Buying a used police car? Avoid getting SCAMMED!

Just look for this in an ad: It's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas.

Check the hours the engine has run, sometimes more important than the miles driven. Great video.

I am a mechanic who used to drive the older crown Vic’s but just recently moved up to one with max power and rack and pinion , and wow oh wow did they refine them in 2005

I love panther cars. First one i drove was a silver 01 CV LX. The interceptors are super cool and its nice to see you keep one in good condition. Most of them are pretty tired by now as they had a hard service life and then people that bought them cheap skipped out on service and treated them like race cars. They often have an asking price higher than a same year and mile Town Car or Grand Marquis too! Just bought a rust free Florida 2005 Town Car for 5,000. My Town Car will never see road salt as i have another car to use as the daily.

I used to work for a large city government fleet, about a thousand cars, and from time to time old worn out vehicles went to auto auctions. This included hundreds of Ford Crown Victoria cars used by the police department. Part of my job was removing/salvaging the police equipment out of them before they went to auction, which meant I drove them all, and I got a real good look at their condition pre-auction - and I can tell you that not one of these cars were "babied"! Invariably the police cars showed signs of major wear. These cars were heavily worn, and mostly worn out, since they were driven by people who literally could not care less about them, which meant they'd been abused, because the drivers did plenty of things you'd never do to a car you actually owned. A milion cold starts, hours and hours of I would not spend more than $1,000 for any of these cars, especially since I knew that anybody who bought one of these was going to be throwing money at them big-time. And consider this, that odometer reading did not represent their true condition, since police cars spend a whole lot of time just idling. Any mechanic will tell you, idling a car causes the most engine wear of all. So take the odometer reading, then double it. That's probably the true amount of wear that car actually has.

My observation on the large number of admin P71s being listed lately is that the regular patrol cars were worn out and retired years ago while the admin cars are in much better shape and just now being retired due to age rather than wear whether kept in daily service or simply stored as backup units. While most departments in my area went to Chargers and Tahoes 10+ years ago for patrol units, you still see a few admin crown vics rolling around and more just now being sold. Second observation: The regular white, black, or oreo units are assumed to be the worn out patrol units while the uncommon light blue, beige, silver, maroon, and green units are always associated with admin units because of their colors. Many smaller towns tend to have the oddball paint schemes and only recently have started to retire them, so in actuality they have more wear on them simply because they were in service much longer. Being small towns with smaller budgets, they tend to be kept nicer in appearance because they can't just beat them up and get new ones like the big cities do. People see the different color body with shiny paint and automatically assume it had an easy life. I personally have an oreo P71 from Houston PD with 12,600 idle hours at 164k. Other than control arm bushings being a little loose, it's about the same shape as similar units I check out with 3-6k idle hours. All in all, it really just boils down to how officers treat each individual unit. Some have a heavy foot everywhere they go and stand on the brakes while others treat it like their own vehicle. That's why you see 120k units with engine issues, failed ABS, and slipping transmissions while 180k+ units are still tight as a new one.

They are all detective / Captain cars. The struggle is real. Lol.

Awesome Dan《☆》We had at least 10 Cages piled up in a corner of our Hanger. Every time a New Pilot transferred to the Air Unit from Patrol the Cage would be removed👍🏾😁☮

Thanks you gave some valuable information I am considering financing a crown Vic without any knowledge about buying use cop cars

Been driving these cars for 30 years and everything you stated is spot on! Thanks for an excellent video Dan.

Thank for advice and information

The car could have been patrol and then downgraded to administrative use at the end of its life; my agency does this. Either way, any claim made in an ad needs to be backed by provenance. Make them prove their claim in writing and documents from the agency. If they can't, walk away because what else may they be lying about or try to get it for significantly cheaper. Figure a city car did two officers per day or 80 hour weeks. A highway patrol car may only do a 40 hour week, but the engine and trans is getting hammered from 0 MPH to light speed to catch up to speeders on a regular basis. You can also do a public records request and for $9, by me, you can get all the records for that car. Also watch for clones or misrepresented civilian Vics; always check the VIN.

I just bought a 2017 Dodge Charger Pursuit AWD. I bought it from the state surplus auction. It was a highway patrol car. Had 131k on it, 1200 idle hours and 4500 total hours. It’s in great shape, have all the maintenance records.

Thanks for this video! I am not from the US but I plan to import one to my home country in the near future.

Thanks for this, been thinking on getting an older crown Vic police package just for a toy.

Also look for signs of repaint. Bumper covers can hide more damage underneath. Its not always a sign of a bad car but keep in mind, finding new bumper covers right now is a pain. In fact, any parts that are body or trim pieces are near impossible to find unless you have a cache of parts. Last parts car I gutted was an 05 SAP and I knew the history of it. It was 3000 bucks, back in 14. Normally for a car that was shamed in the rear (with bend frame) would be a no go. I knew the cop that was assigned to the car. I called him up, and he told me, the car was smashed in the front prior, and had all brand new parts put on, just for a week later the car to be rear ended by a police Tahoe that a perp stole. So, the back was smashed, but everything front of the firewall was so new, it still had the Ford stickers. I mean, springs, IFS, brackets, lights, bumper (though the morons drilled the plate bracket crooked). I still have most of those parts and fro a few others to keep my fleet of Panthers going. Good video, very good points. Im just glad that finally Crown Vics are more or less gone as police cars. I used to be a cop, but just loved these cars. The whackers (is that a thing anymore?) caused so much heat. I got pulled over so many times just because of a guy impersonating, and my car matched the description. It was always just easier to show him my badge and move on, But if I wasnt, it would be such a hassle. My daily is a Grand Marquis now, which is the best under the radar car ever. Nobody bothers you lol. Granda ma can do 100mph right in front of a trooper and nothing. Plus theyre cheaper than the other Panthers, and mine drives like its brand new.

I didn’t need to do any look into my Vic because when the light hits it just right I can see the ghost writing from the city police department. The duel spot lights was another give away 😂

In whitfield ga administration use the same cars as patrol only difference is no light bars or ram bars but both are black with yellow decals

Thank you, very helpful

The Taxi Inspector would stop by to certify a new Cab at my Cab Co.and always drove the same unmarked Crown Vic that stayed in mint condition for years one day he showed up in a new Taurus and he said they took his beloved Crown Vic away @ 120,000 miles and said he wishes he could get it back. We don't live near the Rust Belt and well made cars last indefinitely here.