Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-09
BY H. CLIFFORD BROKAW,
Automobile Technical Adviser.

What is a reasonable length Of life
| for an automobile? This is a question
in the minds of millions of automobile
owners, who have altogether invested
billions of dollars in these automotlVe
vehicles. When q man buys an auto
mobile he has something which repre-
| days later, when he has driven the ma
cine q thousand miles or more and thus
got it in fine working condition, where
It is really worth more than the day he
purchased it, he finds that 1t is worth,
in the open market. considerably less.
From then on he looks forward to
the time when he will be able In some
way to substitute for his machine new
and later model, and along with this
he considers how much he should be
able to get for his present automobile
when he finally comes to the point Of
making change.
One of the chief reasons for selling
a secondhand car is to get new one,
in which case the owner can trade 1t
in as part payment on the new machine,
although there may be advantages in
selling it himself.
It is pointed out by some that an
automobile dealer will allow consider
ably more than can be received in the
| 1908
popular models. One can determine the
popularity and desirability Of the new
car by the amount of the allowance
on the old one, as 1t has been gener-
ally found that the more popular the
make of new car the less the dealer will
give you for your old one. Therefore,
large allowances indicate that the de-
mand for this make in your locality is
below the supply, while small allow
| a.. dina fI1a GaV,nanA 1paofnr than
the supply.
BY the time all overhead charges are
added up, it costs the dealer on the
average at least $50, and probably 800.
to sell your old car. 1t is therefore
evident that even should the dealer
allow you the market price, he is likely
to lose $50 or more. whereas II he al
lows you $50 over the market price, he
loses 500. The profit on the average
enough to assume that the dealer can
lose very much on each used car sale
and still remain in business.
In selling the car yourself, you have
about an equal chance as the dealer
for getting q good price for. it, with
possibly q few other advantages. Fol
instance, you save money that the
dealer must charge to selling expense
IL the dealer would break even on the
| IL
of your selling your car for more than
the average market price. because the
used-car buyer usually prefers to OBJ
tain q car direct from the former owner
as it is not so easy to determine how
much use and what kind Of care a car
has had when the former owner is
unknown.
If the owner is in no hurry to make
his sale, he may get q top price by ind
ing a buyer who is willing to give more
than the average buyer of secondhand
cars. The dealer cannot AFFORD to hold
a car for any great length Of time, be-
cause Of the limited amount Of space
he can give over to housing cars.
An owner who sells his old car is al
liberty to select his new car according
to its merits. Even If all automobiles
of a given price class are alike in the
quality Of their construction they may
not suit you equally well. In your judg-
men they are sure to vary great deal
in performance. appearance and riding
quality. Comfort Of upholstery and
various other factors, such as fuel econ