[levelken]

Hello new to this forum...

Chance to buy a 2018 330D Ex Police car.

Any thoughts about buying Ex police cars?

Thanks Kenny

[MY340i]

Ex police cars tend to have an odd spec, does it have cloth seats?

Random holes in bumpers and driven hard. Probs worth spending the extra 10% and getting a legit one

[robbiep]

I'll just say this.

A few years ago a car supermarket chain were selling a 330 SE touring with an MSport bumper, cloth seats, terrible spec, only 22k miles

A bit of digging found the auction from where the police had sold it, with crash damage, and 122k miles on the clock

Be VERY careful, do all the research you can, and even if that all works out, only buy it if it is stupidly cheap

[levelken]

Car was bought from Diesels Direct in Lowestoft in July 2023 with 80K on the clock and was completely converted before purchase. The current owner Purchased it for 14K I have invoice and receipt. Got the current owner down to 9K today. I drove it today rapid speed very fast indeed!! I would change the seats inside as they are cloth.

[ade555]

I hope you heard about the fiasco with BMW, Police and 3 liter engines. Not all will be bad but there was enough of them for sale on various website with blocks drilled. 2018 for 9k is cheap but I wouldn't buy one.

[MrManor]

Absolutely no chance.

[Watsey]

Loaded to the roof, thrashed in pursuits, smashed over speed bumps, oil dilution due to long periods at idle. Generally abused.

No way. Avoid.

[davyk31]

Definitely a no from me as well. Look for a better cared for example.

[TodmordenLad]

Not worth the risk would be my advice but it's a fantastic 6cyl engine so carry on searching. Had it in a version from 2014 with BMWs performance upgrade. Smooth, powerful, frugal.

[TurboWeasel]

Yeah too risky. If the engine fails, it'll cost more than a better spec'd non police version to fix.

I am friends with someone who works for the police and lets just say their patrol cars are treated like work vans, both in terms of treatment and maintenance.

[danb1979]

Having been around the police all my life and still know a lot of the lads and lasses on the roads as well as quite a few of the mechanics and the manager at Lancs Constab VMU...

There's no way in hell I'd buy an ex-police car

Stay away/keep walking/keep looking

[Jon TDI]

Nope. No way. They’re cheap for a reason, not cared for and don’t live a “normal” life.

[Bianchi Dave]

Speaking from experience - RUN. VERY. FAR. AWAY

[dopper99]

As above, don’t touch it. To the police it’s just a tool for the job, so they are not going to care for them like a privately owned car.

Where’s TouringPleb for the final word on this.

[Steve_M_Sport]

Have you never watched Police Interceptors to see how Police cars are driven when pursuing criminals ? Speed humps taken at 60mph+

As others have said - best avoided even if very cheap.

[TouringPleb]

9k seems a good price. The mileage is raising a concern for me. 80k seems very low. A 330d would have been a traffic car which I’d have expected to have done 180-250k miles before being taken off fleet.

As others have said, police cars are driven hard and with no mechanical sympathy. I’ve jumped into a frozen car and as soon as the windscreen is clear, driven it hard on blues not waiting for it to warm up nicely. I’ve also driven at speed down deeply rutted farm tracks where we were taking off and then bottoming out.

Personally I wouldn’t touch an ex-police car but if you get it checked over beforehand, go into it with your eyes open and it’s a good price then I can understand why you might want to.

[Alltorque]

Only a professional gambler would buy one, the chances of coming out on the winning side are slim to zero.

[jimbo666]

RPU officer here. I’d steer clear.

[Wills2]

I think outside of the economics of getting a bargain there is a sub culture that gets off on buying ex plod cars, I'm thinking of the weak lemon squash 4x4 brigade walt types, one life live it etc...

Jacked up bumperless disco on a muddy grass verge outside the house white vauxhall carlton on the drive.