The "decent" ones (06+ unmarked or SAP in good+ condition with under 100k to a little over) that I would be interested in are running about $4k'ish in CA right now but once you add in those ridiculous auction fees (up to 20% of the sale price) and then taxes and DMV fees, it's easily another $1k+ on top. I bought mines 4 years ago for $3500 with a $10 auction fee. If I wanted to, I can sell it today for $3500 in a heartbeat.

Very true^ I see watcha mean.

I bought mine at $1800. Yeah it was a patrol car(obviously) and then it was auctioned off to another smaller department and just was used as a loaner when another vehicle was down but honestly, I would do it again in a heartbeat. For the last year at the smaller department it just sat, was started and driven every few months. Tires were all bald, couple of rims were bent a little but overall it ran. Drove it 100 miles home like that until I could start on repairs. Intake mani. was replaced at 92K miles(but they didn’t bother to change the spark plugs lol.

I guess you could say that mine was “rode hard and put away wet” because I know for a fact it was.

Way I see it, if it ain't got a hour meter or if it was inoperative, there'd be no issue. Just drive and ride and run the AC or heat at the drive in as desired, as only the devil may care.

My last issued police car was a '06 CVPi. It had only 80K miles when I retired in 2010. My replacement transferring in wrecked his the week he was to move here, so the Dept. give him my car, he run it another few years more than doubling the mileage as well (there was a time when some parts needed for upfitting were backordered so a long delay in getting new cars one year), no telling how many hours idling it had between sitting while working radar, accidents, cold nights at the office doing reports, etc. I did look one time, sometime before I retired, and it was 3,300 idle hours then.

Idle hours never seemed to hurt one of mine.

There's always the "There she sits, if you want it , just pay me. If not, there's the road."

Ask a higher price and then drop. That's all you can really do and point out the pluses. Especially with Crown vics if someone was looking at two and one had high idle hours and one had low hours but high miles and needed all sorts of interior parts replaced and body work because of the use and abuse that work can easily cost more then whatever wear the high idle hours could have caused.

It's not just Fords other police cars also do idle hours. I've bought non Fords at auction before with high idle hours and honestly while it doesn't bother me much based on what I paid had I known how to check them I might not have bought those cars if others had a lot less. There's not much point in an engine hour meter because the odometer takes care of the rest.

I'd be interested in knowing if the Taurusceptors do the same stupid way of rounding up hours.

I’ve always thought my idle hours have accumulated very quickly. I am always making sure to not leave it in park or neutral in a bid to keep them down. I’ve never timed them though to see if it’s accurate but like the OP I ALWAYS think “there’s NO WAY I let the car idle that long!”

For the last couple oil changes I’ve been writing down the hours as well as the date/miles on the oil change sticker.

I've sold 4 of these cars and can't recall anyone asking about the idle hours. The meter can't be trusted anyway, the mileage and overall condition of the car are what really matter.

I agree, if I'm looking at two cars, 1) with lower miles (say 85K) and high hours (say >7500), and 2) higher miles 150K and 2500 hours, I'm going to take the lower mileage car for sure.

And I've seen every single combination of hours and miles in cars I shop at auction. I even saw one car that had >100K miles and like 500 hours. Don't see how that's possible, but whatever.

I will say that of the Explorerceptors and Taurusceptors that I see lately, it's FAR more common to see the post 2010 'ceptors with MUCH higher hours than I've been used to seeing in older Vics. Common to see them with >10K and >15K hours with only about 120,000 miles. Seems like a "good" 3.7l engine has 4,000 to 6,000 on it. So whatever Ford is doing, they're rounding up at least as aggressively in these newer cars, if not more so.

I have no personal data with the Dodges, I've only bought one ex-cop Charger (V6). In general they are soooo shot out before they hit 100,000 miles that they don't merit scrutiny. Nearly all the hemi's have cam-lifter problems by that time and 3/4's of them have control arm & power steering pump issues to boot.