The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1915-04-23
SCAR SHOPPING OF THE PROPER
KIND

tended to that most important duty,
and pleasure. But be careful that
your shopping" does not degenerate
into that once laudable (and neces-
sary) Yankee habit of "dickering.'
The motor car industry has gained
too dignified and substantial position
to subject its products to the cheaper
ing and detrimental influences of
price cutting" but the decision of the
Supreme Court upholding the applica-
ton of the Sherman Antitrust law
in this respect, and the refusal of
Congress to consider remedial legisla-
| ton, has held the automobile manu-
facturers, agents and owners open to
the certain harm ensuing from this
practice.
There are not the fairy-tale-like for
tunes amassrd in the automobile in
dustry that many imaginative writer's
would have us believe. To be sure,
large fortunes have been made in this
business, but that is because the bust
ness itself is immense and has grown
| in decade to a position that has re-
quired the development of scores OF
years for other industries to reach.
! Profits decrease in proportion but in
crease i'll the aggregate with enlarged
production, and it is this quantity that
has made millionaires of many manu-
| facturers. Corresponding reduction
! in price, however, has always followed
increased production; keen COmpei-
| ton has seen to this. Therefore, the
profits of the distributor, sub-dealer
and manufacturer have borne about
| the same relation to the total cost OF
the car during the past several years.
| Among the majority Of reputable
car manufacturers the list price is the
price at which the car should be sold
| to give a fair profit to manufacturer
and distributor or dealer. The distrib-
utors commission, as a rule, is 20 per
cent, and he pays 20 per cent OF this
to his sub-dealers for cars that are
sold through their efforts. Such pro-
| fits are by no means excessive, ana
for all of these sales the dealer must
bear the expenses attendant upon Sc
curing the capital and running his es-
tablishment, including, of course, sal
aries of employees and labor neces-
sary for unloading and preparing cars
for the purchasers.
Unfortunately competition in many
communities has caused the dealer to
overlook the direction in which even
| his own best interests lie and has
tempted him to undersell his competi-
tor by splitting commissions. In
fact, conditions have become so bad
| in some towns that those ION the in
side" may purchase a new car for
price within $50 Tor per cent if it be
a $1,000 machine) of the price paid by
the dealer.
But you who are about to go shop
ping for your car heed not the lure OF
this split commission. The conditions
| imposed upon a dealer by reputable
manufacturer are, in many instances,
severe and entail the upkeep OF an
attractively furnished salesroom on
| the main street, and other expenses
that mean more than the mere repre-
sentation of the car Thus the dealer
of whom you buy your car at a great
ly reduced price may be a dealer for
that car but a short time longer, and
even the agency may be taken away
from your town. 1t is the dealer who
sells so inherently good car by such
business-like methods that he can OBJ
tain the full list price on its sale is
certain to be the leading automobile
representative in your town.
When you buy car you buy more
than an ingenious assemblage of
wheels, gears, springs, castings. forg-
ings, and upholstery; you buy the rep
utation of it's manufacturer for pro-
ducing an inherently good machine,
YOU buy his willingness to promise to
make good on all defective parts with
in a specified time, and, most import
ant of all, perhaps--if you pay the
full list price-you buy the moral obll-
CATION on the part of the dealer to as
sist you in certain respects as the dl-
rect factory representative Of the car
that you purchase. This question OF
service does not mean the wholesale
distribution of spare parts to replace
those broken through carelessness or
accident, but it does entail the will
ingness on the part OF the dealer to
assist with advice and the counsel
born of his experience now and then,
and with the convenience of a we'll
stocked spare parts room which many
manufacturers require their represen-
tativeS to keep for the convenience of
owners in that territory.
Therefore, if you "dicker" and final
ly secure a car at price dangerously
close to that which the agent must pay
for it, you are not only, hi this prar~
tice, lending your influence to the
growth of habit that is stabbing at
the vitals of the industry but you are
foregoing the right to this service,
to which you would otherwise be en-
titled You may have confidence in
your ability to operate car and in
your luck, which will keep it free from
need of repairs, but when the time
comes when YOU will need that little
advice known as service, you will find
either that the agent from whom you
bought the car has gone out of bust
ness and his successor knows you
not" or that you can expect to receive
but scant courtesy from the dealer
who scarcely realized enough from
your transaction to pay for the time
spent in making the sale. In fact,
positions will be reversed and you
will be under obligations to the dealer
rather than he to you.
Therefore, when your choice has
been narrowed down to three or four