# Driving a retired police cruiser **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 14, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850 "2015-01-14T21:20:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/21 "2015-01-15T04:51:14Z")
When we get new police cars they go to patrol. After a few years of getting the shit kicked out of them they go to the detective bureau. After many years there they then get turner over to the DPW or some other department. Or they get turned into piece of shit cars that are used to do traffic jobs. After the abuse they go through if any make it to an auction you are welcome to them. ---
**Author:** ![vomit\_comet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/73ab20/32.png) [@vomit\_comet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vomit_comet)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/22 "2015-01-15T04:58:50Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > I have a friend who owns a crown vic. It wasn’t even a former police cruiser. Even without the light bar, the silhouette of the car is unmistakable. He says he’ll be driving down the freeway and see everyone’s brake lights ahead of him turn on as people reflexively stomp the brakes to slow down to the speed limit. No one ever gets in his way. I guess everyone assumes he’s a cop driving an “unmarked” car. > > Though, one would think the real unmarked police cars would be of a different make/model to not give it a way. Maybe an eclectic collection of foreign cars or something that the bad guys wouldn’t be able to memorize. > > However, don’t fire marshals and detectives and so forth drive the same cars that the normal patrolmen drive, except without the light bar? Around here they drive anything, 1/2 tons, Explorers, PT cruisers, Tahoes, Suburbans, even plain white ford cargo vans, the lights are all pretty well hidden nowadays, if they want them to be. The real thug police drive the black tahoes though. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/23 "2015-01-15T07:41:30Z")
Anecdotal, to be sure, but: My mother owns a small cab company, my dad’s best friend owns another, a cousin owns another, and I’m pretty well-acquainted with several other owners of individual cabs or cab companies in the SE United States. Most of them are going to minivans now that Ford has phased out the Crown Vic, but the majority who formerly operated Crowns bought used police vehicles at auction, because that made the most financial sense: the owners/owner-operators could pay cash outright for a police surplus car (the last time I went to the auto auction, around 2010, you could buy a 7-8 year old car for about $3500-$4500;) paint the car in your company’s colors, get it lettered, metered, and inspected, and be legal for the taxi line for another thousand-ish. Most cities I’m familiar with require that cabs be 10 years old or newer, so your $5000 initial investment might, with good maintenance, get you two or three years of use. Compare that to the cost of a payment on a new car, plus the insurance required by your lender over and above the commercial vehicle insurance, and it would be silly for most owners to put a new car on the line. I’m also closely acquainted with quite a few police officers, and I have to say this: whatever major safety advantages are offered by police package vehicles as they’re manufactured are probably completely undone by the after-market fiddling that goes into turning it into an actual patrol vehicle. By the time the light bar, rear-seat enclosure, K9 kennel, communication equipment, and so forth have been installed, the structural integrity of the passenger compartment has been compromised to some degree. That heavy-duty suspension is carrying all of that extra weight, plus the push bumper or PIT bumper, plus the 458 extra pounds of crap that the officer keeps in the car just in case. (That number was chosen randomly, but, thinking about what all I’ve seen in the trunks of deputies in large rural counties? It’s probably about right. You expect that there might be some extra ammo, maybe a long gun, rain gear, spare batteries for the flashlight, extra handcuffs and at least one set of wrist/waist/ankle shackles. You might not expect the tow chains - handy in a storm when there are trees across the road and no help to be expected in less than two hours - or a couple of spare sets of boots and a full change of clothes - police work can be smelly, messy business. First aid, a couple of giveaway bags with bottled water and granola bars and clean socks and stuff for the homeless guy camping in the woods, a couple of old jackets and blankets and towels for the same guy or for the dog that’s been hit by a car. Teddy bears or small comfort toys for children caught in the middle of something bad. Extra rope to help the next time you have to round up someone’s cows/hogs/horses/dogs/goats/whatever. A tool box. A spare gallon or two of water\*, for an overheated car, or dog, or a whore’s bath if you find yourself in need of that full change of clothes. Supplies and first aid equipment for the K9. Etc.) The undercover vehicles are practically anything. I’ve seen them in everything from beat-up old farm trucks to Camrys to Cadillacs to Hummers to hoopty-mobiles. Depends on the circumstance, and what’s available. At one time, I was a point of contact during an undercover investigation, and it was kind of fun to play “spot the cop.” They were pretty good at creating a whole package - clothing, automobile, speech pattern and posture - to fit the part they were playing at any given time. Observation: Having owned two sedans in my life - one a gray Ford, the other a white Chrysler - you couldn’t pay me to drive another sedan, unless it’s purple with pink polka dots, with reflective lettering on the front that says “Not a police car, asshole!” Drivers aren’t very observant, and can’t tell the difference between a Crown Vic and a Fifth Avenue when they check the rear view mirror. Hitting the brakes and driving 4 mph below the speed limit seems to be the usual reaction when other drivers see a white sedan behind them. I think I kept both of those sedans for a combined total of less than 18 months, because that made me so crazy! \*Best police story I’ve ever heard took advantage of one of those spare bottles of water. Seems a demented old woman kept calling 911 to report intruders of the supernatural variety. By law, the officers had to respond, even though they knew who she was, and that there were no ghosts in her home/yard/barn/chicken coop. During one month of night shift, one deputy had already been dispatched to the home five or six times, and his fellow officers had been, and adult protective services had been, and the calls just kept coming in. The deputy decided to get creative: he stripped down to his black t-shirt, added a white scarf that was in the trunk for the next homeless person, and grabbed a gallon of water - performed an exorcism to the best of his Protestant/agnostic ability, and that demented old lady didn’t call again for the two weeks it took for protective services to find her a placement in a nursing home! ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Jake\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/24 "2015-01-15T08:47:38Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I’ve noticed quite a few retired squads being used by security companies and I understand that. > > There are some people though that buy them that think they are getting a vehicle that was babied and maintained meticulously. > > Oy Vey! :smack: > > The first year or so new squads are babied and the first scratch results in a major investigation by IA. But after that they get the living shit pounded out of them. No oil changes for 13K, no tire rotations, rarely an underbody flush car wash. Lots of stop-n-go driving on city streets. Officers eating and smoking in them because policy specifically says they can’t. I’d be very careful buy one. > > Especially if it’s one I was assigned to! 😉 Oh and the idling! The idling and the idling and the idling! It’s only got 85,000 miles on it! (You asked, don’t say I didn’t warn you.) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/25 "2015-01-15T08:58:02Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > True story. > > Our secretary bought a retired cruiser from locals. Under the front seat was a petrified doughnut. Those cars need their doughnuts changed every 3000 miles. Sometimes they don’t keep up with the maintenance. Or the budget gets cut. ETA: Okay, now MY true story: I took a neighbor to the local Auto Zone yesterday to get a bulb or something. While there, I noticed that they have a sales rack of various candy bars. That reminded me that my car is way over-due for its 6000-mile candy bar change. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/26 "2015-01-15T20:07:14Z")
> [@vomit\_comet](#): > > Those caprices were excellent cars. I remember a story in the local news that the police service had allocated X number of dollars to retrofit the caprices they had with the corvette engines, I think later they may have been able to order them with that engine but not sure about that. I believe there may be reports of quite a few police services upgrading their caprices, not only in Canada but in the US as well. We still have a few Caprices in service in our county, the school employees use them for transport and errands. I think they stopped making that style in 1996. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/27 "2015-01-15T20:19:43Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > …Though, one would think the real unmarked police cars would be of a different make/model to not give it a way. Maybe an eclectic collection of foreign cars or something that the bad guys wouldn’t be able to memorize… I have read that the Feds, and some big-city police departments, do that for undercover work with cars seized through asset forfeiture. ---
**Author:** ![vomit\_comet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/73ab20/32.png) [@vomit\_comet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vomit_comet)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/28 "2015-01-15T20:35:00Z")
I pulled into a parking lot in a company colored and logo’d E350 van to eat my lunch and a cop in a City Waterworks truck pulls up and stops in front of me, looks at me and drives away. He was in full uniform, had the computer and shotgun mounted as a normal police vehicle would. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/29 "2015-01-15T21:26:12Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > Oh and the idling! The idling and the idling and the idling! There are lots of vehicles one would probably not want to buy based on idle time. Among them are fire trucks, telephone company trucks, electric company trucks, garbage trucks (to a little lesser extent). ---
**Author:** ![SB-1000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@SB-1000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SB-1000)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/30 "2015-05-28T20:22:18Z")
I own a 2000 PI and bought it from a PD in northern Utah. It had 48,000 miles on it, clean, never had the cage installed and comfortable seats front and back. The light bar was taken off but I still have mounted the workable spot light. It has the beefed up electronic distribution system but not the PD radios. I am a ham operator and I was looking for a car that would be radio friendly with a proven track record of reliability. I now live in Nebraska and a severe weather storm spotter. It is my “poor mans Lincoln or Mercury” and love the ride. Yes I have an antenna on it for ham use but it is only 18 inches high. No decals or other give aways. Only my yearly state park sticker on the front windshield. I have had the car 10 years and am now at 94,000 and no major repairs. Fantastic car and well built. I get an average of 20-21 mpg. ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/31 "2015-05-29T01:47:12Z")
A few months ago I was hanging out with the radio install crew that was working on my new work truck - Ford Explorer - getting a 2 way radio and 2 scanner antennas installed. They told me that Ford is currently building the best police / emergency vehicles right now (in their opinion). They point to the fact that the sedan and SUV Police Interceptors (Taurus & Explorer base) were designed with modifications in mind. A great example, when you pull the ceiling down in the Explorer to run antennas and power, the ceiling is held on _with magnets!_ No clips to break, no crews to strip, just pull hard and they pop off the roof, clank back on when done. Good vehicles they are. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/32 "2015-05-29T13:18:03Z")
A retired Crown Vic police car is a good deal for some people. You can get parts cheap-and throwing a rebuilt engine into one is a good way to have a reliable transportation car. I once rode in a taxi in SF-the owner told me it was an ex-Highway Patrol car -with 250,000 miles on the clock. It was like a new car. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/33 "2015-05-29T13:22:56Z")
\*It’s got a cop motor, a four hundred and forty cubic inch plant. It’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters, so it’ll run good on regular gas. What do you say? Is it the new Bluesmobile or what? - - **Elwood Blues** ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/34 "2015-05-29T14:58:39Z")
My sister works in the Auxiliary Police in Winnipeg and when my son suggested that he wanted one of the Crown Vics she started telling him about the random fluids excreted, ejected or otherwise appearing in the back seat on any given night, and he now has a Mustang. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyUseless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MostlyUseless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyUseless)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/35 "2015-05-29T15:55:51Z")
I can’t speak to the current PIs, but our marked vehicles differed only from detective type units by not having markings and light bar. The true undercover vehicles you will not likely spot. The new PD vehicles go to Sergeants, LTs etc until something nicer comes along. Even then, the first thing everyone does is push it as hard as possible. As the vehicle ages, it goes down the ranks and when mere patrol officers are driving them, it is all gas/all brake/all AC with the windows down all the time. They don’t get turned off for hours at a time and get abused constantly. To second the back seat, I used to tell suspects that we would get along nicely, but no fluids in the car. Unfortunately, that only works some of the time and this was before they had the nice solid plastic back seats. Three of the most disgusting places in the world are a biker bar restroom floor, a military privy and the back seat of a Police car. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/36 "2015-05-29T16:00:14Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I did see once on RT 50 in MD this jackass who was driving what appeared from the rear to be an unmarked, but quite obvious black Crown Vic police interceptor with fat tires, whip antenna etc. at 55 miles exactly in the fast lane with traffic flow normally at 60-65 and traffic was backed up up way behind him and afraid to pass. Finally some people got tired of being stalled and took a chance and passing and saw it was an old man driving grinning ear to ear at his little traffic jamming stunt. Late 90’s we got a former PD car that we converted to a responder for the ambulance; repainted it with “[name of ambulance] Ambulance” on the doors, red light bar on the roof (PD was blue / red), & the back of the trunk had two stars of life, with the word “Ambulance” between them. It was all but beat into us that you drive very carefully & within the speed limits in _any_ of our vehicles (which all had “[name of ambulance] Ambulance” down the side) since the township gave us some money, which came from people’s taxes & {yada, yada, yada}. I was driving in the right lane on the expressway & unintentionally creating a traffic jam because no one would pass me. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/37 "2015-05-29T17:57:46Z")
Indeed. I work around enough police in the DC area that I pretty much pass police all the time now. Very few are actually interested or in a position to pull me over; they may be on another call, may be out of jurisdiction, whatever. Generally they don’t mind me passing as long as I appear safe and not too fast… ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/38 "2015-05-29T18:58:03Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Same here mostly taxis. > > I did see once on RT 50 in MD this jackass who was driving what appeared from the rear to be an unmarked, but quite obvious black Crown Vic police interceptor with fat tires, whip antenna etc. at 55 miles exactly in the fast lane with traffic flow normally at 60-65 and traffic was backed up up way behind him and afraid to pass. Finally some people got tired of being stalled and took a chance and passing and saw it was an old man driving grinning ear to ear at his little traffic jamming stunt. About 15 years ago, I had a white Crown Vic LTD, and on the highways, people often thought I was a cop. I didn’t have anything cop-like on it- it was fully tricked out in geezer trim (wire wheel hubcaps, vinyl top, chrome trim, etc…), but apparently white Crown Vics coming up behind you fast tend to make a lot of people get over and slow down without thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/39 "2015-05-29T20:17:23Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > \*It’s got a cop motor, a four hundred and forty cubic inch plant. It’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters, so it’ll run good on regular gas. What do you say? Is it the new Bluesmobile or what? > > - > - **Elwood Blues** Fix the cigarette lighter. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850/40 "2015-05-29T20:49:50Z")
In Florida, ex-PD Crown Vics are overwhelmingly driven by black folks. I have no idea why, but 9 out of 10 on the road (and I’ll see at least two on any given daily commute) are driven by black guys. The other one will be a while college student and he’ll have put ironic bumper stickers on his. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-retired-police-cruiser/709850.md?page=3)