Ex police cars, has anyone had dealings with buying/running

[GJUK]

Hi all,

 

I'm looking at maybe buying an ex police V70 T5. Or similar.

 

I'm interested, there seem to be a few retailers of these cars, they must buy them in for a few grand and sell them on...

 

Can you buy them direct from the police?

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

[Savvi]

They buy them from the car auctions, Witney Oxfordshire is one of the outlets

 

 

They are well looked after in most cases but you need to allow some funds to tidy all the wiring up, or do it yourself, as they remove the main brains, lights etc but leave loose wires around

 

 

I've done a few now and they seem to be a good buy.

 

Jay on here comes to the auction and buys a few in and sells them on

[GJUK]

Always wanted to go to a car auction, never had the balls to go to one though.

[deltamal]

Had an ex police Morris Isis 100 years ago, went like sh*t off a shovel! for it's time....

[you'll get 10s on that]

they need reegistering in relation to the taxation class...don't think it costs you but you have to go to you local vehicle registration office

[bortaf]

Had a few, dashes allways fooked, wiring a mess, bloody great zip in the headling and need the taxation class redoing most of the time, oh and usually 2nd gear is fooked so check the syncro out on em cos they rev the shit outer em in 2nd round town, motorway cars seem altogether better IMHO but TBH i aint bought one for about 5 years.

[Trevmk3]

a ;ad at work bought one a few years back, and never had a problem with it, was a 2.6 v6 vectra. he hasnt got it now as he has a company car

[Fiesta Steve]

Seats are often fooked as they get in and out with all that crap hanging off their belts

[caprinerd]

had an ex armed responce vauxhall omega

was rapid as fook but the down sides were

1 kept getting tugged in it

2 gromets in the roof

3 screw holes everywhere in the centre console and dash

4 lumps of interior trim just hacked out to fit radio and electronic equipment

5 the drivers seat and front passenger seat were goosed

[Savvi]

Ones now tend not to be cut around so much as they know they don't fetch as much money.

 

Most of the time they remove the factory radio and have a fascia to go over the hole, they cut into the radio harness to use the speakers for the radio's etc.

 

 

I'd say it's still a good buy and if you get it off one of the ebay guys that have loads of them they do all the bits needed

[banarama]

well maintained id suspect everything else is pretty much tied

[mk3cokebottle]

always found very cheap ex police stuff here mate used to go quite often

 

http://www.auctioneers.co.uk/

 

[JAY PS]

Yes ,i used to make a good living from buying and selling these as did a guy at Woking Trade Centre aka ex-police cars .co.uk (he folded some years ago)

The trouble is everyone knows about due to the wonderful interweb !

Ive boycotted Witney as the prices stuff was making was more than you could get a non police car for and with the 140mile roundtrip for me and collecting bought cars decided i dont bother unless i spot something that i want for myself .

I ran a few ex-police Volvos and we had a Bmw 530d tourer that i bought from the met 4 yeara ago and was great and i nearly sold it for thame same as what i paid for it !

As with any fleet theres good and bad and when buying Volvos check tyres (expensive and usually no spare wheel) ,when mot is due(some forces dont mot them as police cars dont need them),smoking turbos and that theres no warning lights on dash .

Just latley the only Volvo T5s ive seen have done 150k + and they all needed work .

I think the unmarked cars are better bet ,they can be covert or someones company car !and usually the taxion class is plg just like normal .

Heres a few ive owned over the years

 

Bmw 530D tourer

Mondeo St200 from bedforshire police -unmarked traffic car

My old T5 Estate

This Vectra 2.6sri was only two years old and cost me less than £2500 at the time ,sadly you wouldnt get that deal now !

[GJUK]

Some interesting replies, thanks chaps.

 

I've seen this on the web:

 

http://www.ex-policecar.co.uk/VehicleDe ... oductID=71

 

Looks good on the surface. I'm worried about tax class and insuring an 'ex police car'.

 

Are they more expensive to tax/insure?

 

Thanks

 

Jon

[JAY PS]

No same as any other model ,ex-police car has been around a few years ,he does prepare them to a standard but he does ask for it in the price !

[GJUK]

Hi mate,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

At auctions then I assume you can get them £1,000 to £1,500 cheaper, or there abouts?

 

I'd be a bit worried about buying a car i couldnt test drive, I mean that is a real risk isnt it.

[JAY PS]

Well i reckon 500 -800 cheaper in some cases ,anyone whos able to 1,000 -1500 in this climate wont be buying from auction ! thats for sure

[GJUK]

Well i reckon 500 -800 cheaper in some cases ,anyone whos able to 1,000 -1500 in this climate wont be buying from auction ! thats for sure

 

Are they worth the 'risk' then? Or would you buy one from a supplier, or even steer clear all together and go private.

 

Jon

[JAY PS]

Call me on 07711 008951 i might have something for you !

[GJUK]

Call me on 07711 008951 i might have something for you !

 

I'll only be a position to buy a car on the 1st of April. So I don't want to waste any of your time...yet!

[mk3cokebottle]

Well i reckon 500 -800 cheaper in some cases ,anyone whos able to 1,000 -1500 in this climate wont be buying from auction ! thats for sure

 

i went to bca blackbushe today and couldnt beleive my eyes

 

n reg laguna - 650

l reg fiesta -450

p reg escort estate - 575

 

madness they were cars you could buy for 50 about a year ago !!!!!

 

and new stuff is making forecourt prices before getting to the forecourt its mad

[JAY PS]

Give me a call nearer the time then and i will see whats about

 

Cokebloke-- Its damn crazy the commercial traders all are trying to get together and boycott BCA until they keep no card holder out

Bca say they will never do this as it dont make any differnce as 75% of there trade is private buyers these days (who are prepared to pay over retail money )

[GJUK]

thanks mate.

[JAY PS]

Just watched a AA van sale online there prices are double what they were when i bought mine!

[GJUK]

Out of interest. Being a T5 I was looking at, tax could be quite high on newer cars. When did the new tax law kick in and for what year'd cars?

 

I assume it could be nearly £500 to tax one of these if I went for a newish one?

 

Cheers

 

Jon