8 Top Tips To Spot An Undercover Police Car

02 Feb 2016

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

Don’t forget, The back end sits a lot lower as well, due to the amount of equipment in the back.

In South Africa if you get caught speeding you bribe, can even give them a happy meal and its all good…. Not saying its good but its better than spending a day in court

If your in the Glasgow area, the police are using silver Hyundai i30s and the reg always starts with ‘SF’.

ASX’s are getting popular too, especially just north of Glasgow (The old Strathclyde police areas). And there is also the bimmer 5 series that constantly patrol that 50 section of the M8 just before you hit the M74.

Another ‘undercover’ car to look out for….

The way to do it in Ireland is look for a beaten up old Mondeo with no hubcaps and on the centre brake light, it the middle element of it doesn’t light up when they brake, it’s a cop car since they put a blue flasher in there. They also put big bulky LED lights on the corners of the bumpers

Where I live in Sweden life is harder. Undercover cars will often have only the driver, but sometimes more. Many cars have extra lights behind the grill cause of the long dark winter. All cars are always dirty during the winter, as cops don’t bother clean them every day, they look like everyone else. Number 6 still applies, problem there is that quite a few undercover cars are Volvos, and so many normal people drive Volvos too, so there isn’t a stereotypical Volvo driver, really. I usually go by 6, 7 and if I overtake and they suddenly change their driving, or I’m driving unusually fast and a car starts approaching from the back, then I’ll slow down and keep my head down.

Germany: Volkswagen T5 or Passat.

For americans:
Always american make (except in nyc, they use priuses and Nissan Altimas):
Crown Victoria
Ford Taurus
Ford Explorer
Dodge Charger
Chevy Suburban/Tahoe
Chevy impala
Chevy SS/ american version of the Holden Commodore

Look for tinted windows, excess antennae, black wheels with chrome center hubcaps, small rectangles right behind windows or grills (lights), and A-pillar mounted spot lights