Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: STMO123 on 20 October 2006, 20:29:03

Title: EBAY REVIEW
Post by: STMO123 on 20 October 2006, 20:29:03
Just found this review on ebay, thought it might be of interest:


when you read the adverts for ex police cars which promise such benefits as "serviced with genuine parts" "driven by trained drivers" "checked daily" and "chipped to 300bhp" I suggest you treat these comments with a great big pile of salt. I drove police cars of all types for 20 years and now work within police fleet management so I like to think I know what Im talking about. Please consider the following before parting with your cash...............

police forces are short of money and they DO cut corners with servicing,it is rare for the council workshops to use genuine parts if cheaper is available. This is particularly true with high performance VOLVOs
the officers are supposed to conduct daily checks but in my experience this is very rare and almost unheard of with beat and cid cars.
the drivers are trained but lets not forget that the cars are regularly driven to their absolute limits, most ARVs and traffic cars are driven daily in excess of 140mph....yes every day!
police cars are rarely modified other than having larger batteries and additional wiring for all the lights etc.
police area cars such as astras and focus are driven in response situations every day and are pushed to thier limits as they are fairly low performance and yet are still expected to arrive quickly.
If you buy from the police direct or from an auction it will be taxed as police not plg ,this means a trip to a regional tax office to reclassify the car as this cant be done in a post office.  
When buying dont forget to factor in additional costs such as stereos,speakers,paintwork and plugging holes in the dash.
there is no such thing as a police liason car..these cars are ex cid vehicles and tend to have a very hard life,just because they dont have blues doesnt mean they dont get hammered.
most police cars sent to auction are knackered!! thats why they are sent
its not all bad new........if you want a cheap van or a van with a dog cage their mileages may be better and the large vans tend to have an easier life.

Dont know if this should be here, mods please move if not.

Title: Re: EBAY REVIEW
Post by: Gwilym on 20 October 2006, 21:03:52
Ok so some of that is true but most police cars are servicd regularly and well. They can't afford to have cars crash because of mechanical defects!!

Cars are replaced when they hit a certain mileage rather than being knackered. I am on my 2nd ex plod car and have not had any more problems than any other second hand car.

I still think ex police cars are a good buy as long as you expect to spend some money tidying them up.
Title: Re: EBAY REVIEW
Post by: STMO123 on 20 October 2006, 21:16:58
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Ok so some of that is true but most police cars are servicd regularly and well. They can't afford to have cars crash because of mechanical defects!!

Cars are replaced when they hit a certain mileage rather than being knackered. I am on my 2nd ex plod car and have not had any more problems than any other second hand car.

I still think ex police cars are a good buy as long as you expect to spend some money tidying them up.

I wasn't endorsing what was written, just thought it might be interesting. A lot of cars people on here buy need work doing, and most end up in great condition :y
Title: Re: EBAY REVIEW
Post by: hotel21 on 20 October 2006, 21:45:24
As some of you may know, I have a wee inside line on such things as patrol cars and their use/abuse and whether I would buy one when out of police service.  Heres what i said previously:-


 
Bought at a heavily discounted price direct from the manufacturer (below 20K for a new model BMW 530D?).  Vehicles are Police spec, generally with an extra battery, uprated alternator, extra wiring throughout the car and top spec brakes/suspension.  We generally opt for alloys locally rather than steels 'cos were vain and prefer the look!  Cars are not chipped, tuned or otherwise played with, generally speaking, although I know that a couple of T5's were chipped in a neighbouring force, completely unbeknown to bosses!!
 
Car normally used as a senior officers staff car or traffic driving school car for some months to get miles on them before being marked up and put into general service.  But not always.  I have had to drive a new (less than 20 miles on the clock) patrol car - all marked up and on its first day as a working car - at well into three figure speeds (talking red line in 5th type speed) with the car being blood lined at every gear due to a doner type run.  By that, I mean organ transplant transfer against the clock, not the local donner meat pizza for dinner!!  That particular car turned out to be a flyer throughout its service, for some reason!!
 
They then can be driven compassionately from cold, or jumped into and blatted hard on a B&2 shout, whatevers needed.  They get driven over kerbs, rough ground, the nads revved off them in all gears, on the limiter, suspension heavily loaded 24/7 with the kit in the boot as well as two big guys and their donuts.   And they get driven extremely sedately for the majority of the time, well within speed and performance limits.  
 
Serviced regularly with OE parts and Goodyear tyres. (£25 per corner, irrespective of size?) .  Can be crashed hard and repaired.    We are insured via the local authority and have a horrendous excess.  Its more cost effective to repair than scrap as the car will not be replaced until its due to be - this could be 18 months later and us be a car short till then.
 
One 5 series, recently to auction, had taken 3 very hard hits in 7 months.  Repaired each time to OE spec but it was never the same.  Didn't handle worth a bu**er and it was taken off ops and made back to a staff car.  Another went to auction with 200 000 miles, made £2.5k, and still had its original exhaust!  And several pounds of cataloy in various places!!
 
Our mechanics are local authority employees, not main dealers, and get local authority rates.  The guys are good but have a lot of vehicles to deal with and workloads are high so.....  
 
After an excess of 150K miles in a couple of years, they are decommissioned and auctioned off.  Sometimes after the quickest of resprays to make them the one colour again, sometimes not. [/i]
[/list]

Its still the same.

I would not buy one, but I am aware of the use/abuse they have had in their short but eventfull lives thus far.  Its an individual call, at the end of the day.......

HtH

B

Title: Re: EBAY REVIEW
Post by: Marks DTM Calib on 21 October 2006, 14:23:41
Kaving no had mine for a fair few months now and having been over it with a fine toothed comb I can ad the following.

It has definately had genuine parts when serviced and it would appear to have a new suspension all round to (shocks etc).

It has ahd a bumb but, not a bad one......quality of the spray job is questionable.

Police mechanics (or who ever looks after them) are by far the biggest bodgers I have seen, they hack lumps of cambelt covers and exhaust heatshields to make removal easier and dont always repalce all the bits they take off.

Other than that my 85K estate is very good........
Title: Re: EBAY REVIEW
Post by: road_rescue on 21 October 2006, 14:36:27
Having been old bill (please dont hate me...) I wouldn't touch the astras with a barge pole- they get the most abuse, with every man and his dog thrashing the nuts off them from cold

Traffic cars generaly have shorter service intervals, and the Ratties that drive them are a bit kinder to them, as they often keep the same motor. They (certainly in both forces I worked for) retire at 100'000 not 150'000 the astras did.
Vans tend to see the worst driving, esp the PSU vans- go buy an ex builders transit, they are better looked after!
Dog vans often have underside damage, as they go off-road regularly.

In short, the only ex job vehicle i would buy is a Honda Pan European  ;D

I did manage to push a conrod out the side of a 2.5 vecra though... most embarising 100+ blues on, then BANG! clatter and coast to a stop...
Title: Re: EBAY REVIEW
Post by: hotel21 on 21 October 2006, 15:03:54
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......In short, the only ex job vehicle i would buy is a Honda Pan European  ;D .....  

Use them too.  More likely to be one man and his bike (they do tend to get looked after better that way) but can still be caned hard and frequently to the blood line.  But there again, thats what bikes are meant to do, isn't it?    ;D  

The only other I would consider is a College Driving School car.  Warmed up nicely before being driven hard, washed every day and polished at least once a week, serviced rigourously to schedule, always OE parts, put into the workshops at the slightest sign of a cold or sniff.  But remember to get it before its used for SED courses or TPAC training.....

Quote
......I did manage to push a conrod out the side of a 2.5 vecra though... most embarising 100+ blues on, then BANG! clatter and coast to a stop...

Forget to check the oil at the start of the shift then?   ;)  

Similar to someone I know not checking the tyre pressures at the start of the shift then responding to an urgent shout at a zillion cleptons and the rear offside tyre blowing out 'cos the pressure was too low and overheated the tyre.  A couple of pirouetes (sp) later and sitting on the hard shoulder, waiting for the recovery truck to bring fresh nether garments...   :-?  Fortunately, nothing hit while going round in circles towards a stop.



Title: Re: EBAY REVIEW
Post by: road_rescue on 21 October 2006, 15:14:12
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Forget to check the oil at the start of the shift then?   ;)  
Had plent of oil in- then most of it was all over the A43
Ironicaly that was a driving school car... botom end bearing gave up- the force I was working for "semi retired" traffic cars to driving school...