In motoring mythology Police cars are supposedly serviced to perfection and the engine never gets cold - so theoretically they should be in good nick mechanically.
I am not sure I believe this, however, having seen how some get treated. Also coppers are usually bigger than average guys wearing lots of stuff on their belts ('cuffs, baton etc) so the interior can take a bit of a beating (and that's just the front seats....).
Would take a lot to persuade me to buy one.
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I drive one every day (Omegas, Volvos, BMW). I would never buy one. They aren't treated very sympathetically and as mentioned the interiors rarely survived unscathed. The ones due for disposal usually have lots of odd rattles from the engine bay. Not all traffic cars spend their lives on the motorway. I use mine on A and B roads, they certainly earn their keep.
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Reminds me of Elwood Blues buying that 1990 Ford with the police package for $500 from Mr Gasparon (BB King).....
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and the engine never gets cold
Re the above statement..... errr no where near true, problem is nowadays, they cant find idiots to drive them, no one wants to do the job anymore, can't say I blame them either!
At my nick, there are 4 cars for use, you are lucky to get 2 out!
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What! i can\'t believe what you\'ve written.My dream job is to be a traffic officer,but due to the rumoured fierce competiteveness of getting into into traffic i\'ve virtually given up on the idea.Idiots,nobody wants to do the job anymore...pink fluffy dice!
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May I suggest before you attempt to join the job you get up to date with some current affairs..... i.e. The Police recruiting problems, and beleive me they are problems. Out of the 40 odd counties in the country, most are short and having trouble recruiting..... I wonder why????
Later this year it is reported the physical test is coming out of the PIRT (Police initial recruitment test)..... why you ask?? Cos to many people are failing (females I might add).... Dooooh!
Maybe another reduction in the pass marks, and eyesight standards will come too, who knows!
Traffic?? (motoring connection), should not be a problem unless you are in the Mets, as most departments they are short to.
Oh and if you want to be a Sergant, you only need pass part 1 in this day and age, they are short to! I also hear, Hertfordshire are taking Sergents without passing part 1's or 2's.... emmmm desperation kicking in again.
Enough facts for you.... or would you like some more?
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i dont know where you get the problems with recruiting from, my mate passed his interview for the met police in 2003 and has only just been given a joining date. In the meantime hes driving an Ocado van.
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There probably are some bargains out there. Given that a 140k V70 T5 can be half the price of a same age civilian one with half the mileage, there are definite bargains.
But don't believe the hype that they're invariably well looked after. They are well maintained, but that's because they get serious abuse between maintenance.
There was a very sound looking 406 SRi on eBay for about £1900 (120k on an S) that looked like a good deal for somebody. At that money, even if it needs a bit spending on maintenance, you're still getting a straight looking, fastish, comfortable, five year old car for buttons.
I think the main reason that eBay sellers mention that cars are ex-police is because values are generally lower, even for ones that aren't white. If somone bid on the 406 above, they'd be disappointed to find that the car they'd valued as a rep's car was in fact something else and would leave negative feedback.
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I've mentioned on here before that I ran a K-reg ex-police Senator 3.0 12v for two years.
Well pleased with it, bought from a specialist who sorted out the dash and roof.
Faults attributed to police use included: all four wings (at the very least) had been replaced, so a bit prone to rust. Reverse gear could a bit tricky to engage (over-use reversing on hard shoulders).
Benefits included standard ABS but no electrical gimmicks to go wrong - often a good thing with an older car. Brakes and clutch were from the 24v.
As with many second-hand cars, the police aren't going to replace components on a car which is soon going to be sold - hence brake discs were a bit thin, for example.
If you know what you're buying and test it out you should be OK - certainly for something with a hard-wearing reputation like the Senator. But buying cars from ebay always sounds a bit dodgy.
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There was a very sound looking 406 SRi on eBay for about £1900 (120k on an S) that looked like a good deal for somebody. At that money, even if it needs a bit spending on maintenance, you're still getting a straight looking, fastish, comfortable, five year old car for buttons.
Unless this was some years ago, thats a very poor deal - A 98S is getting on for 8 years old now and I can't imagine an 8 year old 120k 406 ex-police being worth more than £750 at the very best.
Plus they are not fast - not even the light pressure turbo models.
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I'll go along with MLC on this one.
Fullchat
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eBay is fine for cars - but only if you view first. It's quite nice not to have to go through that haggling process when buying privately. Just watch out you don't get carried away and pay over the odds, and beware of new sellers with no feedback.
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I drive ex Kent police vehicle, real bargain too but I can tell you the car was treated awfully by both users and mechanics. The mess they make out of electrics is just legendary - they removed factory immobiliser, alarm, stereo, left entire airbag installation but removed both passenger and driver airbags, rewired half of the fuse box for their radios, scanners and cameras and drilled through the roof to accommodate three antennas. Seriously, there is no point of looking at the model specs when you bid for ex cop car - you not going to get the extras.
The car was serviced at absolute minimum cost, with 90,000 miles on the clock engine was still running on original cam belt and glow plugs. Wheel bearings were in such bad condition you couldn't move wheels by hand. I imagine this car must have drunk fuel like mad while on duty. The interior had mounting holes drilled everywhere and I still can't take all doughnut jam off the seats.
My advice? There are police bargains out there - cars driven by chiefs, officials, coroner units etc. But steer away from any duty car. Btw - duty cars are not necessarily white, so be careful.
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I bought a Honda Pan European (sorry motorcycle) from an auction, it was the night that Kent police sold off all their motorcycles as they had disbanded their motorcycle division.
There were 40 odd of these things for sale and they were all the same, that is in a mess. Police lights and other equipment had been ripped out leaving gaping holes in the plastic. No attempt whatsoever was made to pretty them up for sale. The result was that the general public (except me) would not touch them and they were selling for peanuts to dealers. I bought one, tidied it up and made a rather nice profit.
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Why would the police remove the airbags out of interest?
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I think they remove airbags because once the car is frontended officers nailed by the bag to the seat can not leave the car to pursue the offenders...
Now when I think about it - technically speaking I'm quite sure insurance groups for particular car models are based on standard safety equipment sold with vehicle in UK. It's quite possible a claim could be revoked after it turns out the airbags were not present in my ex cop car or the vehicle was stolen because manufacturer installed anti-theft devices were no longer part of the package...
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v0n - you do realise that bags inflate and then deflate after impact, don't you? People are only pinned to the seat in bad comedies. Of course the officer could be injured badly enough by an exploding airbag that they couldn't continue the pursuit - but if that happened, the airbag would probably hurt far less than what they were going to hit (dashboard, steering wheel, etc.)
My theory is that there is various other electronic trickery that has to be routed through the dashboard somehow and the no brains, no cost solution to finding the space is to rip out wires that are already there but not necessary for normal functioning.
Although if ever an officer is injured in an accident, then the lawyers would love the negligence aspect of this. (Although I presume that the police force would pay up pretty much immediately, and in large quantitites anyway.)
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DavidHM {P} ? I do know the bags deflate, and I?m not trying to make an urban fest out of this issue but I?ve heard many, many times about police all over the world customizing and removing bags to prevent them from deploying at high speeds when cars are shot at and/or to help policemen leave the vehicle quickly after frontal collision (30 seconds could be crucial), rewiring fuel cut off relays so the car can be still driven after mild collisions etc, etc....
Anyway, In my car installation is in place (in passenger footwell) but bags are gone even though there is no other custom wiring on the way, no sign of previous impact to the front of the car either so I presume they were removed intentionally for some important reason.
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The traffic cars I drive still have all their airbags. The workshop also fits special blanking plates to which all equipment is screwed. Unfortunate, as mentioned, the seats take a pounding from all our belt kit and are always torn.
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Would a minor shunt, such as those one sees on "Police Camera Drinking" when a police car punts a perps car to force him to a standstill, cause an airbag to deploy?
or does it have to be a big full-on crash?
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I think the threshold is set at about 18 mph for most cars - certainly low enough for there to be very little risk of injury.
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When I was a comparatively young man (i.e 35 years ago) I had a policeman buddy who told me his colleagues at Heathrow had a sport which involved seeing what happened if you put a new Police Jag in reverse while travelling forwards at 70 mph!
Don't think I would buy one.
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>>My theory is that there is various other electronic trickery that has to be routed through the dashboard somehow<<
DavidHM: I think it's more likely cop cars have the airbags removed so they do not deploy in the officer's face in the event he needs to ram somebody off the road.
As far as insurance goes, I believe police are under 'schedule 1' which means they pay their own claims. Midlifecrisis or tpac can probably confirm.
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officers nailed by the bag to the seat can not leave the car to pursue the offenders...>>
An airbag deflates virtually as quickly as it inflates - if it didn't it could result in serious injuries.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Thommo: I was considering buying a police bike like your's from auction. Can you give me more details about the holes you mentioned in the bike (e.g. where and how big) and whether they were mechanically sound. Also, could you give tips about how to spot a good one. I assume you got your's from the oxford auction.
Any help would be welcome.
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The thing to remember when buying ex-plod cars is that not all forces are the same,by a long way.As always some police fleets are run in a very professional manner and then there are others that make you think they could not run a drinking party in a brewery.
Some forces seem to think its a good idea to get the equipment fitter drunk,then blindfold him,spin him around and then put the biggest drill in his hand then lock him in the brand new car to see how bad a job he can make of it.
Better run fleets actually think about it a bit more (re-sale)and can fit the equipment with more care.
When i was buying ex-plod cars the Thames Valley Police were head and shoulders above the rest,sensible mileages,reasonable condition,and very few holes.Others,notably Lancashire and Derbyshire were often so bad you had to feel sorry for the plod that had to use them.
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For those who are after a vehicle from Thames Valley constabulary the reg no. usually end with BW, FC, JO, WL, or UD with the prefix type registrations as they are registered in Oxford. :)
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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For Ex Police & MoD bikes check out www.forcemotorcycles.com talk to Nick Rymond. Based in Staffordshire, but if you're into bikes, a nice ride on days like today, I guess!
Still never get me on one!!
& if you think of non white cars, as a good bet.Check you're buying ACTUAL Police stock & not a covert vehicle, they bought for surveilance.Could be million miles & as many owners & maintained, hardly ever.
VB
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Thommo, what are you talking about??
Quote "it was the night that Kent police sold off all their motorcycles as they had disbanded their motorcycle division.
There were 40 odd of these things for sale"
I happen to be ex Kent Police and have keep records of the kent Police fleet since 1989, strangly enough 1990 is the year the Honda Pan european was launched in the UK for Police service. Some Facts for you:
1) Kent Police have NEVER had 40 ST1100s at any one time
2) They have never disbanded the Motorcycle Section!
3) Kent Police were still buying the BMW R80RT in 1990/91
16 of them to be precise.
4) Only one Pan entered service with Kent in 1994 on an L reg, this was based at Sevenoaks, with the bulk of the Pans arriving in 1997. Approximatly 16 bikes were on the section strength at any one time, not including unmarked and off-roaders.
Hope this helps.
Paul
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I bought and ex police Honda Deauville from a specialist dealer Force Motorcycles of Alrewas. Pretty cheap but I would love to know how to go direct to the auction and get them even cheaper. Bike is great, a few electrical problems, shorts from badly ripped out electrics but nothing I didn;t expect. Id like to upgrade now so if anyone knows the auction houses that various forces sell bikes at, I'd love to know.
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!00% agree! Regular high speed runs from stone cold and the odd bit of x country.
Fullchat
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>>they will have done lots of motorway miles>>
Only a tiny fraction of the country's police vehicles would be eligible....:-)
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