$12k for a used cop car? Is that typical or do the Chargers fetch more?
I gave $17k for mine, but its just now three years old and only has 33k original miles (29k when I bought it). I'm sure a car that was in service for four years with 100k miles or over and considerably more wear and tear won't go for nearly as much. Chargers do seem to fetch a little more than their Ford or Chevrolet counterparts, and there seems to be a considerably more limited supply of them out there on the market. With the typical service life being approximately four years, however, the first 2006 Chargers are now coming out of service. This may drive the supply up and the price down.
A little maintenance update also; the brakes were slightly pulsing since I bought the car back in April. At first I thought it was just rusting on the rotors because it would get worse after the car sat after being washed. Then the screeching started, and it sure sounded like wear indicators to me. Last week I installed new pads and rotors on all four wheels. I used the best parts I could get; severe duty pads and ultra premium rotors all the way around. Easiest brake job I've ever done, and now the brakes are like new. I was a little puzzled however, as the pads I removed seemed to have a good amount of wear left in them. I can't tell if the old rotors are warped or not, but they don't appear to be severely damaged and look like they could be machined, although I haven't yet put the calipers on them to measure. I kept the stuff for spares just in case.
The car also had a set of well-worn Toyo Tourevo H-rated luxury touring tires on it when I bought it. They were all down to the wear indicators, sucked for driving in the rain, and there was significant shoulder wear on the fronts, especially the left front. I had a set of the original equipment Continental ContiProContact P225/60R18 V-rated tires mounted this week. The tire shop said that the tie rod ends were shot, which was causing the shoulder wear. They said it is a problem for Dodges. Later that day, I put on some new tie rod ends and had an alignment done the next day. Everything seems to be worked out now. So far, the jobs I've done on this car have been easy, but parts are
not cheap!