Used police dodge Charger

[Keyvan Shahrdar]

I am considering purchasing a used police Dodge Charger. Has anyone purchased a used police car in the past. Are they reliable?

 

[bigi]

What year? Some had very serious suspension issues that made those spent too much time in service.

 

[Keyvan Shahrdar]

I am looking at a 2014 Dodge Charger. Here is a link to the website:

Keyvan Shahrar... I do not think a link such as that is acceptable here...

AT Moderator
Bartman39

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Those don't have nearly enough mileage on them to be used police cars. That's a surprise. I hope they weren't flood recovery. (Or some department with more money than sense decided to go out and buy a bunch of Fords. Or some private security company that bought Police Interceptors went out of business.)

Fleet buys are fleet buys - usually a lot of mileage, they're not the fancy models, but the maintenance has been done mostly on time and all the important bits work.

Police cars will probably have been idled a lot, and been subjected to more than a few high-acceleration runs if they were used for traffic enforcement. Might be more likely to need some engine work sooner rather than later. But it'll be a while regardless.

But the price ($18.5k) makes it uninteresting. For $19k, you can get a lightly used Lexus or something. Unless you really, really want a police cruiser for some reason...

 

[Keyvan Shahrdar]

I have always thought that owning a used Police Charger would be cool! Thanks for your insights.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I have always thought that owning a used Police Charger would be cool! Thanks for your insights.

You know? If you've got the money, that's probably a good enough reason.

I'd still want to get the car checked over by a third party mechanic first. But that's par for the course, or at least should be.

 

[dtgoodwin]

A concern I would have would be the way the wiring harnesses are often hacked. They install a lot of equipment when they are put into service. Rarely is it carefully removed. They also have different wiring harnesses (primarily added circuits) compared with civilian vehicles which makes troubleshooting the potential issues that may arise a much more difficult task.

 

[boomhower]

I wouldn't touch it. Ours have been nothing but problems. Front ends are garbage, top ends of the motor are garbage and the radiator fans like to blow up. We've rebuilt front ends at 30k but that's not typical more like 50k. We've had a top of issues with cams and intake manifolds going bad. Cam issue is do to oil flow. When the car has been idling and instantly is driven hard the oil doesn't have time to sufficiently lubricate the area. They've changed us to synthetic and want us to ease into acceleration rather than just floor it when running hot. My agency hasn't had a ton of problems with the radiator fans but the county has. They put a lot more miles on their cars than the city does.

Good part is maintenance is kept up very well if they were from a good department but the bad part is they are driven very very hard.

 

[bradly1101]

Consumer Reports recommends never buying used police cars or taxis because of the way they are driven. There's also the matter of Dodge unreliability. I'd run the other way.

https://www.consumerreports.org/car...ion/car-brands-reliability-how-they-stack-up/

 

[thedarkwolf]

or just buy a crown vic cop car for $3k or less to live out your cop car fantasy. Those have a lot more of a track record.

 

[jlee]

I wouldn't touch it. Ours have been nothing but problems. Front ends are garbage, top ends of the motor are garbage and the radiator fans like to blow up. We've rebuilt front ends at 30k but that's not typical more like 50k. We've had a top of issues with cams and intake manifolds going bad. Cam issue is do to oil flow. When the car has been idling and instantly is driven hard the oil doesn't have time to sufficiently lubricate the area. They've changed us to synthetic and want us to ease into acceleration rather than just floor it when running hot. My agency hasn't had a ton of problems with the radiator fans but the county has. They put a lot more miles on their cars than the city does.

Good part is maintenance is kept up very well if they were from a good department but the bad part is they are driven very very hard.

NH State Police were killing transmissions on them, too. Not sure if that was resolved at a certain year or not..

 

[gorcorps]

Consumer Reports recommends never buying used police cars or taxis because of the way they are driven. There's also the matter of Dodge unreliability. I'd run the other way.

https://www.consumerreports.org/car...ion/car-brands-reliability-how-they-stack-up/

No kidding. Chrysler reliability that's driven incredibly hard by someone who doesn't own it? No thanks

 

[lxskllr]

or just buy a crown vic cop car for $3k or less to live out your cop car fantasy. Those have a lot more of a track record.

A cop car would pretty much suck anyway. Everyone in front of you would go slow unless you hang some pine trees from the mirror(and they notice), or paint it a weird color. It's like your own personal traffic jam everywhere you go.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

A cop car would pretty much suck anyway. Everyone in front of you would go slow unless you hang some pine trees from the mirror(and they notice), or paint it a weird color. It's like your own personal traffic jam everywhere you go.

Nope. Having owned a few CVPI it's the cockroach scatter when you hit the left lane. It's a hoot.

I wouldn't touch the dodge. $18k is stupid expensive for a fragile ex-fleet car.

The fords are darn near indestructible. Dirt roads, drag strips, and parking lots have all been my playground. Silly fun for no money.

 

[KIAman]

I have a buddy who is a mechanic for the CHP and he has advised me to never buy a use police car of any brand. LOL.