The strange tender of the State Police: 38 thousand euros to rent 1 car! Cheaper to buy

Fiks Fare denounced a tender procedure, opened by the Centralized Purchasing Operator, to rent cars for the State Police.

A few days ago, this Operator opened a tender for the "renting of road vehicles" for the State Police. The fund of this tender is 450 million lek or if we convert it into euros, 4.5 million euros.

Fiks Fare reviewed the documents of this tender, which shows that the State Police will receive 60 SUV vehicles and 60 SEDAN vehicles. The SUV vehicles are a little high, semi-highway, while the SEDAN vehicles are low vehicles. So, in total, the State Police will receive 120 vehicles for rent.

The documents also include a clause of the type "preservation of professional image". The document states that "the rental of vehicles will be for a period of 4 years, meaning they will be purchased with zero kilometers and will be in the use of the lessee for 4 years with an average annual planning of 32,500 km per vehicle group or an average use of 130,000 km for 4 years per vehicle group". The state's reasoning is that this will enable efficiency and preservation of the institution's image".

The term for renting these vehicles is 4 years. This means that the vehicles will be used by the State Police for a period of 4 years, while after the end of this term, these vehicles will be sent to the firm that will be declared the winner of the tender.

The documents state that ownership remains with the concessionaire, who also deals with the vehicle registration, issuing license plates and taxes. It also deals with logging, routine services and installing GPS in the cars. "The cars, the documents state, do not appear as assets of the institution that rents them, since the owner of the vehicle remains the lessor! So, while the lessor remains the owner, the vehicles are returned to him at the end of the contractual term," the documents state.

Fiks Fare made a calculation of how much it will cost the state budget to rent a car for 4 years from the State Police. The documents specify that 60 "SEDAN" cars will be rented for the State Police.

The fund for this lot is 2,257,623 euros. If we do a simple calculation, it turns out that 1 SEDAN car will be rented for 4 years for 37,627 euros. Meanwhile, the fund for SUV cars for rent is 2,307,309 euros. The documents state that 60 SUV cars will be rented. With another simple calculation, it turns out that 1 SUV car will be rented for the value of 38,455 euros!

From the calculations made by the show Fiks Fare, it results that renting a vehicle for 4 years from the State Police is more expensive than purchasing these vehicles from the State Police.

Fiks Fare made an observation by going to car dealerships and asking how much a car with these parameters announced in the tender costs. Is it cheaper to buy it or is it cheaper to rent it?!

The journalists wrote to a car dealership, showing them the characteristics of the vehicles, which are in the tender documents. The employee informed them that they currently only have "SUV" cars.

They gave the Fiks Fare journalist a document, an offer with the car's data. In total, including VAT, the car costs 35,083 euros. The warranty is 5 years, with no mileage limit. Services are 1 year, 10 thousand kilometers.

Fiksi went to another car dealership, showing the employees the characteristics of the cars that the State Police is looking for. "This is the police tender! The police tender, which is for 120 pieces, you are not the first to come, others have also come, seeking offers. As it is here... (SEDAN car) can go somewhere around 30 thousand euros, while the SUV somewhere around 34-35 thousand euros" says the employee.

The price this employee gave is cheaper than the price the State Police will rent it for 4 years!

The journalists went to another company, where the journalist asked the employee for 10 cars to buy, with 0 kilometers. On the same day, he sends Fiks several offers and several variants. The price for 1 SEDAN car costs from 15 to 18 thousand euros.

So, about 20 thousand euros less than the price that the State Police will rent 1 car for 4 years. TCH