ex state .army,garda,emergency services jeeps etc !!!!!

bk1991

hey guys


was looking into buying a jeep and taught that an ex state army,garda,emergency services jeep would be a good buy as would have done very little and would have good service history . Is there ary difference with price for theese compared to norm garrages private sellers?

also would ye recomend the car auctions in naas kildare or is it a hit and mis condition and price wise ?


bk1991

CharlieCroker

Stay well away from any Garda vehicles anyway, on the road 24/7 if they're city based, always driven in a low gear at high revs by (mostly) unsympathetic drivers, Electrics that have been butchered for lights and radios.
4x4's aren't as bad as patrol cars, but i still wouldn't. At the moment, anything going for aution will have between 250,000 and 300,000 km on the clock.

If you're still interested, i think its Wilsons auctions that deal with ex-state cars

Slidey

What CC said. Rough as fcuk and also will nearly definitely been hit at some stage.

Garda are not buying new fleet at all so the old yolks are being kept on the road. A friend of mine told me they sent down a second hand wing and door for a Mondeo that was hit

Mycroft H

The Ex ESB jeeps are usually kept in good condition.

Now I will attract flak here but the ex-an small (renault kangoo variety) post vans aren't too bad. Usually there fitted with a heavy duty clutch ect, but the ones in the rural vehicles wouldn't have too much stop-start driving. And since its usually a bag of letters in the back and not much more, there never abused too much.

dunsandin

I'd stay well clear -usually driven to death, only sold when bunched, and a lot of the mileages are errr, incorrect. I got an ex-prison service van, at auction- spotless to look at, listed as 35000 miles, got it home and rooted around while servicing and found a sticker stating "timing belt changed at 260K". Was more pleased on other days.

aujopimur

The word "bargepole" comes to mind when to mind when I hear of these state vehicle mentioned.

bk1991

apart from the state jeeps . what would ye think of auctions in general. or is it a hit and miss .with this new commercial tax law .will price of jeeps decrese?


bk1991

Drummerboy08

bk1991 wrote: »

apart from the state jeeps . what would ye think of auctions in general. or is it a hit and miss .with this new commercial tax law .will price of jeeps decrese?


bk1991

There is no new law - its always been there. Its just been enforced more now.

With regard to auctions, go to a few before you buy. Get the run of things. Go down the day before or a good while before the auction on the day to have a PROPER look at anything you may be interested in. Bring a mechanic if possible (or even someone who knows what they're looking at).

If you do it right you can save a few quid and get a bargain. The price of jeeps wont change however - they've already taken their hit on value.

Bitten & Hisses

I've seen Wilson's handling the ex-state cars, i.e. Garda or ministerial cars, but who handles the military stuff? I often had it in my head to go looking for an ex-army Nissan Patrol, but never knew where they were sold on.

bk1991

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

I've seen Wilson's handling the ex-state cars, i.e. Garda or ministerial cars, but who handles the military stuff? I often had it in my head to go looking for an ex-army Nissan Patrol, but never knew where they were sold on.

had same idea myself thats what i posted this for .

gofaster_s13

Most of the Patrols have been in Chad, Liberia etc at this stage and have been well worked.

Fozzie Bear

I think I read somewhere over on the Miltary forum that Irish Army vehicles are scrapped now instead of being sold on. They used to auction them off but (I think) are no longer allowed to do this for some reason.

Will try to find the thread.

Fishtits

The army stopped auctioning their stuff about 20 years ago, after an "incident" where allegedly, an ex-army vehicle passed itself off as still serving and availed of free fuel...

There was one or two auctions after this event where the vehicles were painted grey prior to sale, after these they were all cut up & scrapped.

I assume this hasn't changed.

(99% of the stuff they got rid of was rubbish)

me_right_one

I seen a few baby man's that got fcukall use in the army. They'd be fairly neglected, but miles wise, they'd have hardly anything on the clock. Surely they dont just cut them up?

101sean

They are mostly scrapped but there are a few around that escaped the net inc a Patrol, MAN FAEG and a heap of ACMATs. The story I heard about the ACMATS was they were sent to the UK to be auctioned off but the lads here piled over and bought them back much to the government's embarrassment!

Builderfromhell

A guy I know bought a landrover defender from here and drove it to and from West Africa with no mechanocal problems. Had a re-conditioned engine in it.

http://www.mod-sales.com/

101sean

That's Witham Specialist Vehicles, they hold the contract for the disposal of all ex British MOD vehicles. You can get some good deals from them but can be funny to deal with unless you are very serious about buying, they don't like tyre kickers or scrapyard tourists.

Fishtits

First off I'd be suprised if they had different disposal routes for different vehicles. There tends to be a one solution suits all civil service type answer to this.

As for the ACMAT's Good luck to you, they must claim the prize as the greatest load of rubbish the tax payer ever funded. (they have a Perkins engine that might be worth something.) other than that they are worth nothing short of a bonfire. The greatest ball of sh*t I have ever driven.

Builderfromhell

Fishtits wrote: »

First off I'd be suprised if they had different disposal routes for different vehicles. There tends to be a one solution suits all civil service type answer to this.

As for the ACMAT's Good luck to you, they must claim the prize as the greatest load of rubbish the tax payer ever funded. (they have a Perkins engine that might be worth something.) other than that they are worth nothing short of a bonfire. The greatest ball of sh*t I have ever driven.

I'm curious, what's wrong with them. Not thinking of getting one for bringing kids to school or anything but curious none the less.

PanhardPL

Builderfromhell wrote: »

I'm curious, what's wrong with them. Not thinking of getting one for bringing kids to school or anything but curious none the less.[/QUOT

ACMAT (Ateliers de Construction Mécanique de L'Atlantique, also known as ALM-ACMAT), is a French producer of cross-country and tactical military vehicles since 1958. Known for their reliability, simplicity, ruggedness and their 80% (over 3,500) commonality of parts across the entire product line, these vehicles were originally targeted at African and Asian countries who could not afford more expensive vehicles. The ACMAT company built their vehicles based on standardisation, commonality of parts and components, and on interchangeability; parts are interchangeable with vehicles built 30 years ago. Parts commonality includes cabs, structural components, engines and drive trains. ACMAT uses many of the same parts for all of its line of vehicles. They even produce an armoured variant of both the 4x4 and 6x6 versions of the VLRA.

Many French fire brigades also use ACMAT vehicles due to their lower cost and 4WD ability. Several thousand are in use by 42 countries including France and the Irish Defence Forces. ACMAT also designs, manufactures and builds trailers, shelters and generators. ACMAT has exported over 85 percent of the 12,000 plus vehicles it produced into 50 different countries.[1]

As of 22 May 2006, ACMAT is a wholly owned subsidiary of Renault Trucks.[2]

Fishtits

I'm curious, what's wrong with them. Not thinking of getting one for bringing kids to school or anything but curious none the less.

I got the distinct impression that they were modeled on the old American M35. The M35 was a doddle to work on and was a decent truck to boot.

The VLRA was desperately underpowered, and had the strangest braking system - there was a cable connecting the brake pedal to the master cylinder under the seat. If you applied the brakes while driving you could not reduce braking effort by reducing pedal pressure, you had to take your foot off and re-apply. It was just a horrible piece of kit to drive. Having said that, they were quite capable off road... in a Land Rover IIA kind of way

They were also an absolute pig to work on.

Silvera

To my knowledge, the Defence Forces used to scrap or export nearly all of their retired vehicles, up until about 10 years ago, due to the security situation in the north.

However, since around 2000 ex-DF Nissan Patrols, Vanettes, etc have been sold through Wilsons Auctions (on The Naas Road, near Baldonnel).

Afaik, the change in policy by the govt may also have been influenced by the setting up of the irish military vehicle club, who may have lobbied for such a change.

Some fine ex-DF vehicles are now in private ownership...like this nice combo...