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US Army to Sell Used Humvees to Civilians after Years of Embargo, From $10,000

AM General’s High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) or better known as the Humvee is currently identified as US Army’s most popular war machine. It might have inspired the later civil-use Hummers, but petrol heads always dreamt they could own an actual four-wheel drive military truck. Even though selling military vehicles for civil use it’s quite controversial, the government will do it for the first time after 1999.
US Army to Sell Used Humvees after Years of Embargo 1 photo
Photo: www.hummerhuren.nl
It hasn’t been quite the best period for the US state police ever since the Ferguson incident took place. Several protests went on and footage showing people mistreated by police officers have been leaking online continuously. Meanwhile, thanks to the 1033 Program, excess military equipment is still being transferred to law enforcement agencies. This means local police forces, school district police and other acquire aircraft, tactical armored vehicles, weapons, including grenade launchers and watercrafts.

The program has been criticized over the years by local media, by the Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense in 2003 and the GAO which found waste, abuse and fraud. Like we previously mentioned, it was not until media coverage of militarized police during August 2014 Ferguson unrest that the program drew nationwide public attention. Even though president Barack Obama ordered a multi-agency review, he decided to keep the program.

498 Humvees were sold for civil use in 1999

Getting back to the Humvees the military has been using on battlefields such as Iraq and Afghanistan, it now turns out normal people can also get some. Like we said, last time the army did a similar auction was back in 1999. According to Military Vehicles Magazine, the previous year, the U.S. Marine Corps placed 748 Humvees into storage, in an attempt to run its procurement process as efficiently as possible. The vehicles were believed to be beyond the 12-year service life and were in need of new electronics. Rather than refurbishing them, the Corps decided to get rid of them.

Some were send to the New Zealand Army, some were “set aside for collectors” and 498 other were to be auctioned. Even though AM General could not get those who were already sold back, they did manage to stop further vehicles to be auctioned, considering they have clearly stated these military machines are not for civil use.

The 498 Humvees that did get to civil buyers came with receipts that were clearly marked as “Off-Road Only”, but how can anybody tell for sure if the warning was fully respected.

However, AM General increased its efforts to suppress sales of surplus HMMWVs and few vehicles have entered private hand ever since.

People can bid online for the Humvees

That is about to change now as the DLA (which reads Disposition Logistics Agency, the group currently supervising the release of surplus military material) decided to start selling some of the military cars.

GovPlanet, the marketplace for buying and selling used government assets, has a few exciting additions to its December 17 auction. Buyers can now view and bid on used Humvees ahead of the live online auction,” IronPlanet, who took over the sales of surplus rolling stock, wrote in a statement. According to them, each item on the website is listed with a guaranteed inspection report which details the condition and features.

Prices start at $10,000 and the current collection of around 23 vehicles includes cargo and troop carriers with models dating from 1987 to 1994.
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