what happens to these? do they go to auction? What is the folk wisdom on them? Good because they’ve been looked after or bad because they’ve been thrashed?

a friend has an ex police motorbike, he bought at auction, and he had huge problems with the wiring as it had been extensively modified. I’d guess that cars will be somewhat less brutalised, but I would be wary

The Blues Brothers buy ’em
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouHkL7u9qLw&feature=player_detailpage[/video]

I bought one for my dad last year. An octavia 4×4, it was half the price of the next cheapest one around, 3 years old with 100k on it. It’s now done another 20k without so much as a blip. Police cars are serviced every 6k and always get new parts when there’s any suggestion they might need them. You can expect some marks/holes on the interior but £400 on bits for my old mans one and there’s nothing you can see to give it away as ex police.
If you know what you’re doing and don’t want a minter then they can be a very good deal.

I wanted a v70, but i don’t know what i’m doing. however, i don’t want a minter either

I used to supply parts to the North Wales Police garages in Colwyn Bay and as steveh says no expense spared on the maintenance side.

Have you ever watched “Road Wars” on Sky?

I would never buy an ex-police car unless it was a bargain basement price.

They are well looked after, but they do have a hard life. Interior will suffer and will usually have had a fair bit of extra kit fitted, then removed…..lots of holes. Maybe the exterior too. I would check for misaligned panels first, then check the interior. Mechanically it should be ok for the miles it has done. They are a good buy for the money, but don’t buy unseen! The traffic vehicles are better looked after than the pandas, IME.

any ideas of prices?

ex police cars

As someone above said- high mileage but very well maintained, and full of holes where equipment has been removed etc

Just remember if you are buying an ex traffic car they will not standed engine wise, they will they will be tunned with some minor mods on it.

But yes some of the cars a c**p bodywork wise but engine wise they will more than likly be sound.

F’kit don’t buy it it’s a c’rock so it is

blues bros is on itv4 right now

Just remember if you are buying an ex traffic car they will not standed engine wise, they will they will be tunned with some minor mods on it.

But yes some of the cars a c**p bodywork wise but engine wise they will more than likly be sound.
And there you have it, I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Pal had an ex Tulliallen (Scottish Police College) Omega MV6.

Brilliant big bus and definatly not standard engine or suspension/brakes. Other pal at Vauxhall garage uttered lots of “ooh interesting” while looking it over.

My pal stopped to help at an accident once and one of the Traffic Officers there asked “does the diff still whine at over 135 ?”. Err, emm, Yes it does says the pal !

Even though it was a training car it had a few new panels on it but all the work was to a high standard.

Anything that’s been used by traffic or other specialist depts – Volvos / Mondeos / Octavia’s / BMW’s etc will be really well looked after and may be different spec to similar civilian vehicles.

However any of the normal section vehicles – Focus / Astra / Transit etc are run hard and are usually the lowest and cheapest spec they can buy.

as already said, it’ll be well looked after (mechanically), but they dont half cram them full of electronics shit.

remember watching the Police mechanic replacing the front end on an Evo that had been reversed into. He did a very good job and in a very quick turn around to get it back on the road.

There is a few places selling them, been eyeing up a V70 myself but an Octavia 4wd sounds tempting.

in comparison, DO NOT BUY an old ambulance cost. maintained at no cost, made up from parts of crashed cars, same holes/damage as police cars, lots of time spent idling seems to mess with exhausts/engine management and lots of hitting kerbs hard messes with the wheels and steering. No mods to engine or brakes though usually high spec (octavia scout/Zafira SRI)

That above should read “ambulance car”. And there should be a comma between hard and messes. That’s all.

As above, my first non scrapper of a motor was an x reg focus, got at auction in 04, 100k on it, came from the highlands somewhere it still had the switches inside for the blues, and major electrical mods under the bonnet, huge random fuses everywhere, along with the roof plugs, was a great motor and shifted great for a 1800, though we never managed to hide the sticker marks along side as theyd show in the sun, still have fond memories of it and would buy another any day, have a look first thoughtfully

Most Focus sized pandas will have been thrashed, crashed, kerbed, rewired, puked and bled in, windows smashed, panels vandalised and have holes drilled in all sorts of places for switches, wires, roofbars, cages etc. Many a disease ridden junkie will also have sat in the rear seats, happy to share their scabies, Hep B & C, HIV etc.

Traffic Dept vehicles are generally better looked after but still lead a very hard life such as full throttle to a call from a stone cold engine, then idling for 4 hours once there. 4x4s used to tow HGVs off of live lanes. Tactical contact damage to body panels. Many are now leased rather than bought, so can reach market earlier than used to be the case.

Best buys are college cars from Tulliallan, which are meticulously maintained and often modified with uprated clutches, brakes and handling kits. They are washed daily and waxed monthly. Any kerbing and they are ramped, any doubts and the wheel / tyre are binned. Alas, they are rarer than rocking horse poo, particularly as the college often sells cars on to forces rather than have punters buy them at auction.

Unmarked vehicles used for surveillance or security escort duties and ex staff cars can be worth a look as they don’t suffer the same abuse as patrol vehicles. As with any ex-fleet vehicle, buyer beware.

A mate of mine was motorway plod and he pulled a Scania tractor unit off the M62 with a Range Rover. He snapped the chassis in the process.

Was is scrapped? Nope, a bit of welding and off to auction. A real bargain for someone.

There is a few going through the BCA Preston Auction on the 28th April

Linky

Ex plod cars……

One careful owner…..

LOTS of bad drivers……..

😆

Had an ex-police Omega MV6. Lovely car and a pleasure to drive, but had to repair both cylinder heads on it after a few thousand miles. Apparently that is a Vx problem to do with the head design though, rather than the police owning it. That did not make me feel better after 600 quids worth of pressure testing, welding etc.

That said, it stil had the police engine management chip in (apparently) so it would get about 235 bhp and it went like a rocket.

Oh, and if there is a whine in the diff at speed, you need to replace the fluid in the diff. I did and it made a world of difference.

I wouldn’t touch one with a barge pole.

Look at what downshep says, then at what Gary_C says and you can’t go far wrong.

Forget about them being ‘tuned’ or ‘uprated’. Other than it voiding the warranty, which most forces try to avoid because of costly garage bills, this is extremely rare, and is done on a car that is basically too slow from standard – or in other words not up the job. These are the worst to buy because they have to be spanked rotten to get any kind of performance. V70 T5’s are never chipped or tuned they’re generally good enough without it.

Forget about Traffic Dept cars being generally better looked after – this is old hat now, and came from a time when the same person on each successive shift had a direct responsibility for the same car. In times of BIG budget cuts they’re ran 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week; ‘Traffic departments’ have now become ‘Roads Policing departments’, because their area of business is much wider than merely traffic – meaning that these cars are just as likely to be thrashed mercilessly over speed humps, puked in, pissed in, bled & shat in.

Police cars generally have a lower spec than a normal version of the same car. My employer even tried persuading Volvo to remove the air-con to save money!

Our current fleet have missed an essential recall (not uncommon) and had 4 catastrophic oil-cooler failures.

V70’s are generally the most robust of most Police fleets, but just be aware that any involved in TPAC and particularly the ‘single vehicle early intervention’ (ramming a car at low speeds to stop it turning into a dangerous pursuit), where body work damage is caused have very dubious body repairs (bodged). This is to get it back on the road quickly, and often take no account of fitting the correct galvanised panels, or even the correct colour paint!

In short, if you want a smelly (think of a pair of sweaty fat cops sat in your car farting for 24 hrs a day due to shifts and bad diet), thrashed without any kind of mechanical sympathy, contagious car fill yer boots. Otherwise, walk away.

It’s a myth they’re all looked after

Every single one we have has at least something wrong with it……

even if they were meticulously maintained, they get thrashed to death 24 hours a day. Avoid

In general I would say avoid, some maintainence contracts involve the fitting of second hand parts or cheap aftermarket tatt.
The majority of unifrom cars I would class as some of the other detracters have said.
I would only ever buy an ex police car if I personally knew its history, ie its one that I have used from new to end of mileage. It has to be said that those types of looked after (although driven hard by advanced drivers with car sympathy) always still to go for big money at the auctions. As for being driven hard from cold, again should never really happen as all the advanced drivers I know warm their engines first and unless its desperate engines are never turned off with the turbos still spinning.
From personal experience I also know that accident repairs are sometimes done on the cheap ie seatbelts not replaced after heavy collisons, seating not checked for broken connector blocks etc etc.
Good luck in your search should you decide to still try and source a V70 that is undamaged and not tired.

My Grandad had en ex police pursuit car, it was very reliable. I once raced and beat a Porsche in it.
I would not buy an ex police car, i think he got it from a Jack fords as they use to sell ex-fuzz rides.