Civic leaders across Courier Country have been urged to dispense with chauffeur-driven luxury for the benefit of residents.
TaxpayerScotland said it was ”astonishing hypocrisy” for the regions’ provosts and lord provosts to travel in such style during a time of nationwide austerity.
The independent campaign group has called for the vehicles to be retired and the money to instead be pumped into services.
The criticism comes as Dundee City Council agreed to provide Lord Provost Bob Duncan with a new Jaguar XF to act as his official limousine, TS1.
The vehicle will cost almost £28,000 over the next five years and will be joined by a new Volkswagen Caravelle people carrier, at a similar cost.
Each vehicle will be driven by a chauffeur and those outlays have been described as an extravagance by Taxpayer Scotland.
The group’s Robert Oxley told The Courier: ”It is astonishing hypocrisy to travel in a luxury chauffeur driven car while the council has to cut spending elsewhere.
”Local residents will be left wondering why their council tax is being used to lease even more vehicles for those at the top of the local authority.
”Ending a perk like this is a quick and easy saving that won’t affect frontline services and the council should jump at the chance to save the money.”
Perth and Kinross, Angus and Fife Councils all operate a single chauffeur-driven civic car, though the duties are carried out by council officers at no extra cost.
The former’s vehicle was purchased by the council in 2007 and is ”providing good value for money”, according to a spokesman.
In the past the local authorities have also come under fire for a refusal to cash-in on the rare and valuable registration plates that adorn their vehicles.
Both Dundee’s TS1 plate and Perth’s ES1 plate have been valued in the region of £150,000, only for civic leaders to claim that selling them would be like ”selling a piece of the city’s history”.
The issue of Dundee’s civic vehicles resulted in a stormy meeting of the council on Monday evening, during which it was put to elected members that they should embrace travel by bus.
Councillors had been asked to approve replacing the current TS1, a Volkswagen Phaeton, with a Jaguar XF and the second civic vehicle, a Volvo S80, for a people carrier.
It is understood the move will save the council almost £1,500 a year in leasing costs, when compared to a like-for-like replacement.
Opposition councillors, led by Conservative Derek Scott, representative for Broughty Ferry, have questioned the need for a second civic vehicle, however.
Labour member Brian Gordon agreed and said council leaders should make greater use of public transport, as he highlighted the quality of the city’s bus service.
It was put to the meeting that scrapping plans to replace the second vehicle could offer savings of more than £6,000 a year but that proposal was rejected.
A second amendment, to record the mileage racked up by councillors and officials in civic cars, was also voted down.
In response to Taxpayer Scotland, a Dundee City Council spokesman said: ”The replacement of leased civic vehicles, which was agreed by the policy and resources committee, represents a saving to the council.”
Perth and Kinross Council, meanwhile, said it would use the current ES1 ”for as long as possible” and that consideration of a replacement would only take place when it became ”uneconomical to run”.