purchasing a used Crown Vic

I am trying to help a buddy of mine to purchase a CrownVic for his taxi. He is currently driving a 2000 that has over 300k and falling apart. We are going to look at the auctions so timing would be critical. I know most of them probably going to come from the police service and have P71 interceptor package. I assume they are probably fairly well maintained, but I sure don’t want to help him to buy a lemon :nono: What should I look for in these cars? Oil burning? Transmission slipping? Anything in particular to Crown Vic? Thanks!

Depends on where you are. There are some on line auctions that have some Vics. Look at the link in my signature and we have about 100 Vics coming up for sale this year. We give service records with the purchase of the vehicle. I think we only have one up righr now. I can't offer any warranty or guarantee, but we do look them over before we place them on line. Most of ours will have under 140k on them.

thanks way2old ! we live in San Diego Co CAL and have a public auction in Orange County on a regular basis. When you "look em over" what do you look for? Thanks,

We go bumper to bumper and look for any safety related items. We do not imply any warranty, but I would really hate for someone to drive off my lot and have an accident because the steering was bad. Look the car over for body damage. This will let you know if the drivers respected the car. Look at the condition and color of engine oil, transmission fluid, antifreeze and brake fluid. Look under the car for any obvious leaks. Raise the hood and see if the intake manifold has an aluminum cross-over on the front runners. If not, there is a good chance the intake could rupture. Ford has put 7 year unlimited mileage warranty on the intake. Ask if you can see the maintenance records for that vehicle. See if you can drive the car first and just do an all over test on the vehicle. Treat it as you would any other major purchase. You want to get as good a deal as you can and be sure it is a good investment for your money. Good luck

thanks a lot!
that helps a bunch.

One more thing I remembered. The transmissions are suspect if you are looking at the CVPI with the 4R70W transmission. We have a lot of issues with these.

thanks again! whatever info you give us can prove to be indispensable at the time when we preview the vehicle.

BTW, where you look for the transmission designation? is it in the VIN# sticker on the door jamb or I need to pull it up in the CARFAX.

If it is a CVPI it should have the 4R70W trans. VIN will have P71 in it. Go to www.fleet.ford.com click on maintenance tab and then click on VIN decoder and enter the VIN.. The site should give you a complete breakdown of the vehicle. Good luck on your purchase.

thanks a lot again! going this weekend, we'll see what happens.