After a Nov. 28 car accident totaled the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Department's 1996 Chevrolet Suburban utility vehicle, Capt. Doug Simpkins said he hoped Santa Claus would bring a new one to the station on Southwestern Boulevard for Christmas.

The white 2011 Suburban finally arrived in the middle of August.

"This department needed an additional emergency response vehicle to take care of the community," Simpkins said. "It's exactly what we wanted."

But the vehicle is still not ready to be put into service.

That can't happen until its emergency lights are installed, which won't be for at least another week.

Simpkins shopped around for prices to install lighting systems and was quoted more than $9,000, he said.

After getting a $5,000 estimate from an acquaintance in Georgia, he said he made plans to make the nine-hour drive south.

He hopes to have the lights installed Sept. 15 and return Sept. 18 with a vehicle just about ready to roll.

"I'm very excited to get this thing up and going," he said.

The finishing touches will come a few days later when the appropriate decals are applied, which Simpkins estimated would cost less than $3,000.

"We're getting a real good deal here. We're budget conscious," Simpkins said. "We just want the people of the community to know that we're here to give them top notch service.

"At the same time, we're watching our pennies and our nickels just like everybody else has to."

The nine-month wait for the vehicle was the result of the department choosing to join the county's bid process in order to get the best price, Simpkins said.

With accessories such as a tow hitch and a stronger suspension necessities for the department, Simpkins said he would have spent more than $35,000 had he purchased the vehicle directly from a dealership.

By joining the bid process, Simpkins said his company saved $10,869.

The county's bidding process compares offers from various automobile dealerships to find the lowest bid.

Simpkins said that while no accident is a good thing, the department was fortunate last fall's incident involved its 15-year-old utility vehicle and not one of its younger models, like the utility vehicle purchased in 2008.

"That one had over 100,000 miles on it and that's 100,000 hard miles," Simpkins said. "It's not like John Q. Public who gets in his car and takes a Sunday drive or a trip to the ocean.

"We run what we call hot to an emergency and put a lot of wear and tear on it."

In addition to responding to emergency calls, Simpkins noted that many of the department's 225 volunteers use the utility vehicle to learn new techniques and procedures by attending classes around Baltimore County.

Approximately two dozen volunteers had signed up for such classes through the middle of January, according to a list at the station Sept. 7.

The department is now considering replacing its 10-year-old ambulance within a year. The ambulance has nearly 100,000 miles on it and is the oldest vehicle in its fleet, Simpkins said.