The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-02
GOOD CAR NEEDS
 A GOOD SERVICE
Brownell System Gives Customer Amount Of
 Charges In Advance

Good performance alone does not imply that the owner is completely sat lsfied with his motor car, according to 2. w. Brownell of Brownell Auto com pany, local Dodge Brothers dealers.
 Tt takes good service, in addition 10 fhe good performance, to win his com olete and enthusiastic endorsement, ne said.
 He pointed out that the. fact that Dodge Brothers, while constantly lmI proving the quality of their car and thus ,educing the necessity for service, are %t the same time giving the servlce ques. tion more and more attention as one or the fundamental issues in the volume production and sale of automobiles.
 This month, for example, Dodge Brothers are advertising to the world, .You Know in Advance-Dodge Brothers dealers everywhere have Il fixed charge for every service operation. It IS per oaps the first time that large manu- sacturer has given such general proml- hence to the subject of servlce.
 Dodge Brothers gave years or study 10 the development of servlce plan that could Be applied with equal fairness ana efficiency to their entire organization ol dealers," said Mir. Brownell. hen this plan was finally evolved, It meant more years of intensive educational work in pettinp it established and in operation in tbe thousands of dealerships. Today tbey have arrived at the point when It can be truthfully said that any Dodge Brothers owner, anywhere, can learn Ill advance just what it will cost him for my work that his car may require. Gness-work and unpleasant surprises Ill service bills have been elimlnat,d.
 ..The plan through which this envlable nosition was realized is known as the flat rate service system. Others nave ad- vocafed if but in no case has It been so universally adopted.
 II believe that this system has done more than was ever accomplished Deiore to solidify and heighte': the enthusiasm of Dodge Brothers motor car owners.
 MT. Brownell explained that the flat rate system was not put into effect uiitli tests had determined reasonable time allowance for every conceivable service iob. On the basis of these tests, maxi mum working periods were estabilshed and mechanics are now required to com plete every job within the allotted tune
 Thus the service superintendent IS able to estimate within few minutes how long it will take to finish loD. Basic charges are Supplleu ps Iiio , tory with the basic time periods. Whlle these charges are variable. according to the overhead cost in each community the difference is never great and the fac- tory's maximum reasonable charge IS never surpassed.
 As a rule, mechanics are also paid by the job. They are allowed so much time for the operation and must do the work. in a satisfactory manner or do it over without pay. This reduces waste of time and increases efficiency. The natural result to the owner IS better work in shorter time and at lower cost
 Mir. Brownell added that Ddoge Broth CTS have never countenenced so-calleo free service. Tt is now obvious to most people that free service must be paid for somehow by someone" he sad ..The usual way is to add enough to the service item. The injustice of that however, is that you may never require more than n few dollars worth of serv- ice. while some other buyer needs ten or twenty times that amount and yet you both pay equally. Dodge Brother own CTS pay only for what they themselves Set-not for what someone else may need"