The Washington herald., 1922-03-26
STEADY SERVICE.
MAKERS MOTTO
Good Will Value in Auto In
dustry Need, Says
Writer.

Automobile owners. as rule.
have reason for being pleased with
the outlook for better service de-
partment facilities and a resultant
greater satisfaction in owning and
driving a car.
1t is evident that manufacturers
are placing more and more en-
phasis on this phase of their bust
ness. not only because 1t is being
demanded by the car owners, but
because it has been demonstrated
by the few who have insisted upon
good service from the very outset
that it pays in dollars and cents to
keep a customer satisfied.
Charles Semmes, the Dodge
Brothers dealer here, Is one who
knows what 1t means to represent
a factory that is extremely par
ticular about the sort Of service
it's dealers provide.
The factory has been steadfast
and consistent in its service policy
ever since the manufacture of
Dodge Brothers cars began" he
said. Keeping pace with the rec
concentrations coming from head
quarters. we have steadily devel-
oped our own facilities. Among
the comparatively recent innova-
tions of Importance to the car
owner is the flat rate system which
enables him to tell in advance just
how much II can possibly cost him
to have his car adjusted or re-
paired. A specified maximum time
allowed for each operation and he
can see it all in black and white
before the work Is started.
with more than $50. 200 cars al
ready sold 1t is not difficult to see
why Dodge Brothers are so insist
ent on good service. The annual
requirements among these $4,000
alone call for a production as large
as the total output of many fac
tories"
The dealers comments on Dodge
Brothers service policies are borne
out by a recent article by Samuel
Hopkins Adams. in Leslie's Weekly.
"Where the 1929 purchasing public
is going to profit chiefly is not by
buying cheaper" says Mr.. Adams,
"but in increased utility at lowered
expense"
Service" he adds, "is the trade
word. a term often abused to the
point Of parody. But the new form
of service. as projected, is so per-
fected and systematiZed as to COM
prise perhaps the most important
development that the industry has
known for years.
That the initial cost OF a car is
not the principal item is a lesson
which has been hammered at the
public in a series of highly effec-
tive advertisements This principle
of economical upkeep, the Dodge
company has adopted as a funda-
mental principle.
Now there are developments
which indicate that any concern
failing in its future to protect its
clientele against exorbitant cost Of
upkeep may as well get ready to
go out of business: for the educa-
ton which the Dodge company
started by Advertising and precept
is to be broadened to a scale which
will enlighten the eil're motoring
public as to the wastefulness, in
efficiency. and trickery in the re-
pair business.
The new service plan, upon
which, with various minor diver
gencies of detail, understand
many concerns are working-will
at once eliminate uncertainty and
the opportunity for the conscience
less dealer to make an unfair
profit
ITO make the service station
cheaper, quicker, and more efficient
than the outside garage is the first
aim of the new system. The fac
tory will back up the improved
standards by a new policy of its
own which is almost revolutionary,
expressed in the slogan, Service
First: Let the New Customer
Wait That is to say, satisfaction
on sales already made takes prece-
dence over new sales. All of which
looks to the long-distance policy
of cheapening operation and there
by making 1t possible for more
people to own and operate cars.