a couple of hundred quid at the end of their working life at best! I kid you not - They're junk!)
The traffic cars on the whole look to be much better cared for (at a glance) than the panda cars, but due to the nature of the job that they do, they get replaced far earlier than the panda cars ever do.
And unlike the good old days when ex-Police cars were absolutely dirt cheap to buy second hand (I'm talking prices that were @ 1/10th the price of an equivalent aged car being sold privately), they're now priced at just a few grand less than the private cars. They're definitely not the bargain, cheap, throw away motors that they once were!
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