The Washington herald., 1916-04-09
Dealers REDUCE
MOTOR SERVICE
Cutting Out Plan Of Fixing
Cars Whenever Owner
Wants Repairs.
STATIONS ARE COSTLY
Free Service Graft May Be Done
Away with Entirely Within
Short Time.
BY "sI'' GRoGAN.

Where service begins and where it
ends Is the big problem In the automo-
BILE business today. With the sale Of
every car, the owner has a right to ex-
pect that he viii be given some atten-
ton BY the man who sold him the ma
chine. How much OF this attention
shall be gratuitous?" Is the unsolved
problem.
Service stations in the early days Of
the business were unknown. A man
bought his car and II, after It was two
days old, something went wrong with It
and he brought Il back to have the
trouble remedied, he was given a bill for
the work done. This bill he paid with
out complaint. As the industry grew
and competition became keener, each
dealer and each factory endeavored TO
bring forward something new that could
be used as an argument to clinch the
sale Of a machine.
II was realized that the best and
strongest argument that could be brought
forward to sell a machine after the
points of car construction had been gone
over was the promise that, in time of
trouble, the agency would look after the
owner. 1t was to him a form Of in
suranee that any time his motor failed
TO respond to the throttle or developed
other trouble. it would be remedied.
Encouraged Repairs.
It was realized. also. that brand new
cars. after being run a few hundred
miles, needed a little tuning-up to put
them in first-class shape. The valves,
during this initial running. had had time
to seat themselves properly and the oil
an opportunity to work up, in. and
around the pistons and rings.
The owner was encouraged to bring the
car In and have this work done by fac
tory experts. men who were in charge of
the service station and specialists on the
particular make of car For this work no
bill was rendered. 1t was done as a mat
ter Of courtesy, and the cost of II
charged to advertising. Likewise, the
owner was encouraged to bring his ma
chine around any time there was any
thing wrong with it II the trouble was
Of minor nature and could be remedied
in a few minutes, 1t was done willingly.
The idea of this was to keep the man
familiar with the agency, so that when
he contemplated purchasing a second ma
chine it would get FIRST chance to make
the sale. Also. it was considered good
advertising to have the car owner tell
his friends what service he received. One
by one the dealers began increasing this
free service without charge. Motorists
were not long in taking advantage Of this
generous offer.
Many strenuously Object.
The pendulum has swung the other way
now. and the dealer is figuring how he
can eliminate good portion Of the free
service that he is called upon to render
1t has become very expensive item.
and the profits in the sale Of cars do
not warrant this unnecessary overhead
charge.
There are some owners who seem TO
Imagine. once they purchase a car of
any particular make, that 1t gives them
a first mortgage on the dealers time
as long as they own the car. They bring
1t in when anything is wrong. The length
OF time they have had the car makes no
difference, the car is brought in just the
same. II a bill Is rendered for the work
done, they strenously object and use
much valuable time in endeavoring to
prove that the fault lies entirely with the
car. Some go even as far as to demand
that broken parts be replaced free Of
charge. II the parts are defective, the
dealer is more than willing to adjust the
matter, but when the fault Is caused by
carelessness in operation, due either to
improper fabrication or accident, they
cannot be held responsible.
Some owners are so unreasonable as to
ask that the work on their machines be
done on Sunday. They claim that they
cannot spare the car during the week.
In expecting that the work be done on
a holiday they manifest a selfish spirit.
Do not the shop men want their day
Of rest as well as everybody else and are
they not entitled to It?
As It Is, the dealer and all his help put
in more hours per day than do men in
any other line. They are on the job
early and late Some car representatives
have adopted the rule Of keeping the
shop open from a. m. until p. m, and
no longer under any circumstances.
What work can be accomplished between
those hours Is done and the rest must
wait over until another day. It Is a
good rule.
Charge for Extra Work.
To overcome the free service graft, for
that Is about what a great deal OF the
gratis work amounts to, number of
manufacturers have adopted the plan Of
giving book OF tickets with the sale of
each car. Each ticket entities the pos
SCISSOR to so many minutes free labor, no
matter OF what kind
When the tickets are used up, all work
Is charged for at the regular shop rates.
This plan seems to be working out suc-
cessfully.
other dealers at the time Of making
the sale tell the purchaser that no part
OF the price that ha has paid for the
machine Is to be charged up as service
II at any time he wants any service they
have q service station In connection with
their saIesroom and will be glad to look
after his wants.
They go on to explain that It is en-