OMAHA, Neb. --
To save money in these troubled economic times, the city of Omaha's fleet manager is using parts from wrecked cars to keep the fleet going.
Fleet Manager Marc McCoy said the city enacted a plan to keep police cruisers rolling after a crash.
He said if a cruiser is wrecked, and it's the other driver's fault, the city will get then insurance money, then buy the cruiser back for cheap.
"We'll pull the doors off of them; we will take the interior parts out of them -- the radios," McCoy said. "We can buy that car back for $1,000 and we get a low-mileage engine and transmission."
McCoy said the average $1,000-buyback car has about $10,000 worth of parts in it.
He said the city will pull everything it can from the vehicle before finally getting rid of it.
McCoy said the savings are needed more than ever, because Ford Crown Victoria cruisers are going out of production this year and parts will become more expensive.
The fleet management team also tries to salvage parts for other city vehicles when it can.
McCoy said he believes the effort saves the city tens of thousands of dollars per year.
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