The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1915-12-07
AUTOMOBILE TRADING
Look Out for the Dealer Who Takes
In Used Cars ut Fictitious Prices.

The marvelously rapid evolution Of
the automobile industry has brought
about condition that has Its dangers
to every buyer and ought to be gen.
orally recognized.
The average man today who comes
into the market for new car has an
old one to dispose of. When the trade
was young every sale was sale by
itself, with no strings to 1t, but nova
days the percentage of transactions In
which the dealer must handle used
car to sell new one Is nearly 100. In
fact, some dealers last year sold more
used cars than new ones, being COM
PEELED in numerous cases to dispose
of more than one used car to nego-
tiate new car sale.
This condition has paved the way for
some pretty desperate work by deal
ers in cars that are difficult to sell in
| fair competition, and has cost buyers
in general many hard-earned penny
because of their propensity to fall
| for specious inducements.
The dealer who cannot sell new
car by any other means always tries
to attract the buyer by offering high
price for his used car, and the buyer
who doesn't stop to think is very
| likely to take the bait, ignoring utter
lily the fact that used car values the
country over are today nearly as we'll
| established as the values of listed
bonds. Any car of standard make
has its secondhand price, variable by
a hundred dollars or SO, according to
/ condition or according to locality
(some cars have slightly better mar
kets at one place than at another),
but the actual difference between
(twhat one dealer in given center can
get for a used car and what another
in the same center can get for the
same car Is scarcely appreciable.
Therefore, the dealer who takes it in
at a fancy price is bound to lose
Imoney on it and thus give up some of
Ibis profit on the sale of the new car,
But do you think he does give up
This profit or any part of it? Not II he
knows it. It's as plain as two plus two
leQual four that you can't give away
profits and stay in business. II .'ou
cut prices you've got to get your loss
'back somehow or shut up shop. In
some cases that have recently been
much in the public eye the latter
NECESSITY has been forced on prOmi-
nent concerns that have permitted
this practice, but have failed to make
good their forfeited profits. Those
however, that allow it and keep on
going have to provide for it, and dc
I so systematically by giving the buyer
less for his money. The buyer often
walks right into the trap and flatters
himself on his ability as trader
when he turns in a car worth s. 00(
for $1,000, while the dealer who sells
Thin a new car priced at $4,000 ant
/, worth about $500, humbly takes his
; short end of the transaction ant
winks the other eye. The man who
, lpays $4,000 for this same car witt
Vno used car to trade in is still
heavier loser.
The moral of all this is: When yol
set out to buy new car find on
. lwhat your old car is worth, and steel
; Iclear of the dealer who offers yo,
half as much again for it. Depend OF
. 1 1t, the car he has to sell is not wortl
| what he asks for it, or if it is th'
manufacturer (who permits him thu
Ito cut prices and is probably helping
, Thin out) will soon be out of bust
/ Iness, leaving you with a car on you
! hands that has no backing, and cal
therefore hardly be given away whel
, lLyou get through with it,
The advice should be timely wit
:, the buying season just ahead
= From the Jersey Journal Jerse
City, N. J.), Feb. q, 1915.