Crown Vic Police Intercepter

If you live where it snows, you may be better off with a 4x4 or front wheel drive (remember, these start well in the snow, but don't stop much better). This might be a good single-use car (getting to the firehouse or fires fast) while not a good general purpose vehicle. But I would also consider their handling. I think you would be better off with a good small car with a blue light on top.

One thing to consider: do you think the police departments would be selling them if they had a lot of life left in them? They might not be as dependable in an emergency (like starting up in the middle of the night while you want to go to a fire) as other used vehicles as well.

Just my thoughts.

Jeff

Yeah... like "James" I would be a LITTLE concerned about TOO low a mileage car... tho even 50 k as a neighborhood cruiser wouldnt seem too bad.

I'd rather have a good Highway Patrol car with 120 k

Why would they get rid of them so soon? Your best bet would be to find out who takes care of the cars. If it is a large county or city they probably have their own shop, if not who knows. Either way it would be good to talk to the shop. If you can find one that seams to be taken care of you should be able to get a good deal. You didnt say what year(s) they are but the thing to look out for is the trans. Drive it and drive it hard. Make sure it doesnt slip in any gear. The dept. I worked for (as a mechanic) would drive them till about 120K. They were abused for sure, but well maintained. I have no idea how other police departments take care of their cars. It seams VERY odd that they would get rid of them at 50K or less miles. VERY strange. They must have a moron running the fleet or they have too much money.

We service police vehicles for several eastern states and many local departments. Generally police cars, depending on the state, are replaced on a time/mileage basis, WOF. Some as much as five years 300K, some as low as three years 100K. I've seen some as low as 80K in five years depending how and by whom they were used. Detectives, for instance, do not put near as much mileage per year as those used on highway patrol. Some patrol units can easily accumulate 100K in seven or eight months. The majority have a lot more time on the engine than is indicated by the mileage because they get a lot of idle time, in addition to the mileage. That is the reason they are serviced monthly rather than on mileage alone. In any event all state police cars receive the finest of maintenance. To a police officer his vehicle is as important as his weapon. Used CV police vehicles are are generally offered to other smaller departments before they are sold off to the public. The largest single buyers of used CV police cars are taxi companies.

mike hunt

Backyard Mechanic wrote:

Thanks for all the replies! I think a lot of these cars are from departments that have a budget to spend and instead of losing that money they switch out their cars quite frequently (although i cannot confirm this, I just heard it from a friend who has one of these cars; who knows where he learned it from).

At any rate, thanks again for the replies and I will take them into consideration when i make a decision if I will buy one or not.

X-No-Archive:Yes Be suspecious...Nobody has money to waste, not even police depts. Open the hood on the cars. See a black plastic intake manifold. Leave it there...it's junk. That's why their getting rid of them. The manifolds tend to blow out behind the alternator when you floor the gas. Since 98 been that way. Ford's sales figures may have directed them to the fault. New one's have the aluminum manifolds but other problems too. Fleet sales customers get free replacement parts. Private owners get the shaft~ and the bad manifold to keep. BeeVee

Fleet sales customers get free replacement parts.

Hi Nick, here is a list of articles, gang of class actions suit's results of Fords neglect for public safety & reliability issues. If you can look past these obvious faults, then their great cars. be sure to look at ford's TSB's for the nylon/delrin timing gears chewing out nylon and clogging the oil pick up, @ blue oval news. then see these sites.

Maybe this guy here will fix it for you for free???? Or maybe just reach into his pocket and give you a $1200.00 note to make it easy for you.

"Scott M" extended warranty. I know cop cars tend to have an abused life

Beevee has obviously got a bug up his ass about fords. Every car maker has problems of various sorts, nothing is perfect, expect perhaps BV.

-- Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts:

"What, sir, is the use of militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. . . Whenever Government means to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise a standing army upon its ruins." -- Debate, U.S. House of Representatives, August 17, 1789

X-No-Archive:YES Really,??? You want to see something really stupid? Go to Google, Choose groups, Type this Author:AZGUY Then enjoy 100 pages of utter nonsense from some guy in Phx.Az.that does zero reasearch about insects,.. colon's and automobiles, or Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts:

You won't find a better vehicle for the money. They tend to sell real cheap because everyone is afraid of getting a POS. I've owned 3 of these over the last 12 years and they were all happy with routine maintenance. Never ever left me stranded anywhere or had any serious mechanical issues.

If you can find the history of the vehicle from someone who actually drove it, it will help you a lot. My last used CV was from a department where a friend works. They had 3 up for auction and he suggested I stay away from one of them (the oldest one). He said he and the guys would purposely abuse this car because they knew it was getting old and they wanted to "help it along" to get a new one.

This holds true for most fleet and police vehicles. The manufacturers overbuild them to take lots of abuse and sell a LOT of them. Many of them are abused and have a hard life, as expected, which makes the Crown Vic drop about 40% of its value in 3-4 years. Nothing else on the market, in fact, suffers this drastic of a depreciation.

And it's all artificial if you are looking at a private-party first owner vehicle. They are forced to sell it cheap and you get less than 100K miles on it if they didn't drive much(common for elderly people).

I'd personally go this route instead of the ex-cruiser routine.