Evening star., 1950-12-04
Auto Sales Here
AreAard Hit by
Credit Curbs
One Dealer Reports
rs Pct. Cut in Both
Used and New Cars
By William A. MiIIen

With Congress preparing to-
gauge the effect of the Federal
Reserve Boards Regulation w,
restricting installment buying, al
survey today shows automobiles
have been hit hard.
One automobile man said the
new and used car business has
been cut 25 per cent in recent
months. Others familiar with the
automotive field say used-car
buying here is down as much as
SO per cent. Some dealers have
trimmed the cost of 1850 models,
with new ones due shortly.
But there has been no general
slash in used-car prices nor are
new cars backing up" on the
dealers yet, they say.
Regulation w is blamed for
putting some used-car dealers out
of business in the Washington
area. Now, the business is very
spotty." ..
Time Cut to Is Months.
The regulation, effectite Sep
tember 18, permitted debt to be
paid up in 81 months, but on
October 16. this was cut to l5
months.
Civilian automobile production
may be cut soon in view OF ma
tionaI defense needs and this Is
a definite factor in the whole Sit
uation. A one third cash pay
ment down is required on all cars
now.
A Joint Senate House commit
tee. on Wednesday, under the
Craftsmanship of Senator May
bank, Democrat. of South Caro-
lima, is slated to inquire into COM
plants against Regulation w by
automobile men all pver the Ma
ton. This is the watchdog"
economic committee.
Bernard Margolius, counsel for
the National Capital Used Car
Dealers Association. had this to
say:
Regulation w has had very
serious effect upon the business
of the used car dealer in this area
When it was originally put into
force in September. the cut-back
in sales was quite apparent. When
a short time thereafter credit con-
trolls were made even more strln-
gent and a 15-month limitation
placed on all sales of automobiles,
used car sales dipped to point
seriously threatening the existence
of many dealers.
Some Claim Losses.
MANY dealers now complain
of operating at loss with their
capital frozen in unstable mer-
chandise.
Extreme credit restrictions
placed on luxury items such as
televisions and radios, perhaps
may be warranted by present
world conditions, but the limita-
ton imposed on automobiles
which now cannot be properly
classed as Iuxury''-is unfair te
the average workingman, who ir
many cases depends upon his au.
tomobile in connection with his
livelihood"
William H. Emerson, president
of the Washington Automotive
Trade Association, declared: reg
ulation w has taken a lot oi
people out of the market, because
they could not stand the high
monthly payments. The effect or
used cars is much more severe
than on new cars, for more people
pay cash for the new cars.
More Severe in West.
In the past week there has beer
some war scare buying" attrib
uted to the Chinese push in Korea
Mr. Emerson asserted the effect
Of Regulation w are more sever
on the West Coast and Southwes
than in the East
Edward Cashell, general man
ager of H. B. Leary, jr. & Bros
Chrysler and Plymouth dealers
said Regulation w has hurt yer,
materially"
One large Chevrolet dealer sait
that Regulation w has not ye
noticeably affected his firm be
cause there has been lot of buy
ing for cash.
A large Ford dealer declared
Regulation w has "hit us righ
between the eyes" and that it ha
caused sales to drop off 40 pc
cent.
Competition Keener.
He pointed out there are NOR
cars available to sell because @