The New York herald., 1921-02-06
BEWARE OF PRICE
CUTTING TIRE MAN
Many Dealers in Rebuilt Tires
and "Seconds" Frauds,
Say Ad Clubs.

Practices employed by cut-price
dealers in the marketing of rebuilt tires
and factory seconds have long de-
ceived the buying public. injured the
tire industry, and thrown many honest
dealers into Ill repute," states a report
from the Associated Advertising Clubs.
commenting upon a bulletin which was
issued after an exhaustive study Of the
situation by its National Vigilance
Committee.
"Unscrupulous dealers Intentionally
leave out of their advertising the facts
which would correctly inform the pub
lie Of the true character of the tires
which they offer for sale" the Vigilance
Committee states. while the tires are
legitimate products within themselves
and fill a real need, yet the misrepre-
sentations under which they are sold
constitute serious menace"
The committee of the Advertising
Clubs holds that two classes of tires.
rebuilt or reconstructed tires and fac
tory seconds particularly give rise to
Misrepresentation. 1t states: 'Unre-
liable dealers commonly call rebuilt
tires double treads," yet few readers
know that Instead OF meaning an extra
thickness of tread, which the name I'M
plies, it is in reality q second 5hand tire.
remade by cutting old, worn castings s&sd
sewing together the less worn. parts
"It is untruthfully claimed that these
tires are free from punctures or rim
cuts, and to heighten the impression
that these are unusually safe, a reliner.
supposed to prevent blowouts. is given
away free with each tire. A reliner.
however, is false security because de-
pendable tires do not need them and
they only mean increased fabric (which
produces friction and friction causes
blowouts.
can tires which are defective In
workmanship or materials are rejected
by some manufacturers and called sec
onds.' These do not carry the manu-
facturer's guarantee and are disposed of
through dealers handling that class of
goods. The very fact that they have
been rejected makes them unfit to be
sold in competition with first class
stock, unless the buyer Is fully informed
Of the exact character OF the product
which he is getting. i.
Guarantees of exceptional mileage
are invariably made for rebuilt and
second tires. but these are merely the
dealers own promises and are often
misleading, because he simply offers to
replace a tire which does not give the
specified mileage with another tire of
the same sort at half price. This sounds
fair, but experience has proved 1t to be
otherwise. Elementary arithmetic will
show the cost OF mileage upon such a
basis to be enormous IL the tires blow
up in few hundred miles. which they
often do.
Comparing the price of rebuilt or
second tires to the price OF standard
first quality tires OF known and meri-
torious makes is another common ana
deceptive practice which many dealers
follow. 1t is a falsehool to claim that
rebuilt or second tires are selling at
large reductions from list price. Such
tires have no list price and have never
had one. They sell for whatever they
will bring and generally that is every
bit of what they are worth IN the
market.
''The 81 tire sale is another means OF
Misrepresentation. In these safes the
customer is given an additional tire 1or
81 provided he first purchases one tire
at the full list price. In every instance
two tires must be purchased and In no
case Is a single tire sold for 81. The
use-of the deceptive list price, plus the
81. gives the seller a good price for each
tire
The National Vigilance Committee OF
the Advertising Clubs urges that users
of tires should carefully scrutiniZe the
advertising of all cut rate dealers, re-
membering that even in these days OF
re dirstInent, claims of enormous saw
inrs are suspicious in themselves.
when fires are offered at 40 TO 20 per
cent less than usual, they are generaliy
worth no more than the cut price asked
for them.