If you’re driving along and you get lit up by a Guilford County Sheriff’s Office patrol car behind you, you better think twice in the future about making a run for it. While some of the cars presently in use by the department have seen much better days, the fleet of vehicles is about to be beefed up with a lot of brand-new pursuit cars and other autos.
On Thursday, Oct 3, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office expects to get approval from the Guilford County Board of Commissioners to purchase a total of 24 new vehicles: two 2024 Ford Transit Cargo vans, four 2025 Ford Police Interceptor Utility SUVs and eighteen 2025 Dodge Durango Pursuit AWD SUVs.
The vehicles will be purchased from Piedmont Trucks of Greensboro, Ilderton Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram of High Point and Deacon Jones Ford of Clinton.
These new wheels will “replace aging, high mileage vehicles in the Sheriff’s Office fleet.”
The Ford vans will take the place of older vans currently in use by the Transportation Division of the Court Services Bureau.
The Ford Interceptor SUVs, as well as the Dodge Pursuit Durangos will replace vehicles now being used by various divisions of the Sheriff’s Office for both administrative and law enforcement purposes.
The two Ford vans are being purchased using a State of North Carolina contract. The county gets them cheaper that way since the state buys such a large number of vehicles each year and this allows counties to benefit from the state’s economies of scale.
The vans will cost $54,734 each for a total of $109,469. A highway use tax of 3 percent will bump that total up to $112,754. The estimated upfit per Transit van will be $27,000, which will bring the the per-vehicle cost to $83,377 each.
The total – estimated – price for these vehicles is $166,754.
The four Ford Police Interceptor Utility SUVs are being purchased from Deacon Jones Ford and will total $170,435, with and estimated upfit being $27,000 each, bringing the per-vehicle cost to $69,609 each.
The total estimated price for these vehicles is $278,436.
The eighteen Dodge Pursuit Durangos – and upfitting them for law enforcement work – will come to $1,235,430.
The estimated “on road” total expenses for these 24 vehicles comes to $1,680,620.
The vendors have been approved through the county’s MWBE process. That’s something Guilford County government is highly focused on right now whenever the county buys anything or enters into any contract.
As in all things these days, the actual price tags could be more than the estimates.
The Sheriff’s Office notes, “Upfit estimates are based on projected use of vehicles at time of order; however, Sheriff’s Office may modify vehicle use assignment upon delivery based off of the needs of the organization.”
MWBE….another staple for this county. How many votes were influenced with this ploy?
I hope the “upfit” for Sheriff Rogers vehicle includes extra locking devices so that any recently released “properly” or “Improperly” wink wink, dont get in his vehicle, take a nap then decide to drive it around Greensboro.
Do you have enough people to drive these cars?
It is good that our govt is buying American-made cars (not the best); but Chrysler does not make good cars, and they are owned by Stellantis, a foreign company. Just my opinion, of course.
If the county can obtain a cheaper price from a company who is not MWBE approved by the county commissioners, will our tax dollars will used to pay the higher price just to meet the MWBE approval? How many individuals and groups has our county commissioners given money to that are not MWBE approved? Would this not reflect the same mentality?
So, you going to take those out to the farm and let the rats get into them too, like you did the last new ones!!
As a tax payer and someone who does large scale acquiaitions for a living I would like to know
A. Did we have to pay more to meet the county’s MWBE / friends of skip targets
B. How does this acquisition compare to similar purchases from other departments
C. How much more or less competitive we’re the bids from the white male owned dealers and upfit shops that were discriminated against by the
D. If there is a cost increase are the commissioners paying for it from their non profit slush funds ?
BINGO! They don’t have any qualified staff to make those decisions. All of the competent folks have left. Nothing has gone right since 2021. Countless unqualified appointments have followed in rapid succession. From what I hear many good folks have quit or retired early just to get away from the drama and incompetency there. The folks in multiple county departments tell me it’s become quite the joke amongst county staff. People who have no clue what they’re doing sitting in at the big boy table for meetings whilst being barely qualified to be spoon fed in a high chair. The place has become the laughing stock of the state. One county official said the current administration couldn’t tell a Tootsie Roll from a dog turd without tasting it first. I have spoken with many who have left and the one common sentiment seems to be that none of them would consider returning. The mere mention of some names usually triggers a profanity laden tirade from most. When you have folks with decades of experience throwing in the towel something is wrong.
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$83,000 for a van ??
Seventy Grand for a Ford explorer ?? And nearly as much for “Pursuit” Durangos ??
All these vehicles are slow as snails. My wife driving my old truck could pull away from them.
Wasting taxpayer money.
Was there not another Ford dealership that wasn’t 2 hours away to buy vehicles. What about warranty issues. That’s at least 4 hours at a minimum to take a vehicle in and get back to Greensboro. What a bunch of idiots we have running this county. Green Ford is only 5 miles away oh but wait he’s a WHITE male. What was I thinking
I recently read a police dept returned all their Durango’s….hmmm ?
They need a million dollars worth of new deputies and a non DEI sheriff