No Ground For Increase In Used Car Prices Seen

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28481, 10 January 1958, Page 10

No Ground For Increase In Used Car Prices Seen

Managers of the used-car departments of long-established Christchurch garages yesterday warned that ill-judged comment by used car dealers could lead to panic buying of cars which were not of good quality. They were commenting on published remarks of a dealer who claimed that import restrictions would force the price of secondhand vehicles up, and would place bartering power more in the hands of the dealers. “The senior executive of head offices in New Zealand motor assembly companies do not yet know what is going to happen with the car importing business, and I can see no ground for secondhand dealers to claim that their prices will be forced up. The whole situation at present is clouded. In fact, the schedule announced is not nearly so bad as it appears on paper,” said an executive ora well-known garage. Used car dealers had shown a “good business sense" before the General Election when their remarks on possible shortages were published in New Zealand newspapers, he added.

“There were reports of North Island used car men coming to the South Island to buy up stocks of cars. This made buyers panic and subsequently must have boosted flagging used car sales,” he said.

Commenting on a statement by a used car dealer that car importers would have to concentrate on small cars, so that they could increase the number of cars being imported under the adjusted licences, another garage manager said: “This is completely unfounded. The schedule says that a cut of 50 per cent will be made on built up cars, and 25 per cent on completely knocked down cars which are assembled in New Zealand.”

Quoting from trade statistics recording the number of cars registered monthly in New Zealand during 1957. the executive showed that less than 15 per cent, of cars imported in one month had been built outside New Zealand. A5O per cent cut in this would not greatly reduce the number of cars coming into the country. Further, many importers might decide not to import any built-up cars and so increase their import of knocked down cars. The complete, change-over from built up cacs to import licences for carp assembled in New Zeapresent a much rosier pictumWhan at first implied in the latestimport schedules. Registrations in New Zealand during some months last year had been between 4000 and 3300 . regularly. The 1956 figures were I also high: “So, you can see that : there will still, be I lot of cars around, and when the matter is ; straightened out and representations Jb the Government are made, the picture might improve even more," he added.