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Reader says Didn’t we just buy new cars ? …the ones with the ugly paint jobs?

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photos from the Ridgewood PD

Reader says Didn’t we just buy new cars ?
…the ones with the ugly paint jobs?

Those police cars with the ‘swish’ on the side look like shit. Paint them to look like real police cars again.

As far as leasing, the cost of capital*interest rate* is what determines if the lease makes sense, along with the allowable mileage and return provisions. If they have too much mileage or dents, the town will have to pay when they turn them in.

If they bought 3 new cars, and sold them in 3 years, they would have operated ‘under warranty’ and there would be no repair costs. It would, however, be up to the town to then sell them after 3 years in order to recover their equity.

Im glad the Police dept has begun the discussion and its up to the finance folks to see what the best deal for the town is. In a lease, there is another ‘party’ to the transaction, who makes a profit, so its not necessarily a good deal. Just asking ‘how much per month’ is not the only question here.

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9 thoughts on “Reader says Didn’t we just buy new cars ? …the ones with the ugly paint jobs?

  1. On the other thread a post noted that Gabbert was responsible for those goofy looking paint jobs.
    Back to buy vs lease. The cars for the chief/detectives would presumably get the same use as an executive’s car vs. the ‘rougher duty’ of a patrol vehicle.
    As such, they should retain more value and not require replacement every 3 years. How many years/miles have we had the current Chief car/detective cars?
    Low mileage used cars bring a premium in the used market place. If the town simply agreed to a ‘rotation’ of every 4 years and or 60 thousand miles, it would be cost effective.
    A lease guarantees the police dept that the village will be forced to replace the vehicles in 3 year. If you want to know what the ‘experts say’, just look at the buy price at the end of the proposed lease (get MORE than one quote please) and you will see what the expected residual value is.
    If the town pays for vehicles and uses them for 4-5 years instead of 3..THEN sells…its a good bet that the dollar amount will be the same in 5 years as 3…since the first 3 years see vehicle depreciation of 50%.. ANd with a lease…the payments NEVER stop…
    (corporations lease vehicles since the money spent is an operating ‘expense’ vs capital ‘expenditure’…not because its a better deal)

  2. You are talking about apples and oranges. Lease residual values on personal vehicles with a limited number of miles (usually 10 to 15K per year) are a completely different animal than a police cruiser which racks up a lot of miles and even more “time” as the vehicles are running for hours on end at construction sites, accident sites, fires, etc…. Add the fact that they are full of holes for mounting of all the special equipment etc…. and you have a vehicle that really isn’t worth much at the end of its usefull life. Combine that with the fact that the used car market is severly depressed right now as new car sales are going through the roof with low interest rates and the improving economy. We might be better off just buying the cars and running them for as long as they will go.

  3. To #2 the lease/purchase discussion was with respect to the unmarked chief car and detective cars. Marked patrol units get beat into the ground and the only residual is from the ‘wanna-bee’ cops who buy old cruisers at auctions.

  4. they are ford’s they suck.

  5. F-O-R-D ‘used’ to stand for ‘Found on road dead’. They are better now.
    F-I-A-T ‘used’ to stand for “fix it again tony’. (not sure if the new ones are better!)

  6. F-O-R-D ‘used’ to also stand for ‘Fixed or repaired daily’
    They have come a long way since then!

  7. F-O-R-D ‘used’ to also stand for ‘First On Race Day’

  8. Fuc*ed up or rebuilt dodge !!!

  9. ford, well it’s ok. over price car’s and trucks.

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