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>I've also heard of journalists and PIs using vehicles that look like undercover police cars to get access to areas that might otherwise be off-limits to civili

>I've also heard of journalists and PIs using vehicles that look like undercover police cars to get access to areas that might otherwise be off-limits to civilians Never, ever, ever, ever buy a similar make/model and color car of any common current police car. People will drive SO SLOW in front of you because as soon as they see you in their mirror they think you're an unmarked car. grumbles and is glad a lot of the departments here are switching to SUVs the past couple of years. When I first bought my 2013 Impala (in late '13 when they were the common cruiser here), I'd have people in front of me actually let off the gas and drop 10-15mph when I'd get behind them on the interstate eye twitch. It doesn't help that every department has unmarked vehicles here (and have over the years) including Camaros, Toyota and Ford pickup trucks, Escalades, Corvettes, the same made and model of their rest of the fleet, etc. They'eve even used semis to get tickets over the past several years [1] There is a used car lot by my work that ONLY sells used police cars, they've been there for at least 20 years, and I just don't know why people would go buy them. Most of them still have spotlights on them, the only way I can rationalize people buying them is that they buy them WANTING people to think they are law enforcement. [1] https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2019/07/16/indiana-state-police-ghost-truck-issue-tickets-traffic-violations/1744246001/ https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2019/07/16/indiana...

seanmcdirmid 7y ago
Now you really don’t want to buy a ford compact SUV, especially if it’s black.
- ryanmercer 7y ago
  Yeah, the town I live in has probably 3/4 of their fleet as these https://cdn1.tkographix.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/30124315/Plainfield-Police-SUV-Decal-Set_01.jpg https://cdn1.tkographix.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/30124... Most of them in that silver but a handful of black unmarked ones and the rest being marked cars. I actually saw someone pulled over by one of the unmarked ones on the way to work today, they've been having some of them follow behind the school buses to nail people that try to blow by the bus stop signs.
  - 0x00000000 7y ago
    Fun fact most police cruiser SUV models come with no roof rack rails as they would get in the way of the light bar. However this also includes the unmarked ones making them easy to identify at a glance.
cr0sh 7y ago
> There is a used car lot by my work that ONLY sells used police cars, they've been there for at least 20 years, and I just don't know why people would go buy them. Sometimes it's the whole "role playing" thing. But sometimes - depending on the make/model/etc - it's to get the cop car performance package. As long as the car hasn't been beat to hell, it's a cheap way to get a nice upgrade on what is usually otherwise a low-tier/grandma kind of car. The Ford Crown Vic with the Interceptor package was one of the "go-to" upgrade kind of cars. Horrible gas mileage. But if you got one with the upgraded gas tank (with racing bladder installed - because they had issues exploding in fiery death when rear ended - ala Pinto) - plus all the rest - it was supposedly one helluva vehicle to drive. And cheap because ugly and used. While you could do something similar with some other car (ie - LS1 a Honda Civic or something like that) - you would end up spending way, way more money on everything needed to do such an upgrade (also - the CV was rear-wheel drive, which is rare to non-existent in sedans).
- ryanmercer 7y ago
  Yeah but with the used police cars, you might have relatively low mileage (compared to the lifespan of the car) but you might have tens of thousands of hours of curb miles with it just sitting there idling 8+ hours a day 5+ days a week. I'd personally never buy one, they seem like they'd end up being a money pit with the only benefit being cheap OEM parts because they're common fleet vehicles.

seanmcdirmid 7y ago

Now you really don’t want to buy a ford compact SUV, especially if it’s black.

ryanmercer 7y ago
Yeah, the town I live in has probably 3/4 of their fleet as these https://cdn1.tkographix.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/30124315/Plainfield-Police-SUV-Decal-Set_01.jpg https://cdn1.tkographix.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/30124... Most of them in that silver but a handful of black unmarked ones and the rest being marked cars. I actually saw someone pulled over by one of the unmarked ones on the way to work today, they've been having some of them follow behind the school buses to nail people that try to blow by the bus stop signs.
- 0x00000000 7y ago
  Fun fact most police cruiser SUV models come with no roof rack rails as they would get in the way of the light bar. However this also includes the unmarked ones making them easy to identify at a glance.

cr0sh 7y ago

> There is a used car lot by my work that ONLY sells used police cars, they've been there for at least 20 years, and I just don't know why people would go buy them. Sometimes it's the whole "role playing" thing. But sometimes - depending on the make/model/etc - it's to get the cop car performance package. As long as the car hasn't been beat to hell, it's a cheap way to get a nice upgrade on what is usually otherwise a low-tier/grandma kind of car. The Ford Crown Vic with the Interceptor package was one of the "go-to" upgrade kind of cars. Horrible gas mileage. But if you got one with the upgraded gas tank (with racing bladder installed - because they had issues exploding in fiery death when rear ended - ala Pinto) - plus all the rest - it was supposedly one helluva vehicle to drive. And cheap because ugly and used. While you could do something similar with some other car (ie - LS1 a Honda Civic or something like that) - you would end up spending way, way more money on everything needed to do such an upgrade (also - the CV was rear-wheel drive, which is rare to non-existent in sedans).

ryanmercer 7y ago
Yeah but with the used police cars, you might have relatively low mileage (compared to the lifespan of the car) but you might have tens of thousands of hours of curb miles with it just sitting there idling 8+ hours a day 5+ days a week. I'd personally never buy one, they seem like they'd end up being a money pit with the only benefit being cheap OEM parts because they're common fleet vehicles.