BUYING USED CARS

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31658, 19 April 1968, Page 9

BUYING USED CARS

Used car buyers are generally thorough in their examination of the vehicles they wish to buy but some have never driven the car they buy, let alone inspected it carefully.

The sales manager of the expanded Addington branch and the Riccarton used car yard (Mr D. Marra) offered some suggestions for used-car buyers. When a car was offered by his firm, he said, it was already road-tested for audible mechanical faults and inspected for 45 dif-

ferent points concerning mechanical faults, bodywork, upholstery, tyres, and safety requirements. The mechanical check was the most important, he said. The buyer could see the other things for himself and judge their value. Most of the salesmen in the company had been mechanics. They tested the cars and gave their appraisal of them. The vehicles offered' had clear titles and there were several types of warranties given. Some cars were given a “six by six” warranty which covered the car for six months- or 6000 miles, whichever was the earlier. There was also a 50/ 50 warranty which covered a car for 60 days or 1500 miles. There were stock questions which buyers asked, Mr Marra said. How many owners had the car? What had been done to it? What needed to be done? What was its petrol consumption ? What

was the efficiency of the motor? Would it tow my caravan? The company tried to answer most of the likely questions in a display card placed on each car, he said. The price was given, the age of the car and the model, its mileage, the warranty offered, and any mechanical repairs that had been previously done. Some buyers came to buy a vehicle without knowing what they wanted. The salesmen tried to itemise their needs to find what car they would want. The greatest cause cf difference between

buyers and salesmen was over the value of the buyer’s present car, not the car he wished to buy. In many cases, to meet new market valuations, prices had shifted he said, but the camparative prices between cars were still the same. The trade-in car could be valued immediately after a road test and it was valued according to the 45 points to be examined. The company even gave valuations over the telephone on the owner’s description, but such valuations were only estimations, he said.