A friend of mine was looking around the classifieds the other day when he came across a few police octys for sale, all with less than 100k on the clock he chirpily pointed out and all cheap. He then turned to me and asked would i buy one? or would it be worth buying one. well i told him it depends he showed me the details and they all look like undercover or should i say ex undercover and i still didn't have a definitive answer, i said they are likely to be well serviced and the place selling them specialised in selling ex cop cars so i said id open it up to the briskoda boys and girls to shed some opinions in this pub ammo topic haha!

I did tell him this, they will have been ragged due to the nature of the job redline each gear to reach speeds asap, but the police garage guys use oem parts and replace what ever needs doing along with a very regular service, they are likely to be modded, as far as i know they are chipped not sure what else though, they are driven by any trained copper (motorway/pursuit trained traffic cop), and the people selling it will have had lots of experience is past cars.

that's all i know so I shall pass on what i hear, do have some thoughts myself but it will be nice to hear from you guys.

No I would never touch a used police car. Im in the job and they get hammered. Not just that their dirty inside and the bodywork will be full of holes to house the lights, anpr etc.

They also get wash with a yard brush so the paint is shocking.

Ive seen a few good ones and a few bad ones!

Usally when they leave police service they replace/repair all the trim hats had holes in etc but ive seen some that havent.

Being a police car has its +'s and -'s on the plus side is that they should have a fully service history and you know that anything that needed do wouldve been done but like Tim said they will get hammer and abused as any form of company vehicle will do and we all know the police always stick to the speed limits!!!!

mine was ex police and in the 2 years i had it the car never missed a beat, it had 150,000 miles on it when i sold it, no doubt theres probably some bad ones around just be picky, chances are there will be holes in the dash but these are easily replaced. i supply south yorkshire police with their octavia and A3 parts and i can tell you they never ask how much, if it needs something it gets replaced regardless. yes they have been driven hard at times but what car hasnt?

Personally I never would but I know one person that bought one with 100,000 on a few years ago and it did him for 30,000 miles with no issues. I just dislike the idea that they are ragged all the time. When a call goes out, they arent going to be worried about warming the engine up before booting it and then after thrashing it, giving the turbo time to cool down before switching off.

I bought an Ex Police Omega before i got my first vRS. The car had 121k miles on it and i ran it for about 14 months and it never skipped a beat. If you do your research and have a look at the car you can find good ones out there that haven't been abused.

Mine had had all the trim and other bits replaced so there were no holes/missing bits anywhere. Fook me it was quick and great fun in the wet being RWD

I'm often tempted by the ex traffic T5s, get them from a place that restores them. But they only seem to do this to a point. The dash won't have holes but will sometimes be visibly different from a "normal" car.

They can be a bit of a lottery from what I've read. Cheap but you do take the chance that something goes bang a month or two later. But then that's the same as with any used car.

Basically, if you look at the type of car it is, ask yourself if it had been privately owned, would it have been ragged less, and looked after more? A private T5 might have been ragged less, but won't have been looked after better. Octy - chances are it'll get thrashed as much in private hands as with the police, and less likely to have been looked after as well as a police vehicle. Just imho.

We get volvo police cars in at work and seeing what they do to them i wouldn't touch one with a barge pole no matter how cheap it was

I bought an ex police Octy VRS apart from a few holes in the dash (where you couldn't see them though) it had 96k on it 03 plate it needed good polish and a valet when i bought it other than that it was a damn good car i had all the service history with it too it had been very well looked after

so all you pessamists please kindly button it ..... but i would go to an ex police car dealer if i was to buy one again

Ive always wanted a police RS

Just because it was white!

Its hit and miss with them. People at work have bought ex job cars and some have had problems, some haven't. Our skoda vrs at work is an unmarked one and its done nearly 100k and its in **** condition, hate driving it and its always breaking (compared to my own vrs which has almost the same mileage and drives superb)

If the car has only done the mileage you state, its probably not a traffic car and more than likely an ex surveillance car

Find out which force its from and ring the fleet manager, they can give you the history of the car.

Buy a cheap one and take out a 12-month warranty on it. Then you're no worse off than if you bought from anywhere else and probably saved £££££ as well.

Edit:- but as has been said elsewhere, do your research first. Sometimes there's a printed service sheet which shows exactly what has been replaced including crash damage.

i must agree its hit and miss but if you find a good one your quids in

Ive always wanted a police RS

Just because it was white!

mine was black magic.... ex undercover

I had an ex-police Superb. It had 79k on it when I bought it. I ran it to 125k I think with no major issues. Great car and I miss it. Mine was ex armed response I believe.

Chris

just makes you think, you can get an absolute bargain if your careful

http://www.xpcarsales.co.uk/#/skoda-octavia-03-reg/4545463326

http://www.expolicecar.co.uk/stock_special.asp

i believe those are the sites he saw them on

Mine is ex police.

I have had it for over 4 years now. Done a lot of mods to it. Well known on this forum. I don't regret any moment of this purchase, apart from my fiddling it has always been reliable.

also i was informed by a traffic cop mate of mine that they are usualy chipped aparently they chip them to 220 odd bhp or sumit like that

also i was informed by a traffic cop mate of mine that they are usualy chipped aparently they chip them to 220 odd bhp or sumit like that

Nope they are standard, internet myth, I have had 3 ex police cars all were standard and had never been remapped in their life.

also i was informed by a traffic cop mate of mine that they are usualy chipped aparently they chip them to 220 odd bhp or sumit like that

Urban Myth, they are completely standard. The only thing that sometimes gets changed is a heavy duty battery.

This one is an exception

Mountune Focus ST

My Elegance is ex Police.

As far as I'm aware it's standard, there's no holes, marks, damage etc beyond what you would expect with a 8 years old car.

I was unlucky in that I did need a clutch/flywheel on mine (replaced with SMF), but that could happen with any second hand car.

Just because it's police doesn't mean it will have a proper service history, mine starts off fine, but the last few years seem to have been no more advance than the same sort of service you would do yourself at home and done by any old garage they felt like using.

As for changes, don't think mines got any, I don't know what it was used for though. I wouldn't take it as fact that they will have been chipped/mapped, but equally I wouldn't take it as fact that it's an urban myth. There are a couple of coppers on here who say they are sometimes uprated, there are others who say they aren't. There are also some that say they can be, but are reverted to stock before sale. It seems to me that if one force has done it with one car then there is evens chance that others might have too. There are of course other possible changes from stock, there have been threads where it has been stated that the rear suspension can have been uprated because of the boot load of clutter they carry.

I think the suggestion of finding the owning force and speaking to their fleet managed is the only way you'll find out about the car. Well unless you want to pay to take it somewhere and them to check it over, stick it on a dyno etc etc.

Tom

Edited 13 July, 201114 yr by tomsimmons

i was going to say i was sure alot of the undercover st's have the rs upgrade

i brought a ex police octavia 2004 vrs in black for £2300 few months ago and had no problems with it

yes there are few holes in the dash and parcel shelf where the flip up sign was

no holes in any outside trim though and few more scratches around the car than normal

was standard 180bhp so they dont do anything to them but a lot faster than my mates 2003 vrs so maybe tuned somehow

got the full service history had to write to the station to get it though

bonus to the police aerial was left on the rear quarter so dont get over taken much lol

Edited 13 July, 201114 yr by lee1972

i brought a ex police octavia 2004 vrs in black for £2300 few months ago and had no problems with it

yes there are few holes in the dash and parcel shelf where the flip up sign was

no holes in any outside trim though and few more scratches around the car than normal

was standard 180bhp so they dont do anything to them but a lot faster than my mates 2003 vrs so maybe tuned somehow

got the full service history had to write to the station to get it though

bonus to the police aerial was left on the rear quarter so dont get over taken much lol

i want that haha, be nice to be treated with respect by other drivers and bmw drivers haha

i want that haha, be nice to be treated with respect by other drivers and bmw drivers haha

I would buy one. very well serviced and looked after cars. My mate just bought a volvo t5 estate in white. The amount of cars that pull in from the 3rd lane of the motorway and lets him past thinking hie a police cars makes him smile. lol there are plenty of private vrs that have been abused by the boy racers