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Crime & Safety

Council Adds New Police Cars to Fleet

After the original dealer took too long to deliver cop cars, the Woodbridge council decided to go with a Delaware car dealer.


With the in need of new vehicles to replace aging cars in its fleet, the council killed a bid to lease eight new cars originally accepted four months ago and is set to approve a new one.

The approved a resolution Tuesday night to rescind another resolution adopted in February for the three-year lease of eight new Chevrolet Caprice police vehicles from Major Chevrolet, Inc. while moving to add a resolution to accept a new bid to a future meeting agenda.

"The other company couldn't deliver on our expectations," said Council President Gregg Ficarra of Major Chevrolet, who put in the winning low bid that was accepted in February.  "The original could not produce in a timely fashion, and we are in need of these things for the protection of the township."

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"We did a little bit further investigation, trial runs, [and so on]," added Ficarra. 

With the original company unable to deliver on their bid, a second public bidding took place and is set to go to resolution.  The new low bidder is Carmen Dodge of New Castle, Delaware, who will lease eight marked Dodge Charger police vehicles to the township.  

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The cost of the lease will be $897 more per car than the Chevrolet lease, according to Ficarra ($30,607 for the Chargers against $29,710 for the Caprises).

"The reason we had to rebid for the Dodge vehicle is because the Chevy dealer had three months to fulfill their obligation and delivery of the cars," said Ficarra.  "Four months after the deadline, the dealer advised that the cars weren’t even made yet and it was going to take another three months, so three months turned into eight months."

The Dodge dealer is set to deliver the new police vehicles ten days after the contract is signed, said Ficarra.

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