My thoughts are –

well looked after/serviced and low prices

vs

potentially ragged with high miles

what is likely to transpire? Has anyone gone down this route and regretted it or conversely made a great decision.

Big Volvo or Beemer, yeah, will be high mileage but very well looked after and driven by drivers who really care about the cars.

Astra/Focus – don’t touch. Really, just don’t.

You’d be surprised how often they get crashed.

*renton to the thread*

potentially definitely ragged with high miles

Unless it’s a driving school car – no way not never.

They get thrashed from cold, crashed, left in run-lock for hours at a time. The inside has usually been drilled, screwed, farted in 24hrs a day, vomited in, bled in… They’re horrid places to be these days. A few years ago when budgets weren’t cut, vehicles were looked after better and replaced earlier. They’re now ragged to within an inch of their life before being sold on.

I drive them every day and wouldn’t buy one, unless as mentioned, it was ex driving school.

What if it’s a model built before the catalytic converter, so it will run good on regular gas?

Speaking of police cars for sale, a copper I know said they’d probably had heroin addicts bleeding and puking on the back seats, and the engines would have spent their lives alternatively ticking over for hours and booted at 3500 revs.

Bargepole.

But is it the new Blues Mobile?

My wife bought a Peugot 307 ex panda car a while back. Seemed a great idea at the time but we ended up getting shot quickly.

Dirty inside but what was worse was the collapsed foams on the seats. Holes all over the place in the roof and days particularly.

This was all forseen of course but when added to it being plagued with electrical problems which seemed to stem from it being riddled with partially removed police wiring it wasn’t worth sticking with.

Mate picked up an old shapex superb v6 fire 1200 at auction

36k on the clock. Some sort of pool car for higher ups.

Bargain it was

It’ll have a cop motor, cop shocks and be able to leap over opening bridges. What’s not to like?

my dad nearly bought an ex police SD1 in the 80’s. all bored out and uprated suspension. he said it scared him to drive.

driven by drivers who really care about the cars

Can’t help but read that and picture a 3 series estate being fired off every speed bump on a housing estate at 70mph chasing a heroin dealer on a scooter.

They might wash them but they also give them some serious stick.

🙂

It’s all about context i.e. compared to panda cars.

Yeah, no.

Unless you have some kind of donkey sanctuary mindset when it comes to cars.

This was all forseen of course but when added to it being plagued with electrical problems which seemed to stem from it being riddled with partially removed police wiring it wasn’t worth sticking with.

Peugot 307 Sir I see the issue with the electrics from here.

Could be good if it comes with all the lights & sirens fitted.

As an aside, my sister’s ex-boyfriend worked for a company that fitted the reflective stickers to emergency vehicles. His job title was Vehicular Conspicuity Specialist 8)

Not in Doncaster I hope

Hmmmm…high milage, ragged to an inch of its life, probably crashed, bled in, been sick in…

pretty much everything id be looking to avoid in a car to be honest, unless they were practically giving it away.

Matey once bought an ex-police Senator

Apart from a cousin’s ex-driving school Metro it was the worst most knackered car ever

Senators were mint.

Its a Carleton with a fancy grill.

beej – Member

It’ll have a cop motor, cop shocks and be able to leap over opening bridges. What’s not to like?

Illinois Nazis?

My dad had two 3l v6 Senators when I was young, the first one was rapid, the second one not so, shortly before selling it he discovered one of the guys in his factory had glued a piece of wood to the underside of the loud pedal.

Conversely, I’ve got an ex-MET police VW Passat TDi estate and it’s great. No holes in the dash, driver’s seat has only minimal wear, serviced on time every time, still wearing Goodyear tyres, etc. My tame mechanic had a look over it and his opinion was that it was in far better condition than any privately owned one of the same age that I could have got for the same money.

It’ll have a cop motor, cop shocks and be able to leap over opening bridges. What’s not to like?

Cigarette lighter won’t work.

Go for a traffic/motorway car if anything or frenzic examiners car that dont get ragged everywhere. BITD a mate had an Escort panda car, but converted it into a rally car, still had the zip in the roof lining for the lights.

Its not unknown for a seller to claim its a ‘ex-area commanders car’.

Bollocks of course.

They are basically taxi’s IMO. Same punters in the back, same mileage. You see alot for sale at circa 110k- is this true mileage Mildred or is it higher when they come to be released?

Depends what it’s been used for.

Round here, in Greater Manchester, they have loads of CID Corsas, Fiestas etc and Crime Scene use Connects so these would probably be worth a punt as they seem to just be driven normally.

Anything that has been marked up would be more of a risk IMO.

Conversely, I’ve got an ex-MET police VW Passat TDi estate and it’s great.

I had an ex police Passat estate a few years ago – was reported to be (not verified by me) to be ex SOCO / forensics or something along those lines. It wasn’t white and hadn’t had blue lights on, but there were a few holes in the dash, presumably for a radio, but tbh I’ve had worse from cars that had previously had a hands-free phone cradle fitted. It was slightly above average miles for the age, but was in very good condition for it, and appeared to be have been well cared for, and none of the danger signals for a “worked” estate car (tatty boot, saggy rear suspension, signs of engine tiredness) and did great service for several years.

I wouldn’t buy a white Astra with holes in the headlining though. Not sure about the white V70s with big engines but poverty spec interiors – seen too many of them doing “hard stops” on police documentaries on the telly…

I had an ex-police Omega MV6 several years ago. Ok, it had been sold of by Thames Valley, bought by a drug dealer, seized by Customs, sold off and bought by a mate, then bought by me, but it was still a great car to drive.

Right up until both head gaskets went.

That was expensive, even doing the work myself. After that I never really trusted it and sold it off pretty quickly. The passenger doors were also rusty and sometimes jammed shut. And it had holes in the dash. But it was awesome.

bigrich – Member
my dad nearly bought an ex police SD1 in the 80’s. all bored out and uprated suspension. he said it scared him to drive.

I did buy an ex Met police SD1. It went like stink but rusted to death even more quickly than a standard SD1 due to all the holes drilled in it.

My dad (ex traffic back in the day) could tell you some stories about Land Rovers pulling laden artic trailers, or the SD1 runs from Leeds to London “at speed” for test purposes, or the other uses a Range Rover could get up to. None of them involve a huge amount of sympathy – it’s a tool for a job, and while they often are seen pootling up the motorway checking HGV speeds, they also idle a lot which is not particularly good for an engine.

I’ve also bought two cars privately from rozzers – one traffic, one from some escort group – both cars were “serviced by me in our garage”. Utter, utter BS – both were a POS.

Walk away, walk away now.

Senators were mint

This one wasn’t 😆

Well thats a pretty comprehensive response! So its a bad idea ( TBH i hadnt thought about the bleeding and sick in it)

There are so few police vehicles these days that officers are loathed to defect them unless they are dangerous,most get run into the ground, and are always getting minor prangs and dents, along with some pretty major accident damage

Ive had two ex police Volvos.

First was a 2001 Plate V70 T5 which I bought at 108k miles. No services history with it – Paid £4k for it, was a bit rough arround the edges – had a slight oil leak, had to have an engine seal changed, cam belt at 150k miles ish, couple of coil packs etc. Was still running ok at about 178k when I laid it up to go to OZ for three years. (Unfortunately a Barn fell on it).

Second is my current car, ex Devon patrol S60 T5. Came with £28k worth of service reports and repair documents. Bought at 130k miles for £3k. Just having to do an air con rad as it has developed a hole (common prob due to location) at 144k miles other than that it has gone through the last 3 MOT’s with the same advisory (slight blow on rear exhaust) and nothing else.

There is a bargain V70 T6 AWD on ebay at the moment I would love to buy, its geartronic rather than manual but I’d still have it if I hadn’t this week bought a house!

Mixed bag really isn’t it? Potential for loads of horrors, but I remember buying a ‘K’ reg Escort 1.3 3 dr in ’96 from Leeds police. In burgundy. Was a truly horrible car but was dead cheap, only had about 60k miles on it and was wearing brand new Goodyears on new 14″ wheels. Had probably had a horrendous life but did the Mrs fine for about 5 years…. And we only serviced it all the time we had it.

Don’t see many of these with blue lights on!

http://www.xpolicecarcentre.co.uk/used-cars/bentley-arnage-6-8-t-4dr-brierley-hill-201411189072761

I’d bet money how good they are would depend on how well the Police are funded at any given time – as above, buying up used Volvo’s and BMWs in the 2000s was always seen as a good thing – yeah they had high mileages, but they were always serviced more frequently than the handbook said they should be and kept in tip-top knick – but I also remember back in the late 90’s recession the local BIB where cannibalising their cars for parts to keep others moving.

I’d bet they’re not so great now, especially as they’ve long dropped cheaper marques like Ford and Vauxhall for BMWs, hardly cheap keeping 3 series and 5 series in turbos and bumpers.

Come on people, what would Jake and Elwood do?
I know a very nice prison van/camper conversion. I bet that’s got history.