Ex police dog vans?

Weird_Nev

pitkin2020 wrote: »

UTTER RUBBISH. Police vehicle servicing is either made up from their own in house team or its returned to the dealers. Service schedules are maintained and done on time. As for other things your correct in they only get fixed when they break, but then so does nearly every other car on the road unless your physic.

I know for a fact that our local police have their own garage which they use for minor day to day repairs, EVERY OTHER REPAIR/SERVICE goes back to the dealer. The dealers have no interest in repairing anything on these cars they will ONLY replace. Several volvos have had dash failures where bulbs are no longer showing, no attempt to repair compete new dashboard. Volvo computer said new dash so thats why they got, no messing trying to diagnose and actually repair.

Like buying any car some are lemons some are good you just need to find the good ones. I have had 2 ex police vehicles, a car and a van and both have been superb. The car was pretty much new as nearly everything had been replaced on it over the 7 months prior to sale.

Ok.
You're wrong but ok.
The local garages can do nothing more than wash the cars and change bulbs. They're not even allowed to add oil. The cars are all leased and lease companies service them according to normal schedules. Cars taken off the road for repairs are cars no longer available - so minor faults are ignored until they become major.

But you believe what you want and if you've had good ex police vehicles in the past then well done, you found one of the few.

Strider590

Weird_Nev wrote: »

The myth about the maintenence of police vehicles is just that, a myth from the good old days 30 years ago when police had skilled mechanics on site to maintain the fleet. Nowadays, cars get serviced at normal incidents despie their harsh use conditions, an on a normal fleet contract so no special care applied. .

I'll go with that, many are serviced by main dealerships and as such are subject to the same 17yr old apprentice incompetence as any dealership serviced car..... I know this because I've seen them up on the ramps at Vauxhall, Ford and Peugeot dealerships.

Trebor16

pitkin2020 wrote: »

UTTER RUBBISH. Police vehicle servicing is either made up from their own in house team or its returned to the dealers. Service schedules are maintained and done on time. As for other things your correct in they only get fixed when they break, but then so does nearly every other car on the road unless your physic.

As Weird Nev is a serving officer I would think he has a better idea of how vehicles are serviced in his force than you do. As for servicing being done in house, many police forces have closed down their in house servicing. The Met Police did this in the 90's and contracted out.

You also ignore the way in which police vehicles are used on a daily basis. They are driven hard and this is going to have a bearing on their condition.

avantra

Any car driven by multiple people and not one single driver will be subjected to much more mechanical stress.
So , put some cash away for a good service and a clean up, get everything checked and drive away.

The kit at the back of these estates especially the one with AC is very expensive to buy new, if you are dog mad and have more than one large dog I would think that this is not such a bad investment, if you only have one dog, getting an ex police van/estate is OTP considering most of them are two seaters only.

If I remember well there is a car auction in Oxford that offload these dodgy doggy vans.

Freefall

Trebor16 wrote: »

As Weird Nev is a serving officer I would think he has a better idea of how vehicles are serviced in his force than you do. As for servicing being done in house, many police forces have closed down their in house servicing. The Met Police did this in the 90's and contracted out.

You also ignore the way in which police vehicles are used on a daily basis. They are driven hard and this is going to have a bearing on their condition.

I was going to say that too but couldn't it be more of a case of it varying from force to force?

Trebor16

Freefall wrote: »

I was going to say that too but couldn't it be more of a case of it varying from force to force?

One thing that you find with members of the Association of Conniving Political Opportunists, sorry, the Association of Chief Police Officers, is that when one comes up with a good political brainstorm which will further their career then the others will quickly follow suit. There will of course be variations but it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if no forces have any in-house servicing and it is all contracted out.

pitkin2020

Trebor16 wrote: »

As Weird Nev is a serving officer I would think he has a better idea of how vehicles are serviced in his force than you do. As for servicing being done in house, many police forces have closed down their in house servicing. The Met Police did this in the 90's and contracted out.

You also ignore the way in which police vehicles are used on a daily basis. They are driven hard and this is going to have a bearing on their condition.

As a family member is a police force mechanic and has been for over 30 years I can only speak from his experience. As already said our local force still maintain a force garage but like I also said they are pretty much only used for minor day to day repairs. All other servicing and major repairs have go to the dealership. They certainly aren't maintained like they were 10+ years ago but they are still serviced above schedule (atleast in this area).

Like I said I have had two and for the price you can get them for they were great vehicles, and thankfully I never had spend a penny on either. Buying a low mileage car from a dealer doesn't ensure you won't have issues and big bills.

As for your comment about it being driven hard I would say thats pretty obvious, BUT you are aware of that fact so will look the car over more thoroughly than you would another car a car whos history you have no idea of??

Fleet cars are usually ragged up and down the motorway day in day by people who didn't give a !!!! because its not there car, the lease company carry out the minimum service schedule required and thats about the only time the car ever gets looked at unless something falls off.

Freefall

OK! Which rank do you have to be to get to drive this?


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-06-BMW-530-DIESEL-ESTATE-AUTO-SILVER-EX-POLICE-92-000-MILES-/270883874699?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3f11efe78b#ht_1617wt_934

Weird_Nev

Freefall wrote: »

OK! Which rank do you have to be to get to drive this?


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-06-BMW-530-DIESEL-ESTATE-AUTO-SILVER-EX-POLICE-92-000-MILES-/270883874699?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3f11efe78b#ht_1617wt_934

PC.
I used to drive one. Lost the turbo on the motorway at high speed once, it was quite spectacular and required a new engine!

mcjordi

Freefall wrote: »

OK! Which rank do you have to be to get to drive this?


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-06-BMW-530-DIESEL-ESTATE-AUTO-SILVER-EX-POLICE-92-000-MILES-/270883874699?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3f11efe78b#ht_1617wt_934

traffic cop.

possibly even armed response with it being the 530 they are used up here for the armed response cars (well being phased out for the x5's)

i was told by many a police man that i would be mad to buy an ex police car as they are driven like they are stolen (their words not mine) and are thrased to within an inch of its life

but was told if i really wanted one they get a traffic car