UZJ100 - Registered as Police Vehicle?

[taipan]

Hello Everyone!

I am looking at a UZJ100 I am thinking of buying, but one item of the Carfax gave me hesitation: the second owner is listed as having been "Titled or registered as a police vehicle". What does this mean? There have been 3 owners, the one I talked to has owned it for about a year, and said he bought it from another person. I am going to check out the truck this weekend, but want to be prepared before I go. Thanks for your help!

 

[NMrockeater]

May have been a seizure vehicle used for undercover work? Or as an open space/unincorporated area patrol vehicle. More likely the first one.

 

[flow2311]

Agreed. Probably was asset forfeiture and was used as an undercover car. Only thing I would be worried about is whether a police radio was ever wired in. Government work is always done by the lowest bidder.

 

[taccruiser97]

Agree with the above, most likely a seizure vehicle. If it was used as a surveillance/UC vehicle, it may have some hard miles on it. Based on my experience though, the nicer seizures usually end up being assigned to supervisors so they don't get torn up and maintenance costs stay low.

Generally if it is a UC vehicle it won't have a radio wired in, especially with the communications technology available these days.

Another thing to consider is the quality/knowledge of maintenance. For instance, our police garage mechanics were working there for a reason. They wouldn't have cut it working for a regular repair shop or car dealership.

Just get it checked over before you fork over any cash to see if there are any serious problems.

 

[TexasCrane]

Personally, I would steer clear.

 

[CreeperSleeper]

I would treat it like any other vehicle. Get a PPI done by a shop that you trust...

 

[taipan]

Thanks everyone, it is a weird situation. The Carfax lists that it was for sale by a dealer and a month later it was registered as a police vehicle. Leading me to believe it was bought by someone and then registered by as a police vehicle by that person. It was driven 30k miles over 5 years by that individual. I'll let you know how the checkout goes this weekend.

 

[BamaHeel]

Check to see if it has provisions for police lights in it. I have a friend who is a vice/swat/special duty officer who had his personal vehicle (CTS) authorized as an additional car so he had lights and a siren added to it.

Other good bet is as stated above that it was a forfeiture vehicle.

 

[taccruiser97]

Police Departments have a certain amount of expenditures built into their budgets/seizure funds where they can go to dealerships and buy or lease vehicles. This vehicle may not have been seized but just bought like any other vehicle.

 

[Dog]

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.

 

[taipan]

When I test drive it, I'll make sure to bring sunglasses, especially if it is dark!

 

[ogsuv]

Nice blues bros references....

If it's a seizure vehicle you'll want to make sure it hasn't been modified to stash drugs somewhere. Check all the accessories and make sure air blows out of all the vents.