Purchased a firestation expedition, did I get a good deal?

[k-bl]

Last week I purchased a Bright Red 2014 Expedition:

• 38k miles
• 2 Wheel Drive
• Tow package
• Newly installed aftermarket full screen Kenwood Media Player, with backup camera
• Skid plate

for $15700. It needs new tires (about 9000 miles left on them), didn't come with a third row seat, needs some interior panels replaced, and the window seals from old age. It was mostly garage kept. It had some huge decals for the fire department removed and some damaged paint that had been reasonably touched up. I had the under body and the engine bay checked for rust, and they were super clean. We drove it for about 1000 miles, and it performed wonderfully. Curious what you guys think. It was apparently used by a nearby Firestation.

 

[k-bl]

I forgot to post a picture of the exterior:

 

[joethefordguy]

yours looks great!
I have a 2nd generation Firetruck Expedition. mine is an SSV. I suspect it was a supervisor's vehicle because it was so clean, especially the interior. It had less than 100k miles and cost right at 5200$, but I had to put another 4400 in it and new tires. I got it April of 2019. we couldn't be happier.
Believe it or not, the 4400 was not for anything major. all 4 door lock switches had failed, the front suspension needed control arms; the rear rotors had to be replaced, a bunch of vacuum hoses and other stuff had the AC crippled, and so on. I've got a list; I just can't remember it all.
ours only had two rows of seats. I put in a third row out of an Eddie Bauer donor, but it's a power set so i have to do some wiring work. right now it's stuck in the up position. All the interior panels were fine, though.
I predict you will love yours as we love ours.

 

[joethefordguy]

this is mine, the only thing different now is the new wheels and tires. I don't have a picture of that. yet.

 

[07navi]

I forgot to post a picture of the exterior:

It's hard to go wrong at 38k miles and no rust means a lot too. You can eat off that underside.

 

[k-bl]

yours looks great!
I have a 2nd generation Firetruck Expedition. mine is an SSV. I suspect it was a supervisor's vehicle because it was so clean, especially the interior. It had less than 100k miles and cost right at 5200$, but I had to put another 4400 in it and new tires. I got it April of 2019. we couldn't be happier.
Believe it or not, the 4400 was not for anything major. all 4 door lock switches had failed, the front suspension needed control arms; the rear rotors had to be replaced, a bunch of vacuum hoses and other stuff had the AC crippled, and so on. I've got a list; I just can't remember it all.
ours only had two rows of seats. I put in a third row out of an Eddie Bauer donor, but it's a power set so i have to do some wiring work. right now it's stuck in the up position. All the interior panels were fine, though.
I predict you will love yours as we love ours.

Awesome! Ty for your input.

View attachment 38804
this is mine, the only thing different now is the new wheels and tires. I don't have a picture of that. yet.

Yours looks fantastic! Ty for sharing.

It's hard to go wrong at 38k miles and no rust means a lot too. You can eat off that underside.

LOL! Yea, I was shocked.

 

[Trainmaster]

Looks like you got a clean truck. Good luck with it. The fire department trucks seem to be mush better than those the police beat up. I've had many SSV Expeditions and they have never given me problems.

 

[07navi]

Looks like you got a clean truck. Good luck with it. The fire department trucks seem to be mush better than those the police beat up. I've had many SSV Expeditions and they have never given me problems.

Probably because they only use them to go look at fires etc.

 

[Trainmaster]

Probably because they only use them to go look at fires etc.

...and pick up beer.

 

[mrbadwrench]

My 2008 was a police cruiser before it was a fire department vehicle. The only things that have broken are age related.

 

[bloodhound]

Always better off with a former fire owned truck than a police one. They live very different lives. Thousands of hours of idling time on the police ones, along with a lot more of a general beating that they get (ask me how I know). I wouldn't want to buy any of the Tahoes I've been issued knowing what they've been through, but the fire ones are cream puffs.

 

[barrydu4]

Usually Public vehicles, such as Fire and Police, are kept well maintained. The Vehicle Maintenance Departments have them on a scheduled maintenance program. They use them till they are replaced after limited mileage. Should be a good buy.

 

[k-bl]

Now I want to just want to put a third row in, weather tech floor mats, replace window belt seals (one door leaks a little, and they look at a little old, even though it was garage kept), and put a few hundred thousand miles on it! Any good pointers on how to add the third row seats?

 

[medicjack]

Looking at a 2015 SSV police edition. 72,000 miles, $15,000. Looks clean in pictures but have not seen it in person yet. Is there a way to find the number of idle hours the engine has?

 

[07navi]

Looking at a 2015 SSV police edition. 72,000 miles, $15,000. Looks clean in pictures but have not seen it in person yet. Is there a way to find the number of idle hours the engine has?

I would just assume it idled too many hours.

 

[bloodhound]

Looking at a 2015 SSV police edition. 72,000 miles, $15,000. Looks clean in pictures but have not seen it in person yet. Is there a way to find the number of idle hours the engine has?

According to the owners manual, it may be under the "Driver Assist" menu on the dash information display, but the manual says "Note:Some items are optional and may not appear", so you'd have to check.

 

[Trainmaster]

Look real well at a police SSV with less than 100K miles. Most departments get at least that mileage before they sell them. The lower mileage ones are often those that have been wrecked or sold for junk and fixed up, so look at the frame and body of anything with lower mileage. Check for replacement engines, bent front ends, etc. Some of the smaller departments never change the oil, though most of the real departments take care of at least that regularly.

Bloodhound gives good advice. I once bought a Dodge from a small department and it had the original oil filter after 100,000 miles. They didn't know why the lifters were making noise. Lots of police units are beaten pretty hard and idle around the clock. I've had several of these with cams worn so flat they were hard to start. The fire trucks only seem to suffer from getting washed and waxed each Sunday.

 

[fuzzmanmatt]

I don't know if the SSVs have the mount points for the seats. I took my third row out to make room for a cargo storage area I built (I have a thread here somewhere) and the bolt holes go all the way through if I'm remembering correctly. Really easy to take in and out, though.