Saturday, March 10, 2012

Is The County Throwing Money Away on Car Giveaways? By Geniusofdespair


At the Miami-Dade County Internal Mgmt. and Fiscal Responsibility Committee meeting, County Commissioner Pepe Le Pew Diaz wants to donate a Town Car to Charities Unlimited, Inc. In 2010 this group also got a 2001 Chevy Blazer. I am all for sharing the wealth and giving clunkers away. But 1) This group already got one car. And 2) Is a 2006 Lincoln Town Car a clunker?

The County should make a deal with a car dealer to sell these surplus cars if they are worth over $5,000. Why are we giving away a Towncar in the $6,000 (mileage is high) to $8,000 dollar range? The County is saying it is worth $3,600 with 148,708 miles. I tend to disagree with that. Here are examples of 2 Town Cars, one has high mileage and is even 2 years older.  BTW, Why does the County have Town Cars anyway?

Auto Trader

Car Max

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The county auctions off their surplus cars in big car auctions that are advertized and well attended.

Most of the equipment has been beat to hell by the time it gets there, and since they started buying hybrids, the service life of the cars has been extended to 8 years (used to be 5) before they're auction eligible. Almost none of the hybrids have gone to auction yet since the County started buying them in 2004 (they bought two that year).

Commissioners can pull a vehicle out of the auction lot to provide to a charity. They're usually valued at somewhere between $2000 and $5000, often having near 100,000 miles and those with less are in rough shape. County cars should be measured in dog-years compared to regular cars. They look pretty bad by the time they're sold.

Most of the City's taxi fleet is made up of auctioned cop cars.

SUPERFLY said...

PIMP MY COUNTY RIDE BIATCH!

Geniusofdespair said...

Why do they need a towncar?

Commissioner Superfly said...

cus wes styling and profiling, commish has got to keep his street cred and you know it aint happening with no Smart Car.

Anonymous said...

To get around. Attend meetings. Why else? You feel they need to go around in a pick up truck?

Geniusofdespair said...

They all have their own cars that we pay for---so why do they need a Town Car? Why can't they drive the cars we bought for them? If they need to be driven, they can be driven in their cars. They choose them we don't.

Stewie said...

It's a racket. The nonprofit agency often immediately resells the vehicle. The commissioner who arranged for the "donation" probably gets a kickback. Carey Shuler used to pull this car donation scam all the time. It's a disgraceful practice that needs more scrutiny. But don't count on Let'em Go Joe Centorino to do anything about it.

Anonymous said...

Miami-Dade County never ceases to give me a good laugh...only in America!!!!

I thought I was all out of laughing with the Marlin deacle, but this one picked up where that one left off.

We should tape it together and sell it to TV