8 Top Tips To Spot An Undercover Police Car

Updated: 01 Feb 2021

We have a hidden ‘enemy’ on the roads in the UK and it seems to be getting worse and worse. I am constantly surprised by the variety of undercover police cars there are on the streets. For anyone who doesn’t know, an undercover police car is literally a police car without any features which openly show it is a police car rather than just a fellow road user.

In this blog post I will try and give you some great tips to spot one (I am not saying speeding is ok, of course the best way to avoid undercover police is by following all the rules and regulations of the road).

1) Police car list

The first and most useful tip is a quick list of the most popular ‘undercover’ police cars out there on the UK streets
-Skoda Octavia VRS’s or standard
-Any Volvo
-BMW 3,5, X5s
-Hyundai Ix35
-Audi A3,A4, A6, Q5
-Jaguar XF

(These are the main culprits but of course some different areas have different cars…I know that London has E class Mercs, Mini Coopers)

2) Clean cars

Police tend to have to keep their cars spotless, again this is not fool proof because police can do a lot of miles in a day to get their car mucky again but it’s good to keep an eye out for strangely clean but normal looking cars.

3) Normal Number plates

If the car you’re suspicious of has a personalised number plate, ignore it because police won’t have the budget or the need to change their number plates.

4) 2 people in the car

Undercover police officers rarely travel alone, therefore if the car in question has 2 people in it, it should automatically go up in suspicion.

5) Strange grey panels by the headrests or in the front grill

Now these could easily be mistaken for anti crash technology panels in the grill but they are usually glossy. If you see matt grey panels these are probably police lights! Spot these = Slow down

6) Driving stereotypes

This is the way I trust most. Is the driver driving like the type of person who buys that car? Ok that might have made no sense. For example is the Audi driver tailgating? Or is the BMW going fast and weaving between traffic? If the BMW or Audi is hovering on the slow lane following road rules and regulations then they are far more likely to be an undercover chariot, again like the other rules this is of course not absolute but it should raise your eyebrows. (These are of course stereotypes)

7) A busy dash or bright interior lights

These are a great police car warning because police need all sorts of interior computers which will naturally emit a lot of light in the night. And in the day it will be easier to see black equipment hanging below the rear view mirror or peaking over the dash.

In London it seems police can have whatever car they want as their undercover but then again it’s impossible to speed or do anything in London anyways because of all the cameras!

This content was originally posted by a Car Throttle user on our Community platform and was not commissioned or created by the CT editorial team.

Comments

May seem obvious but they also only drive 4/5 door cars.. If you can see its a 3dr A3 or a 3-series coupe you put your foot down again

Think in Essex they have a few Audi S3 3dr so I’m very careful with them but yeah mostly thats a good point

Spain version is more assholeish…

I don’t even know why did I read this….

I think where I live just a late model (only certain types of cars), stock, mid-spec car that is a dark colour and has two people in the front and if you can spot them the small light bars in the front and rear windscreen is more than enough to know it is a undercover cop.

Took me about ten minutes to read this, mostly because I was just staring at the fine behind of that Vanquish in picture 3.

Yeah I know what you mean! Those in my opinion were the best looking and sounding Astons there have ever been except from the DBR9

“any volvo as long as it’s a V70”

V50s are very common and I see the occasional V40

Or you could… you know… drive sensibly? Then you wouldn’t have to worry about undercover police cars

As a petrol head (if you are?) don’t tell me that you never just put your foot down now and again and pop over the speed limit on the motorways now and again…?

Finally someone with some sense.
I thought I was the only one reading these comments and thinking, wow, this article makes the whole community look like speeders and dangerous drivers. And the comments confirm!

Yes, I like cars, no, I don’t really speed.

This is a bit more difficult to spot, but in the US, there will usually be special markings on the license plate indicating a police or government vehicle. In Colorado for example, there is “GVT” written vertically on the side of the plate.

Yeah I think I watched a video where that was mentioned but apparently some in America don’t actually even do that. They have undercover undercovers haha