Arizona republican., 1922-01-29
SERVICE IS NOW
BIC BROTHER TO
RETAIL SALES

ST. LOUIS, Mo, Jan. 2S. (Special),
Every business has its romance and
not the least inspiring was the won
darful romance OF the automobile
business which brought power,
wealth, position and dominance TO
sucA1 men as Henry Ford, Barney
Oldfield, Louis Chevrolet, w. c. Du-
rant and others of their type. They
were the men who builded with little
money and a great deal of faith ana
lived to see their dreams come true.
Every city has in it a dealer who
in some measure has re-lived the
lives of those great leaders. Every
city has dealers that the Oldest in
habitants can refer to as Il knew
him when" and than when carries a
world of meaning for both the speak
er and the dealer. For the dealer
then had little or nothing, usually
borrowed the money that put MN
into business and If he stayed long
enough he reaped the reward of the
great tide of automc bile buying that
swept hundreds on to success.
But the industry is agreed that the
days of romance are gone. The
dealer who formerly unloaded his
automobiles a car load at a time has
TO unload them now often q train
load at a time, and with each costing
him on an average OF around Sl,OUV
il can be seen that thousands and
hundreds of thousands OF dollars are
needed annually to carry on the
business of automobile mercnanols-
ing.
AS the modern automobile manu-
featuring plant evolved from the ma
chine shop so has the modern auto
mobile selling establishment emerged
from the wheelwright blacksmith and
repair shop and today the butterfly
has little resemblance to the COCOON
from which 1t sprang
A modernly equipped dealer es-
tablishment today, according to 1lg-
ures compiled by the National Auto
mobile Dealers Association. prepre-
gents an investment of Approximately
$3.50. 900 in building, equipment ana
parts. The salesroom. which is the
mart that the public mostly sees, is
perhaps the least imortant part OF
the place. For the modern dealer is
he who almost conducts an auto
mobile manufacturing plant IN ms
service station. Dealers have learned
that with an average OF l,5OO,0oO new
car sales a year and approximately
10 900 600 motor vehicles in use, SER
vice is about six times as important
as sales. AS one dealer expresses 1t,
service is now the big brother 70
sales, Another says, II make more
sales from my back door than do
from my front"
with all thi. money needed to De
al automobile dealer. selling Is rap
idly concentrating itself In the hands
Of the most stable and financially
responsible merchants. Last year II |
was es- mated that probably 1000 |
a4atomc dealers, representing |
about two per cent Of the total num-
her Of dealers did approximately |
sixty seven per cent of the total
automobile selling. These 1000 men
scattered throughout the Un TED
states are as well known In tneir
own localities as Henry Ford or
Barney Oldfield is known nationally.
last year gave emhatic cOrroborauon
~ the statepment that there Is a
difference between the automoplle
merchant and an automobile dealer.
.sThe fair weather sailor has al
r7aS+ entirely disappeared from D
portion of the country" writes ,. Y.
w Peters of Portland, Ore, Packard
Nash dealer there. 1T will be oniy
a short time before the solidly fln-
anced. highly organized merchant
win be left in business here"
"The modern dealer must have
strong financial rating, extensive
service facilities and consider the
customer as the man who must pc
nlaased,' writes w. b. Sawyer OF
Boston. of tho Oakland Motor Co.
81 New England. snake every word
10 your customer your solemn
pledge" says Frank r. Tate Of st.
Louis, Dodge Brothers dealer there
4 satisfied customer" writes this OF
Tom Botterill, Denver, Hudson Essex
distributor there, "Tom Botterill Is
one of our finest citizens and his
business is conducted on such a plane
that he always Will be one OIL our
finest citizens"
The list could be continued In
definitely but it's continuation would
only emphasize that the romance has
gone and the place has been filled by
the shrewd business man. Capital.
credit, capacity. modern sales rooms
and fully equipped service stations
have educated the motor car owner
to the Importance of buying from the
right kind Of dealer.
Scnre Of the dealers who have made
a success will tell other dealers how
they did it at the Fifth Annual Con-
yention Of the National Automobile
Dealers Association at Chicago, jan
uary 30-31. Special rates Of a fare
and a half round trip have been pro-
cured by the association for its mem
bership.