[Matt01]

You're armed, they become or come
armed...

The car is insured (ps I don't want stolen recovered, I want plain stolen) I am not, nor is my wife or my daughter replaceable... You want my car here's the keys, let me help you start it and I'll wave you off the drive, just don't touch my family... My sound wimpy to some, but hopefully I'll live to fight another day!!!

House alarm on, keys by the front door....

[northernmonkey]

...if there are any "steal to order" scrotes reading this forum can you please not steal my car until the F10/F11 LCI model is out as I'd like my next car to have the LCD gauge option....my RTI insurance will help fund the purchase of next car so i'll let you know when to come round and I'll leave BOTH keys and the owners manual etc etc near the door.

if you visit me earlier then i guess not so bad as i'd definitely add full black panel display, HUD and surround view to my next order...oh and 6NR.

...there's always an upside

[RCUK]

This is the reason both sets of our keys are kept on the windowsill - wife has a Discovery

If someone breaks in and wants to steal my car - go for it. Rather they just took the keys and sodded off then come upstairs where everyone is sleeping.

Had 2 cars stolen in the past - both back in the days where they just took it off the road - none of this breaking into houses for keys lark. Not a nice feeling - one was recovred, the other never was.

[Chuckfireswift]

Originally Posted by finbrad

LFB's policy on fleet cars seems very relaxed- Would a LFB liveried skoda octavia estate not be more practical, economical, visible & thus safe. Is there a requirement to have a stealth aspect to a fire response vehicle? Maybe I'm jealous!

Finbrad No,
It's too expensive, they have a small fleet of Liveried Astra Estate's for people like me to use when our cars are off the road or when a Guy in charge of a Station gets temporary acting up into a Senior Rank (It obviously would not be economical to lease a car for a short spell of Temp promotion).

So, as part of our equipment and vehicle contract, we lease 200+ Fire Engines of various types made to our specification, vans, lorries etc and around 40 cars. These cars have to be purchased by the Company that owns our fleet and to have loads more cars for every Senior Officer would cost them a fortune and have an impact on our contract and to us the taxpayer.

By allowing lease cars, a 'Benchmark' car is allowed for each Rank, where the Officer uses it as his or her own car and pays 1/4 toward the cost. The bottom Benchmark is a Focus, My Benchmark is a Mondeo Ghia and the Asst Commissioner's and above have a Volvo S80 as their Benchmark.

Leasing these cars for three years, especially with the Officer having to contribute, is much cheaper because the LFB are then only paying a fraction of the amount of an owned and liveried car. It is then down to the individual officer to make his or her choice, but they pay the extra. Because cars like BMW's and Audi's etc have such a good resale value, it is actually quite cost effective to lease one of them because they lease Co will get more for it at the end of the three year contract... For example, my BMW is only £32 per month more expensive for me than I'd be paying for the Mondeo Ghia... a no brainer really. For a quid a day, I get a car which is much better (although having had a Mondeo last year while waiting for the BMW they are pretty good).

The other option is to use your own car... LFB pay a monthly fee for this into your wages as well as an enhanced mileage rate and add 'Blue light' and Airside Insurance cover. The down side of this is, all of the wear and tear is down to the individual and for some reason when the cars are added to the PNC as Fire Service vehicles it never quite works out so the Officer is forever being pulled over for being on or having been on blue lights. When I first got promoted into the higher ranks in 2004 I used by own car, which at the time was a 2003 Saab 9-3. A year and several frustrating stops by the Police later, I ordered my first lease car which was my E61.

So why aren't these liveried? Well obviously as an individual off duty I don't want to be going to Tesco in a Marked car with the kids, the LFB don't want dozens of marked car doing the same... we'd be swamped with complaints from Mr Angry from Surbiton complaining about "The Fireman taking his wife and kids shopping/Golf/Seaside...etc". But as well as that, that would also be an additional 'betterment' cost for the LFB when returning the car to the Lease Co. As it stands, they fit a standard siren, provide a magnetic blue light/grille lights and discreet switches, all without causing much damage so after we hand the car back it can be re-sold without expensive repairs. Yes, Stealth like, but by having it that way it is just another normal car on the road.

Anyway, back to my car, I was at the repairers today when it arrived. It looked OK, but the engineer found lots of stuff when he went around it and marked it all with a green pen. Worst was a scuff under the front bumber and a crack under the rear bumper when (I assume) they had hit a speed hump too hard.

It could take up to 6 weeks to it get back, this is dependent on how quickly BMW can provide new keys and the lock for the front door (any advice on these timings appreciated BTW). Meanwhile I'm living between one of the LFB Astra's when I am on Duty and a VW polo courtesy car when I am off.

[Matt01]

For all the talk of guns and houses being broken into... Lease or not, no one wants to have someone in the house or the car, we all feel you pain... I'm sure the astra won't make it any easier...

[Chuckfireswift]

48 days after the Theiving B'stards stole it off my Drive I have it back... Almost a full respray, new lock & keys, new windscreen and a new nearside back door as a small dent was in a place where it couldn't be repaired.

What a Nightmare.

[andyk500]

Glad everything's back in one piece finally, hope everything goes ok and the scroats give you a wide birth from now on.

PS. Next time I'm in London can I borrow your blue light, will certainly help to get around ......

[Chuckfireswift]

Everything for a price!!!