FAA Suburbans

denverpilot

denverpilot

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DenverPilot
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Parked next to one today, and can't get the question off my mind...

How high up the FAA food chain do you have to be to rate one of those GSA Chevy Suburbans?

Dang nice vehicle for a run-about for one person. Newer and nicer than mine. Cloth seats though. That sucks. :)

4WD, decent set of commercial Bridgestones on it with aggressive tread. Tinted windows. Yadda.

(This wasn't a tech vehicle... No tools. Dude driving was in biz casual clothes. He was visiting the KAPA tower and the vehicle was covered in KDEN vehicle access stickers. I'm suspecting some kinda supervisor. He smiled and waved and seemed cheerful enough.)

Mostly just curiosity. Most of our State folk who aren't techs going out in all weather and off-roading to fix stuff at the end of mountainous dirt roads, are back to driving cheap econo boxes. FAA likes their Suburbans.

I suppose government has a vested interest in GM being fiscally healthy, since they owe them money. Heh.

Great truck, of course, but I'm biased. :)
 
denverpilot said:
Parked next to one today, and can't get the question off my mind...

How high up the FAA food chain do you have to be to rate one of those GSA Chevy Suburbans?

Dang nice vehicle for a run-about for one person. Newer and nicer than mine. Cloth seats though. That sucks. :)

4WD, decent set of commercial Bridgestones on it with aggressive tread. Tinted windows. Yadda.

(This wasn't a tech vehicle... No tools. Dude driving was in biz casual clothes. He was visiting the KAPA tower and the vehicle was covered in KDEN vehicle access stickers. I'm suspecting some kinda supervisor. He smiled and waved and seemed cheerful enough.)

Mostly just curiosity. Most of our State folk who aren't techs going out in all weather and off-roading to fix stuff at the end of mountainous dirt roads, are back to driving cheap econo boxes. FAA likes their Suburbans.

I suppose government has a vested interest in GM being fiscally healthy, since they owe them money. Heh.

Great truck, of course, but I'm biased. :)
Click to expand...

Ya really want to blow a head gasket, go visit the local airport when the POTUS is in town... The SS will rent 60 -80 BRAND new, fully equipted Suburbans at the daily rate of 300+ a day... And remember, they are there days in advance for setting up the circus... Do the math... it will make your head spin..:yikes::mad:

I have seen the bill for when VP Cheney was here for Christmas vacation a few years back... The rental car bill alone was in excess of 140,000 dollars...And also remember,, the SS does not stay in a Motel 6.. They need a 4 Seasons type of lodging... add another 200 grand to the bill. And on, and on, and on..:eek::eek::eek:
 
Nothing is too good for our government workers. :rolleyes:
 
Back int the old days, a government bailout of the auto industry was to have GSA motor pool buy a lot of otherwise unwanted/unsold care. Like AMC (Hornet, Bastadors aka Matador, etc) or Chrysler products. :rolleyes:

Nowadays they just buy the company.... :rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
The feds over here dive brand new $40,000+ Chevy volts, nice to see Maobama giving my greenbacks for the sake of being "green" whatever that's sposed' to mean nowadays lol

I vote govt workers should be driving certified used honda accords, or something similar. With the economy what it is I shouldnt see a public servant driving a car that most of the public coundnt afford. Bad sings!
 
Funny, never driven a G-car. I always use my POV and claim the mileage.
 
I didn't mean to turn this into a anti-government-spending thread, although I certainly am usually the one to start such banter...

I honestly was wondering what GS level one has to be to garner a "company car" these days. Haven't seen many company cars in the private sector since about 1993 or so, maybe earlier?

Fleet trucks for smaller companies still seem to go home with folks, but larger companies seem to keep them in a yard, or use them for a mixture of shifts.

Maybe the Suburban is too nice for the job, or maybe they got them cheap when folks didn't want V8 guzzlers anymore.

(Heck, that's how I got mine...! I had a pick of the cream of the crop of used Yukons when I went hunting... six of them on a Ford lot... talk about leverage! I beat them down to a number I was happy with and they still sold it to me... it was almost a "Heck, I'll just see how low they'll go" kind of thing... then they hit the number... well, hell... I guess I'll buy it!)

Anyway... didn't know if any of the gub'mint folk knew who you have to kill and make sure the body isn't found in the lovely internal politics of most government jobs, to rate a Suburban. :)

Maybe he was the MFWIC for Denver... who knows? I didn't ask. LOL.
 
denverpilot said:
I honestly was wondering what GS level one has to be to garner a "company car" these days. Haven't seen many company cars in the private sector since about 1993 or so, maybe earlier?
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Just a notation in the job description based on "need". 'Round these parts, they finally reviewed the "need" for certain employees of the US Marshal's office and put the clamp on them taking cars home. There are still hundreds that not only get the G-car, but also get to drive solo in the carpool-restricted lanes.

Need can be as simple as "may be called out during the night for incident investigation or security breach".

And yes, here in the US (not true in other countries), most companies no longer provide company cars, they either provide an allowance or a slight pay bump when they take away the company car. Some still provide them for certain circumstances.

Policy also is that if one needs to travel locally on government business, they can take a vehicle assigned to the office rather than taking their own. For longer trips, either a G-vehicle if available or a rental car (Government rate) can be used. As noted above, G-plates can sometimes allow some "special driving/parking privileges". Oh, and some cars are specially equipped - like some that the FCC uses. ;)

Fleet trucks for smaller companies still seem to go home with folks, but larger companies seem to keep them in a yard, or use them for a mixture of shifts.

Maybe the Suburban is too nice for the job, or maybe they got them cheap when folks didn't want V8 guzzlers anymore.
Click to expand...

You got part of it: "GM is offering them cheap to us, so we'll take 'em". Could justify it on the need to haul boxes occasionally. Or haul multiple people. Or dogs. It's also possible that they're not GSA motor pool vehickles, they could be owned by the agency. Motor pool vehicles have tags that start with a G, followed by a small 2 digit number followed by a large 4, 5, or 6 digit number (G21 xxxxx)

Anyway... didn't know if any of the gub'mint folk knew who you have to kill and make sure the body isn't found in the lovely internal politics of most government jobs, to rate a Suburban. :)
Click to expand...

Supposedly need-based, but easy to define "need" under G-policies. Also true that exceptions can be made if there's no secure parking at the office (e.g. it'll be more secure at home).
 
I also currently see a trend where local police departments are switching to large pickup trucks, and large SUV's. Guess they have a lot of money. :confused:
 
Anthony said:
I also currently see a trend where local police departments are switching to large pickup trucks, and large SUV's. Guess they have a lot of money. :confused:
Click to expand...

There's still a lot of "homeland security" money being shoveled from the Feds to the state/local law enforcement types. And I think money from drug seizures is still shared with the agencies involved.

One other factor: car manufacturers are discontinuing the old "police interceptor" vehicles - meaning that those larger cars are being supplanted by trucks.
 
And then there is the assistant emperor of the district of columbia Kwame Brown who ordered up a tricked out Lincoln Navigator for 60k the day after the election and months before he was to start his job. When the vehicle was delivered, he didn't like the gray interior and had his staff order a second one (shipped in from Michigan) with the black/black P&I that he required :confused: . Before everything was sorted out, the district (--> US taxpayer) had paid 30k for a car that he used for one month.
 
wsuffa said:
One other factor: car manufacturers are discontinuing the old "police interceptor" vehicles - meaning that those larger cars are being supplanted by trucks.
Click to expand...

This.

There are only a limited number of vehicles available that are 'pursuit certified'. Right now that is the Dodge Charger, the baby Tahoe and the new offerings from Ford and GM. Until the new Ford and GM police vehicles make it out the door in meaningful numbers, we are going to see lots of Chargers and Tahoes.
 
N801BH said:
Ya really want to blow a head gasket, go visit the local airport when the POTUS is in town... The SS will rent 60 -80 BRAND new, fully equipted Suburbans at the daily rate of 300+ a day... And remember, they are there days in advance for setting up the circus... Do the math... it will make your head spin..:yikes::mad:

I have seen the bill for when VP Cheney was here for Christmas vacation a few years back... The rental car bill alone was in excess of 140,000 dollars...And also remember,, the SS does not stay in a Motel 6.. They need a 4 Seasons type of lodging... add another 200 grand to the bill. And on, and on, and on..:eek::eek::eek:
Click to expand...

When I was a younger fellow, in Houston, I volunteered for then-Vice-President George H. W. Bush, and the cars we drove were Chevrolet Caprices, but the use of them was donated by a local Chevy dealer; we typically had six or eight of them, depending on need. The USSS brought in their Suburbans and (of course) the armored and highly-powered Cadillac limo for the Veep. It had a GMC truck engine, no smog controls at all.

wsuffa said:
Or Bastadors.....
Click to expand...

(Chuckle). DPD called 'em "Matadogs."

Still, AMC cars tended to last forever.

weilke said:
This.

There are only a limited number of vehicles available that are 'pursuit certified'. Right now that is the Dodge Charger, the baby Tahoe and the new offerings from Ford and GM. Until the new Ford and GM police vehicles make it out the door in meaningful numbers, we are going to see lots of Chargers and Tahoes.
Click to expand...

Chevrolet has their Australian-built police car, of which GM is obliged to buy a bunch from GMH (Holden, Australia), cars which were originally to have been built as Pontiac G8 sedans. Pretty good cars, based on the Holden Commodore. With a big, honkin' Chevy V8. http://www.gmfleet.com/government/police/2012-caprice-ppv-patrol-car.html
 
denverpilot said:
How high up the FAA food chain do you have to be to rate one of those GSA Chevy Suburbans?
Click to expand...
Don't know about the FAA, nor what the criteria are today. What I can tell you is that when my father worked for the FCC (pre-1978), getting use of the G-car depended on needing it for official business. Use of the car wasn't a perk of the job, it was part of the job. The car was an old Plymouth sedan, I don't recall the exact model, but it was loaded with receivers and DF equipment. Dad used it as a GS-11 when hunting down RFI sources, illegal Charlie Bakers, etc., not so much as a GS-12, and rarely as a GS-13 (by then he was EIC, a desk job, and field work was the province of the lower ranked engineers (now called agents)).

Things do seem to have changed, though again I don't know what kind of G-cars the FAA was using "back in the day".
 
SCCutler said:
(Chuckle). DPD called 'em "Matadogs."

Still, AMC cars tended to last forever.
Click to expand...

That's 'cause they never actually ran, they lasted forever because they never left the repair shop.... :D:D:D
 
Anthony said:
I also currently see a trend where local police departments are switching to large pickup trucks, and large SUV's. Guess they have a lot of money. :confused:
Click to expand...

We've had that around here since I was a kid, but it has more to do with snowstorms than anything else. There's even a few (mostly private) ambulance companies with 4WD, high ground clearance versions.

Most never take them off-road since the chances of running over the victim go up significantly when one is bouncing around in an off-road ambulance looking for them. Manpower and a litter is far safer to drag their broken butt to the waiting ambulance.
 
Anthony said:
I also currently see a trend where local police departments are switching to large pickup trucks, and large SUV's. Guess they have a lot of money. :confused:
Click to expand...

The police in Vail used to use Saabs. Not sure if they still do, it seems like they have more SUV type vehicles now (probably since Saab is gone).
 
Jefferson County Colorado Sheriff's department recently announced they were switching out cars to SUVs over a 3 year period, citing winter driving, etc ... and JeffCo is big...
 
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SCCutler said:
Chevrolet has their Australian-built police car, of which GM is obliged to buy a bunch from GMH (Holden, Australia), cars which were originally to have been built as Pontiac G8 sedans. Pretty good cars, based on the Holden Commodore. With a big, honkin' Chevy V8. http://www.gmfleet.com/government/police/2012-caprice-ppv-patrol-car.html
Click to expand...

They just started making deliveries on those earlier this year, as I said not that many on the road yet, with the end of the Crown Vic in 2011, the options to replace aged-out vehicles were slim for a while.

I hope GM sees the light and makes that vehicle available as a regular civilian version.
 
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gkainz said:
Jefferson County Colorado Sheriff's department recently announced they were switching out cars to SUVs over a 3 year period, citing winter driving, etc ... and JeffCo is big...
Click to expand...

Four wheel drive vehicles like that make a lot of sense in Colorado. I don't think there as necessary in urban/suburban areas without challenging climates. I'm not saying the police shouldn't have trucks and SUV's but as we keep being incentivized to drive smaller, hybrid cars, government gets to drive large, gas guzzlers that are becoming too expensive for many of us to own, and operate. Kinda like airplanes.
 
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weilke said:
They just started making deliveries on those earlier this year, as I said not that many on the road yet, with the end of the Crown Vic in 2011, the options to replace aged-out vehicles were slim for a while.

I hope GM sees the light and makes that vehicle available as a regular civilian version.
Click to expand...

Ford has new police cars based on the Taurus and the Explorer, the problem with ALL the new pursuit cars is the limited space. The old Crown Vic was a BIG car and a 6'2" 230 lb officer with a full gear and a vest fit comfortably in it, the new ones including the Fords, not so much.:mad2:
 
N747JB said:
Ford has new police cars based on the Taurus and the Explorer, the problem with ALL the new pursuit cars is the limited space. The old Crown Vic was a BIG car and a 6'2" 230 lb officer with a full gear and a vest fit comfortably in it, the new ones including the Fords, not so much.:mad2:
Click to expand...

That problem would solve itself if PDs required adherence to their hiring physical fitness standards throughout officers careers.

I had a crown-vic as a rental the other day to go and pick up my new car. Couldn't wait to get out of the thing, I had forgotten just how antiquated of a vehicle they are with doughy steering and poor handling.
 
denverpilot said:
I didn't mean to turn this into a anti-government-spending thread, although I certainly am usually the one to start such banter...

I honestly was wondering what GS level one has to be to garner a "company car" these days. Haven't seen many company cars in the private sector since about 1993 or so, maybe earlier?

Fleet trucks for smaller companies still seem to go home with folks, but larger companies seem to keep them in a yard, or use them for a mixture of shifts.

Maybe the Suburban is too nice for the job, or maybe they got them cheap when folks didn't want V8 guzzlers anymore.

(Heck, that's how I got mine...! I had a pick of the cream of the crop of used Yukons when I went hunting... six of them on a Ford lot... talk about leverage! I beat them down to a number I was happy with and they still sold it to me... it was almost a "Heck, I'll just see how low they'll go" kind of thing... then they hit the number... well, hell... I guess I'll buy it!)

Anyway... didn't know if any of the gub'mint folk knew who you have to kill and make sure the body isn't found in the lovely internal politics of most government jobs, to rate a Suburban. :)

Maybe he was the MFWIC for Denver... who knows? I didn't ask. LOL.
Click to expand...

Generally as a federal employee you get a G-car (or access to one) if your job requires a significant amount of travel by automobile. If you're an executive who requires security (think CIA, DOE, DOD, and other types) you get a car and security detail.

If you're "always on call or on duty", then you get issued a car. Otherwise, you have access to one from a pool.

Some examples.

Special agents are always on call when they're in a non-admin function - they get assigned a G-car (with radios, lights, sirens, etc). When they transfer to an HQ staff slot they give it up until they're back on the "street" again.

I can't speak for all FSDOs, but from what I've seen and heard I believe that the "on-call" guy/team has a G-vehicle 24-7 during his on-call period, and the rest of the time he drives his POV to work and can grab a pool-car as needed for transportation during the day if something comes up.
 
I get the lights and sirens types of vehicles.

I guess I've always had private sector jobs that required an operable POV for on-call duty. Reimbursed (ironically) at the government mileage use rate, if I even bothered with the paperwork.

The original question was whether it was based on a higher level staff perk or not. The answers seem to indicate, not.
 
wsuffa said:
One other factor: car manufacturers are discontinuing the old "police interceptor" vehicles - meaning that those larger cars are being supplanted by trucks.
Click to expand...

Having been involved in fleet decisions for law enforcement agencies, the slow reduction of rear-wheel-drive sedans caused some decisions like that.

A few years ago the Ford Crown Vic was backordered, and due to a delay many agencies weren't going to get what they ordered. The Chevy Caprice was gone, and the Charger had serious transmission issues the first few years.

Front wheel drive cars don't hold up in urban police use, and rural use often kills them as well. So the best choice was SUVs. Yes, the gas hurts, but the failure rates on alternatives required buying more vehicles to keep the required number available for street use.
Add in the longer lifespan, and the additional fuel cost of an SUV vanished pretty quick.

Now, with the new Caprice and the re-designed Charger, there are more options.

I had a G-truck, but mine was because I was on 24/7 emergency call and was called out about 30-40 times a year. A full-sized SUV was required for all-season response, and due to the 700 pounds of equipment in the back.
 
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