Ex Plod Cars

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Discussion

TSCfree

Original Poster:

1,681 posts

230 months

Friday 15th July 2016
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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.

Sebring440

1,926 posts

95 months

Friday 15th July 2016
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TSCfree

Original Poster:

1,681 posts

230 months

Friday 15th July 2016
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Thanks, PH Plod consensus was no back in 2011 unless it was extremely cheep and they didn't think much of the new Volvo's!

SteBrown91

2,359 posts

128 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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They aren't main dealer serviced either, it will be the in house workshops, local council workshops or whoever has been contracted to manage the fleet.

Ki3r

7,805 posts

158 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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Never sit behind the passenger seat either. Thats were everyone who is arrested goes...they aren't the cleanest of people most the time!

Phil Dicky

7,162 posts

262 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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On the high spec stuff there will be no leather...no stereo system and generally the dash will have been bdized to fit equipment. Looked at an X5 at an Auction Centre last year..looked like it needed a new dash !!!

4rephill

5,040 posts

177 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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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"


sim72

4,945 posts

133 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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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

13,128 posts

202 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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As someone who drives them every day..... not for all the tea in China.

Supersonic Welly

8,842 posts

186 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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My friends dad works at a Vauxhall dealership, they service squad cars regularly.

Baryonyx

17,990 posts

158 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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The only ex popo cars I would touch would be the driver training ones, and even then I'd be cautious. The ones that have seen duty work will have been thrashed and treat like rubbish every day. Even the traffic cars are run intonthe ground these days.

4rephill

5,040 posts

177 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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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!





Glasgowrob

3,232 posts

120 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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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 smile

david mcc

201 posts

99 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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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.

4rephill

5,040 posts

177 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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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 smile
Just about every response to this topic from serving officers that I have ever read support this response:

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!





TSCfree

Original Poster:

1,681 posts

230 months

Saturday 16th July 2016
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Is there any legitimate way of finding out the role of a particular vehicle?

Greendubber

13,128 posts

202 months

Sunday 17th July 2016
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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 smile
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.

4rephill

5,040 posts

177 months

Sunday 17th July 2016
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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!

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!






craigjm

17,907 posts

199 months

Sunday 17th July 2016
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Treat them in the same way as buying ex hire or ex driving school cars.... dont! there are thousands of the same models around so unless they are 80% cheaper than the rest why would you bother?