Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-03-08
TWO SIDES TO THE
OLD CAR PROBLEM
Owners as Well as Dealers
Sometime Suffer in
Transaction.

The problem Of the used ear is con
tinually harassing the dealers in ears.
More than half the cars sold go 10 per-
sons who are already the owners Of
cars, and these invariably find the in
trnsic and sentimental value of the
old cars high when a trade is sug-
gested. The dealer, no matter how
many new cars he can sell, can not
show profits if he loads up his garage
floor space with archaic junk for
which there is no market.
Dealers maintain that the deprecia
ton on motor cars Is rapid A new
car, if driven but five hundred miles
and no matter how good its condition,
just for the reason that it has been
driven, becomes a second hand ma
chine. AS one dealer has expressed it,
the success of some owners of second
hand cars is unloading their junk on
the dealers in exchange for new
demonstrates that they are better
statesmen than the dealers.
1t is questionable if this dcprecla-
ton is real. To many it appears TO
be fictitious. The years 1909 to 1914
Witnessed rapid and radical changes in
car construction. Marked body altera-
lions and the addition of refinements
and accessories were noted each year
Finally motor cars became largely
standardized and some well-known
manufacturers are even boasting that
there should be no yearly changes OF
Importance
a few persons win continue to buy
cars for a single season. but most pur-
;hasers want machines that will give
20 -Gf
such machines there is no reason why
many hundreds of dollars should be
marked off their value as soon as the
runningg gear becomes a little muddy
on the other hand, cars that have
seen long service and given their
owner his moneys worth, may be eX-
pected to go directly to the junk pile.
The motor car is no longer a plaything
or luxury. The industry has become
established and buying and selling
methods have changed for the better
1t is up TO the dealers to get together
and standardize the value Of the used
car for their mutual protection. while
some sales of new cars will be lost.
the garages will not be Uttered up with
unsightly and unstable junk
Motor Age states that dealers in De-
Catur, H., believe that the most ef-
fective method of convincing the
owner of Il used car of its actual
value, is to induce him to attend an
auction sale of this class. Finding It
difficult to satisfy partons who wish
TO purchase new cars and turn in their
old, and who place an unreasonably
high valuation on the latter, the De
catur dealers determined to get rid
of all of the second hand cars on hand
at public sale, all to be sold re-
gardless of the size of the bids.
Cars on the Block.
This sale took place recently and
demonstrated to the owners of old
models just what their machines were
actually worth when placed upon the
market. 1t is said by dealers thruout
the country that they are the losers in
the long run, because of too liberal
allowances made on second hand cars
in trades for new models, and some
have reached the point where they
will not take a used car in exchange
on the sale of Il new car.
At the Decatur sale sc cars were
placed upon the block. There was a
large crowd out and bidding was
active, yet the average price realized
was but S163 each. Many of the cars,