Secretary of Finance and Administration Jonathan Miller published this photograph a bit earlier:
It’s a crowd of 500+ who showed up for the state vehicle fleet auction.
Are these the folks who have fallen on hard times or is everyone merely looking for a great deal?
UPDATE: A reader just dropped a note to inform us that today’s event yielded a low turnout. According to them, well over a thousand usually attend. The State Fire Marshall has allegedly limited attendees to a thousand or so in the past.
Turnout apparently depends upon how well the auctions are advertised. Since state vehicles are well-maintained, it makes sense that they’d be good buys.
The Transportation Division of Equipment as an auction planned (soon-ish). Hopefully the state will reap a ton of cash at that event, as well.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Conservative // Sep 22, 2009 at 1:16 pm
State vehicles well-maintained? To borrow your terms, Pee Alert!
I hear stories of state vehicles going well beyond scheduled oil changes, and the state sets a 5,000-mile schedule for them despite a lot of vehicle manufacturer recommendations to change oil every 3,000 miles.
Anecdotally, I had a boss once upon a time who went to a state auction and bought a vehicle for his ne’er-do-well daughter. The vehicle was a piece of crap and needed major repairs on a regular basis. OTOH, he bought a federal government surplus vehicle for work a few years later and got a really good deal on it.
These state vehicles really are caveat emptor.
2 Just me // Sep 22, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Guess that means you weren’t at the auction?
3 E // Sep 22, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Just curious, and I asked Jonathon Miller too.
The state made $430,000 on the sale of 200 vehicles…sounds great until one looks a little deeper. That’s 2150 each.
What will the state spend on new vehicles to replace these vehicles?
Lets call it a nice easy number like 21,500 for a total replacement cost of 4.3million…for arguments sake.
Good stewardship of my tax dollars…I think not.
Maintain them well, drive them sensibly and sparingly , drive them until they give up the ghost…that’s being a good steward.
4 jake // Sep 22, 2009 at 5:59 pm
From a press release:
Some other data:
Average price for drivable vehicle in 2008: $2,593.32 – 2009: $2,246.43
Average price for non-drivable vehicle in 2008: $750 – 2009: $563.46
Average mileage for drivable vehicle in 2008: 112,918 – 2009: 119,537
Average model year of vehicles sold in 2008: 1999 – 2009: 2000
5 E // Sep 23, 2009 at 8:31 am
Average mileage…119,537.
In other words the vehicles have reached their ‘half-life’.
The state should fully utilize their assets as we the taxpayers do. Every vehicle I’ve owned has not been retired or traded in until it rolled over well past 200,000 miles.
I’ve said it already, and I’ve looked but can’t find it. How many comparable vehicles will the state purchase in 2009-2010? If these were truly ‘surplus’ vehicles the answer should be zero.
I could be wrong…but I don’t think that will be the number…if it’s ever found out.
My persistence might get annoying, if it does, I apologize. But unless the number of comparable new vehicles purchased is zero…we’re being lied to about ‘savings’ and money going into the coffers.
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