European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 20, 1948, Darmstadt, Hesse The pubic gets taken for a ride continued from Page 5 All Auto companies have singled out the Sheet steel shortage As the greatest deterrent to unlimited production since the War nobody knows the exact demand but there Are some ten million cars on the Road today that in 1941 would be considered at the scrapping age. One thing the War and the postwar shortage showed a lot of motorists was that autos run and run Well for a lot longer than we used to White Massachusetts Market in temporary Lull Lawrence this City of ninety Odd thousand i souls is about Twenty five mile North of Boston and compressed within its limits Are a great Many i thriving industries. Chief among the non thriving is the once lucrative Racket of Selling practically Brand new automobiles As used cars. I made this discovery one afternoon when i too my old car out tried to sell it and buy for the Sake of. This report a new used one. I returned with my lapels Damp with salesmen s tears and Myears ringing with the spiels of these combustion powered Pitchman the car i drove was a 1939-Model in pretty Good shape and a fair estimate of its value is $750. The first place idrove4nto was a Large lot called honest. John honest John used to be the smiling irishman one of 248 smiling irishmen in the country i should Esti mate until the authorities made him change his name. Honest John and Woof his honest henchmen were on the running Board before i Cut the haggling began. He had a. Nice 1948 Ford whose speedometer read 2.4 Miles exactly the distance from the local Ford dealer s and it was min for 82100, or fourteen Hundred if i threw my car in on the Deal. I look edit Over and gave some absurd reason Why it was t right. Tell a what i Lido Friend h. J. Said. Ill let you have it for a thousand and the actually the Ford was a bargain at that figure since it would be virtually impossible to show a profit on such a Deal. The next place i stopped at was Small lot that seemed to specialize in convertibles. The Salesman Man by the name of Evans who called himself the mad welshman begged me Totake a 47 Desoto gone 496 Miles off his hands. He assured me losing Money. He would give me five Hundred dollars for my car or on a Trade in could have the Desoto for my car and eighteen Hundred dollars. No Wall then did fifteen Hundred tempt me it did but i did t buy it went about like that everywhere else. Salesmen exhorted and beat their own prices Down with absolutely no encouragement from me. A new Blu Plymouth was $1695 Cash. If i wanted to Trade then All i d need would Benine Hundred dollars. A Nash club Coupe was quoted at �1695 and a 47pontiac was on the Block for �2445. At a place on the outskirts of town a new Packard was Selling for �2645, or nine teen Hundred Ort a Trade in. The total effect of this shopping tour proved one expected Point and a Coupie a Little surprising. First that with the Cash anybody around these parts can get himself a new car or one that has gone less than fifteen Hundred Miles. And second the Surprise prices weren t so terribly Steep As reputed. Also there were very few cars that had come directly from the dealer to the used car lot. There Are several reasons for the slump in the Market ii this new eng land City. Part of the trouble is sea Sonal Winter being the Low Point Onan automobile Salesman s Chart. Almost perceptibly the demand for new car being met through legitimate Chan Nels met sufficiently so that practically everybody we has actually needed a car has got his. This leaves Only those who merely want a car and they have been markedly reluctant to permit themselves to be gouged a outrageously As people were letting themselves be last is less Loose Cash around this year than in Early postwar Days. What smore new used car operators find weekend March 2, 1948 they can t get new cars since dealers Are making purchasers sign agreements giving them first resale fights. And i that were not enough Bank credit on car Loans has tightened interest rates have risen and the buyer has to put Upa larger portion of Cash than he did six months ago. All this has left Lawrence used car Market fairly bullish and has wiped the grins off the faces of a Good Many local smiling Cohen Chicago dealers realize up to 43 per cent profit Chicago a Man who wants a new car in hurry and believes he can get on through Normal channels apparently in t acquainted with a few new merchandising facts in the Chicago area. There Are of course Many honest dealers left. Yielding to the pressures of conscience rather than mammon. Button Many from my experience have adopted the doctrine of making it while the making s a Friend of mine i got on a legitimate list for a new two door Ford Sedan Selling for about sixteen Hundred dollars. It was a Fleet Deal an delivery was promised in a week. But before delivery was made i got a Call from a used car dealer offering me -$2100 for the car. He refused to Tell me How he got my name and knew i was getting a new did offer to show me How with the $2100 and another three Hundred dollars i could get a new Oldsmobile club coup6, which Sells normally for about $1850, without accessories. I contacted the local Olds dealer and he told me that for $2400 i could have a car with radio Heater seat covers water proof finish and other items which dazzled me. I pressed him to itemize the Cost. It brought the figure to about $2100. How about the other three Hundred dollars i gave me a scornful look and answered that s the Way business i done these Days. We be got to make it while we obviously the used car dealer would have bought my new Ford for $2100.and sold it for what the traffic would Bear up "to-43 per cent by a Survey made by the Chicago daily news recently. I Learned that Many dealers simply to assuage a gadfly conscience demand a used car for Trade in Pur poses. These dealers operate on a margin seven Hundred dollars above list Price. If a used car is Worth seven Hundred it is Given to such a dealers a gift. If it s Worth a thousand Dol Lars he allows three Hundred on the Purchase of the new car. Thus he he Selling ins new car at list Price and avoids the risk that manufacturers might take his franchise away for Shady dealings and his conscience re Mains absolved of All sin. I also discovered that Brand new cars can be found on used car lots sell ing for several Hundred dollars above list what happens is that dealers get More than list Price from these used car Sharks who in turn put the gouge. On the poor Guy who needs a car and is willing to dig deep to buy it in a Jiffy. On lots about Chicago i found Pon Tiac eights with an eighteen Hundred Dollar list Price on them Selling for$2695 a two door Chevrolet Sedan listed at fifteen Hundred going for$2245 a Studebaker four door land Cruiser with a $2200 list tagged for $2850.in Brief then you have to use a Joe me Dodge reminiscent of prohibition Days to get on a so called legitimate list. Even some of these Deal ers demand under the table bonuses up to five Hundred Lisagor Texa is pay High prices but keep on baying Corpus Christ i t s simple to own a new car i South Texas if you have a couple of producing Oil Wells in the Back Yard to pay off the instalments. List prices on automobiles right off the Assembly line run from approximately $1450 up but few and far Between Are the purchasers who get them at list Price after All angles of the Deal Are con you re buying from an authorized dealer one who handles a certain Lin of automobiles you can figure on your Trade in car bringing about half of it present Market value and then,.unless you re Lucky there la be enough accessories attached to increase the Price of your new car from one to three Hun dred the larger cities such As Houston san Antonio and Corpus Christi there Are about a dozen used car dealers for each authorized handler and then de car boys have m6st of the new cars. During the waning weeks of theopa Many used car dealers were herded into Federal court and fined for peddling automobiles new and used above the ceiling Price. Now of course there is no ceiling and the High Price of cars seems to be holding its own. A new car purchased from a used car dealer usually has from five to thirty Miles on the speedometer audit comes with a new car guarantee in auctioneer Ralph Drake presides at weekly Montpelier Ohio dealers auction. Owners who sit in cars during bidding May refuse to sell if Price is too Low. Most instances. Used car dealers do a considerable amount of advertising in the newspapers offering attractive. Prices for new cars. Many car owners paying exorbitant instalments sell their vehicles to get out of the financial hillbilly radio program originating in Texas and heard through utmost other sections of the nation is sponsored by used car dealers who guarantee to Supply new cars of any make Model or color without delay. The used car dealer with Tiew Carson his lot is commonly referred to As a Black Market handler but his Deal Ings nowadays Are As open and above Board As those of any automobile establishment. New cars offered by the used car dealer Are priced at from approximately $2250 up but the Trade in Price is much higher than that offered Lay the regular dealer. Most people who Deal with the used car establishments find the salesmen courteous and cooperative. In some in stances the purchasers actually insist that they get better deals financially from the used lots than from the authorized the exceedingly High Price Are going into service in great numbers. A Large per cent of the purchasers Are Able to handle their deals on a Cash basis. Of course there Are a lot of Oil Wells in South Texas. Johnnie m. Brown contract agreement fails Quick resales Santa Monica he shooting War has been Overa Long time but the gouging War in the new used car business goes on and , in this Seaside City there Are dozens of new car dealers whose show rooms Are jammed with sleek shining 1948 models. But can anyone knowing the factory Price of a certain catwalk in plunk Down dough and drive out in that car we re awfully sorry mister. With this waiting list it will be from six months to a year before you can have that go across the Street to a used car dealer and to and behold there Are 1947 and 1948 models in abundance. The prices on these cars however run from two to five Hundred dollars Over the factory Blue Book ? to find out i canvassed fifteen new and used car dealers in Santa Monica. One used car Man ten years at the same location declared that peo Learen t buying new cars to drive. They buy them to turn Over at a he said three out of town motorists came in one Day All driving 1948 cars. Each offered his car for Sale at a Price higher than he paid. One Motorist said rethought he could pay for the Price of. His vacation trip by Selling the car. A Friend of mine after waiting Al most a year for his new car admitted he sold it the Day after he got it whence found he could make a neat profit of five Hundred s also a Rumor around town that new car dealers Are getting 1948models and turning them Over immediately to used car lots. If both new and used car dealers Are to make a profit naturally the buyer takes a double dealers to whom i put the question denied it flatly but a better business Bureau spokesman said it going on All right but we can t get any real there is a contract agreement in practice Here and elsewhere that is sup posed to Stop All this pyramiding resale. It is a Deal whereby the new car purchaser agrees that if he resells the car within six months it must go Backoo the same dealer at the Price Pur chased. How much Good this does is extremely doubtful. If the buyer Sells the car elsewhere out of town for instance it would Cost the original dealer More Money than it s Worth to track the Deal Down. If the buyer Sells the car Back to the original dealer it eventually winds up on a used car lot. Who s gouging whom from my sur vey it appears that the Public is As much to blame As the dealers. Be it one or the other the human element is Al ways there. My Only suggestion lies Ina couple of words the romans had. Caveat emptor let the buyer Robert Sontag is
