Hamilton police service plays lets make a deal

And instead of the new car! They wound up with the pig wagon.

Two years ago, the Hamilton Police Service purchased four used 2002 Ford Crown Victoria cruisers which had previously been part of the Brantford police fleet.

Hamilton's policy at the time was to rebuild patrol cars when they reached 150,000 kilometres on the odometer. The idea was to purchase used cruisers for a reasonable amount, introduce them into the patrol car fleet and then rebuild them when necessary. They quickly realized they got taken and before the egg on their face was even dry, Hamilton Police Service scrapped the used-car experiment for good.

At the time of purchase, the four cruisers had come off a two-year lease and each car had racked up between 95,000 to 110,000 kilometres. Brantford leases all 15 of its police cruisers in two-year intervals, and the Hamilton Police Service paid about $10,000 each for four of the cars once the leases expired. But the used-car project turned out to be a dismal failure.

Two of the four cars aren't even part of the Hamilton fleet any more and the other two are no longer used as patrol cars.

One of the two remaining cars travelled just 18,000 kilometres in its first two years and cost Hamilton police $11,600 in maintenance and repair costs over that time.

That's a whopping 64 cents per kilometre in maintenance costs, not including gas.

The other remaining Brantford castoff travelled almost 48,000 kilometres in its first two years and cost Hamilton $16,500 for maintenance and repairs. That works out to 34 cents per kilometre.

Police Services says it will now only buy new. Good idea! What now? I suggest somebody down at the Police services pick up a copy of the "Lemon Car Guide" before they go shopping again.

Later,
Kenaz