Moline Uses Web to Get Top Dollar for City Surplus
MOLINE, IL – Moline City Fleet Manager J.D. Schulte used an Internet auction to sell off back seat cages used in city police cars.
MOLINE, IL – Moline City Fleet Manager J.D. Schulte used an Internet auction to sell off back seat cages used in city police cars, according to the Quad-City Times. The buyer was a cab company located near Death Valley National Park in Southern California. The old cages weren’t needed anymore because the Moline department’s new Ford Crown Victorias came with their own security cages. The cages sold for $50 each, much more than the $16 a piece he would have received for scrapping the equipment. Based on the success of the e-auction, Schulte tried e-auctions for other equipment ready to be scrapped or sold at traditional auction. An old plastic tool box sold for $16.41. A nine-year-old John Deere Gator with more than 4,000 hours, which was bought new for $5,000, sold on the Internet for $3,600. Homeland Security cash provided Quad-City police with a new mobile command center, so Schulte was ordered to get rid of the old one. So he turned it over to AuctionSolved, a Moline company that markets through eBay. Soon a bus and limo transportation company placed a bid for $4,494. Schulte expected it might generate less than $2,000.
More Operations

Hazard Alerts, Fleet Car Sales Rise and a New Shuttle Concept
Fleet car sales doubled, but the bigger picture tells a different story in this week’s roundup.
Read More →
How St. Johns County Turned Fleet Data Into Better Replacement Decisions
St. Johns County, Florida, had fleet data, but turning it into reliable decision guidance was another matter. Instead of starting over with a new fleet management system, the county connected existing tools and built a scoring system that gives managers an objective look at fleet health.
Read More →
Fleet Forward Conference Introduces One-Day Passes for 2026
New one-day registration lets fleet professionals attend Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, with passes available for $249.
Read More →
ENC Unveils its ZAVIR Medium-Duty Shuttle
Two variants of the concept shuttles were revealed: a low-floor configuration and a high-floor configuration.
Read More →
Could Your Next Fleet Technician Start as an Intern?
What if your next technician hasn’t worked in a fleet shop yet? What fleets are doing to free up time.
Read More →
How Phoenix Is Building Its Next Generation of Fleet Technicians
With more than 8,000 vehicles and pieces of equipment to maintain, the City of Phoenix could not afford to wait for fully trained technicians to walk through the door. Instead, they revamped their entire workforce strategy and showed how public fleets can create their own talent pipeline while preparing existing employees for increasingly complex vehicles.
Read More →
What’s Slowing Your Fleet Down?
Could a change in how work gets done help your fleet return vehicles to service sooner?
Read More →
Can Public Fleets Trust the Data Driving Their Decisions?
Public fleets have more data than ever, but inconsistent records and missing information can still undermine maintenance, replacement, and cost decisions.
Read More →
John Deere Introduces 40 P-Tier Compact Excavator
John Deere is adding a compact excavator designed for crews that need to move equipment between jobsites and handle multiple types of work with one machine. The 40 P-Tier weighs less than 10,000 pounds and offers configurable hydraulics, attachment options, and connected fleet-management capabilities.
Read More →
How Leading Fleets Improve and Why Business Plans Matter
This week, we look at what past Leading Fleet winners can teach us about making progress, plus how to build a business plan your fleet will actually use.
Read More →

