More government savings: bird scaring cars

[hoopsaa]

I think it's really important that the DOI takes it's green commitments seriously.

Especially when it involves vehicles doing a couple of miles a day at an airport. A fucking airport.

Meanwhile, we've got planes circling above us because they're not allowed to land 🤔

[Numbnuts]

This is just wrong , anyway you look. And two compounds the issue. Why two. Ohhh yes because one might break during there 10 miles maximum a day .Im being generous !! . And then you have Cannan saying that Manx Care needs to put its house in order with regards overspends . Ohhh look , there an arms length operation . What the hell about DOI. There out of control totally and that Mr Chief Minister is down to you and your fellow MHK’s . One vehicle would have sufficed and at half the cost maximum and no need for it being electric just a functional one that can do the job.  This Electric vehicle nonsense needs addressed as the exorbitant cost to arrive at a vehicle on the road makes a mockery of these sustainable issues that lots are shouting about. Ohhhhh Steam train comes to mind …That’s okay then with the special coal that doesn’t smoke so much. Yeah right . It’s a disgrace that this has been allowed to go through. DOI have a lot to answer for. 

Edited Friday at 08:34 PM by Numbnuts

[andrew]

18 hours ago, A fool and his money..... said:

I'm not disagreeing with you, I know exactly what you mean - just fail to see the justification for the DOI to plead commercial sensitivity. Volvo might not like it, but they can either lump it or sell them to someone else.

DoI have a large Fleet Services team which buys all sorts of vehicles from cars to lorries for the majority of Govt Departments. They will have built up decent relationships with various manufacturers and bid them against each other for different vehicles that Govt Dept have requested.

Manufacturers will offer vehicles at basically cost price so they are seen out and about - which then encourages members of the public to go out and buy one - at a lot higher price than Govt paid.

They will probably also have something like a Master Services Agreement with a manufacturer which would most likely have a confidentiality clause in it forbidding Govt from releasing how cheap the vehicles are bought for without the Manufacturers permission - something they wouldn't normally give.

[Two-lane]

49 minutes ago, andrew said:

Manufacturers will offer vehicles at basically cost price so they are seen out and about - which then encourages members of the public to go out and buy one - at a lot higher price than Govt paid.

So I might get a glimpse in the far distance of a Volvo XC40 Recharge on the far side of the airfield, and then feel an irrepressible urge to buy one because the gov. thinks they are good.

If the gov. can get expensive cars at cost price, is there any possibility that they can alternatively get a cheap car at cost price - and cheaper servicing?

[Non-Believer]

55 minutes ago, andrew said:

DoI have a large Fleet Services team which buys all sorts of vehicles from cars to lorries for the majority of Govt Departments. They will have built up decent relationships with various manufacturers and bid them against each other for different vehicles that Govt Dept have requested.

Manufacturers will offer vehicles at basically cost price so they are seen out and about - which then encourages members of the public to go out and buy one - at a lot higher price than Govt paid.

They will probably also have something like a Master Services Agreement with a manufacturer which would most likely have a confidentiality clause in it forbidding Govt from releasing how cheap the vehicles are bought for without the Manufacturers permission - something they wouldn't normally give.

All well and good. But it doesn't explain why we need Volvo XC40s when we could have done it with cheaper SUVs or working pick-ups from other manufacturers (that DOI presumably have similar arrangements with. DOI already have plenty of Nissan 4wds as working vehicles for instance).

Edited Friday at 03:42 PM by Non-Believer

[Alanbellend]

2 hours ago, Numbnuts said:

This Electric vehicle nonsense needs addressed as the exorbitant cost to arrive at a vehicle on the road makes a mockery of these sustainable issues that lots are shouting about. Ohhhhh Steam train comes to mind …That’s okay then with the special coal that doesn’t smoke so much. Yeah right . It’s a disgrace that this has been allowed to go through. DOI have a lot to answer for. 

The DOI have a load of brand new EV vans parked up at Ellerslie. They are never used as they don’t have enough range to easily use day to day for jobs and apparently nobody thinks it’s their job to plug them in and charge them overnight either. So they just sit there unused while they do all the work in diesel vans. Another couple of hundred grand wasted.

These Volvos simply weren’t needed and shouldn’t have been bought which is presumably why they’re hiding behind commercial sensitivity to not answer an FOI which might reveal just how much was wasted. I hope one goes on fire and burns a big deep lithium hole in a runway. 

[A fool and his money.....]

2 hours ago, andrew said:

DoI have a large Fleet Services team which buys all sorts of vehicles from cars to lorries for the majority of Govt Departments. They will have built up decent relationships with various manufacturers and bid them against each other for different vehicles that Govt Dept have requested.

Manufacturers will offer vehicles at basically cost price so they are seen out and about - which then encourages members of the public to go out and buy one - at a lot higher price than Govt paid.

They will probably also have something like a Master Services Agreement with a manufacturer which would most likely have a confidentiality clause in it forbidding Govt from releasing how cheap the vehicles are bought for without the Manufacturers permission - something they wouldn't normally give.

Pick any division of any government department, literally any one. Look at their purchasing, look at what they pay for things.

You will find an inefficient, often bordering on corrupt, use of public money.

Recent history is completely littered with examples, they're everywhere. Anyone who's ever had anything to do with government purchasing will tell you.

And yet you expect us to believe, that one solitary division of one solitary department within government is so efficient, so on the ball, and sufficiently motivated to persuade global vehicle manufacturers, and presumably their local notoriously greedy dealership, to provide copious quantities of high end vehicles at cost price on the off chance someone else on the island may decide to buy one.

I for one find that very difficult to believe, especially as these fantastic deals are shrouded in secrecy. 

I very much doubt this secrecy is in the public interest. Truth is we'll never know, we simply have to trust the government to spend our money wisely. How's that going for us?

[Happier diner]

1 hour ago, Alanbellend said:

presumably why they’re hiding behind commercial sensitivity to not answer an FOI which might reveal just how much was wasted

Make an FOI and find out. Then let us know the outcome. 👍

[Jetfour]

I might well agree with your strongly asserted allegations if you could supply some verifiable facts and figures?
No?

I thought not.

You might well be right. Such things happen all the time. But your readers deserve a bit of back-up information. Past history may well suggest current behaviour, but that isn’ t evidence.

[Max Power]

On 9/12/2024 at 4:59 AM, Alanbellend said:

Here we seem to have another example of “cost savings” in these austere time when government apparently can’t afford anything

https://www.three.fm/news/isle-of-man-news/doi-wont-reveal-how-much-ronaldsways-bird-scaring-cars-cost/

Looking at the Volvo XC 40 Recharge the main “con” that appears on motoring sites is it’s actual COST.

https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2024-volvo-xc40-recharge-single-motor-extended-range-ultimate-first-test-review/

https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/volvo/ex40

So we have bought two vastly expensive brand new EVs and now won’t say how much the taxpayer paid for them just to scare birds at Ronaldsway! Were these replacement cars or have we suddenly had to make up a bird scare problem to justify these completely unneeded purchases? 

 

On 9/12/2024 at 6:50 AM, John Wright said:

But, if they want a 4x4, reliable, rugged, they could get a top of the range Dacia Duster for about £20,000 each after knocking off the VAT. They’d also do for most police work.

But, no, pay another £20k, each after discount, because it’s not our money and we’ve got to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets.

The truth is the vehicles won’t rack up enough miles for the fuel choice to make one jot of difference. It’s this sort of profligacy that cripples public service, this and the endless arse covering meetings and evidencing of decision making, that takes people away from actually delivering.

I think you'd be surprised at the discounts available John, a couple of Dacias would be worth nothing when they try to get rid. The Volvo's will be more reliable, cost less to run etc. EVs are just not moving from dealers and manufacturers are in a panic to move them on. I think they are purchased under an MoD deal, which means massive discounts anyway? As Derek says, Volvo won't want to release details of deals as it will mess up their retail appeal.

[TheTeapot]

How long are they supposed to last?

[WTF]

9 minutes ago, TheTeapot said:

How long are they supposed to last?

once airport staff get hold of them, not very.

[Fred the shred]

I doubt anyone is practically giving away cars an old banger would do the job just fine.     If it was their own money they were spending this would be what they would  use.

[hoopsaa]

They probably won't be used anyway, as they'll find there's no-one at the airport qualified to drive one, and no room in the budget to train anyone to. 

[Amadeus]

19 minutes ago, hoopsaa said:

They probably won't be used anyway, as they'll find there's no-one at the airport qualified to drive one, and no room in the budget to train anyone to. 

They will just offer AI courses instead. For the birds.