Evening star., 1923-10-21
USED CAR LOSSES
CUT Upper CENT
Association Announces Fig
ures After Exhaustive
Study of Situation.

st. TOUIS, October 20!-Used ear
losses were reduced 1914 per cent In
the third quarter OF 1898, as COM
pared to the ending Of the second
quarter. The total used car losses
reported by the dealers to the National
Automobile Dealers Association for the
three-month period ending October 1
were $685., 900. These figures were
announced by Lynn NJ. Shaw, assist
ant general manager Of the National
association, who has been conducting
an intensive study OF used car mar
kettng for the last two years.
The dealers, on October !, had
stock of used automobiles totaling
3ss.Soo. This is compared with the
on O hand % April d / and and the 'as asoeos es'sou ON
hand January /. The dealers had
IN average of s.ss cars on hand on
October I.
Used car sales for the first nine
months of 1928 reached the amazing
figure OF 2,700,S00 automobiles.
I'VE have received considerable
Encouragement in our efforts to re-
duce used car losses and have been
Immensely pleased with the excellent
cooperation which the dealers have
given to our work." says Shaw. sThe
dealers, In October, 1921, were faced
with conditions that were a menace
70 the stability OF the dealer organi-
Sations OF the industry. Our efforts,
begun at that time, have steadily
worked toward putting into the
hands of dealer information az a
guide to him In his handling OF used
automobiles. We have linked to this
a campaign Of education to the buy
ing public We are quite pleased
with the widespread reaction to our
plans and efforts and to the copious
praise that has been directed our
way. in acknowledging that It has
tional Automobile Dealers Associa-
tion that the dealers reduced their
losses from $106,000,000 In 1922 20 a
total Of $50. ooo, 600 for the first
\ and our business indicators cause us
to believe that the losses for the
last quarter of 1898 cannot possibly
reach s25,ooo.0oe. and that they prob
ably wili be much less. making the
cent less than for the year 1899.
an the Arst three months of the
they had stocks OF cars on hand
which they had acquired at q cost
Of ,,9Sa more ,ths than 81 MsiSa.oso,ooo, They sd-
those cars were figure s2s.e0e, ,Oeo
below the acquisition cost. Later
reports determined that their fears
were JuStluoo.
Ten Per Cent Reduction.
'1n June the dealers reported that
they had cars on hand with @ total
cost of $21. 100000 more than the mar
, ket prices. This was a 10 per cent
reduction IN the loss OF the first
quarter. Leaders In the Industry
who analyzed these returns told us
that they were confident the first
10 per cent reduction would be the
most difficult and that succeeding re-
ports probably would show still
greater reductions. We were. how
ever. entirely unprepared for the
actual result, reducing the loss to
less than six millions.
This. we believe. augers well fer
the acceptance by the trade OF the
National Automobile Dealers Asso-
ciation's used car merchandising plan
which is being offered. Our plan does
not include any price fixing intent or
ideas. We work toward putting the
used automobile on the market as q
standardized unit of merchandise In
1irst-class condition and backing
up that automobile to the person
who buys &c. Our purpose is to elirn-
Afnate from used car sales the Ques-
tionable practices OF irresponsible,
careiess and over-zeaious automobile
aealcrs.