AutoBid

AutoBid® is designed to help police fleet administrators select the patrol vehicle that is best suited to the needs of their department. The system is based on vehicle performance test data for police patrol package models published annually by the Michigan State Police. The current version of AutoBid uses data from the 2008 model year patrol vehicle evaluations.

AutoBid offers two alternative methods for selecting the best patrol vehicle: (1) Ranking by Scores and (2) Ranking by Bid and Scores. The first method considers only the performance test scores (ignoring bids). It ranks all the vehicles by their scores and identifies which vehicle has the best overall performance independent of cost. The second method considers both vehicle cost and performance scores. It ranks the vehicles by the bid price adjusted for performance to identify which vehicle is the "Best Buy" in terms of the lowest cost for equivalent test performance. Either or both of these methods may be used for a given fleet acquisition decision.

Ranking by Scores is particularly helpful when evaluating vehicles before a request for bids has been prepared and there is little or no information on the cost of the candidate vehicles. The results of this initial performance analysis could be used to determine which model vehicles warrant a request for bids. Ranking by Bid and Scores is best used once the actual bids have been received and a determination of the winning bid must be made.

Install AutoBid

AutoBid is available as an application for the Windows operating system. To install AutoBid, first download install.exe (7.8 MB) to a folder on your computer. Next, run the install.exe file. The installation program allows you to choose where you want AutoBid installed on your computer.

Download AutoBid Data File

Once AutoBid is installed, you will need to download the data from the 2008 model year testing conducted by the Michigan State Police. Save this file to the same location where you installed the AutoBid program. Right-click on the link to download the AutoBidData.dat file.

Next year the AutoBidData.dat file will be updated with the 2009 model year testing data. If you have installed AutoBid this year, you will only need to download the new AutoBidData.dat file next year.

Last updated: February 20, 2008