Auto Gossip

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32678, 6 August 1971, Page 7

Auto Gossip

by

A.J.P.

Trade-in demands I must say I’m rather surprised at the number of instances I have heard of lately of car dealers demanding a trade-in before they will provide a new car—a practice which is, according to the Department of Industries and Commerce and to the decision handed down by the courts—definitely illegal. Customers do not like it, of course, but many of them seem willing to pay something of a premium to get their new car, and will part with their old cars at what they often

know is an unrealistically low figure. Close to blackmail Theoretically, the response to the demand for a trade-in is: “You cannot require that I shall complain to the Department of Industries and Commerce,” or words to that effect. But motorists have told me they

were warned that a complaint could result in them finding it very difficult to get a new car anywhere, an attitude that to my mind verges on blackmail. The answer, one man told me, was to apparently agree to the trade-in, then when the new car arrives, to turn up to collect it with a witness. Then, he said, one should hand over the price of the new car, demand its delivery without a trade-in, and make it clear that a complaint to the department will be made if the car is not handed over. Which in a way is possibly a sort of counter-blackmail. Penalties I cannot really see the situation being cleared up until the supply of new cars is very generous, or the Government takes a real interest in the problem. When a' witnessed complaint has been made in recent months, the offending dealer was fined sloo—a sum hardly regarded in a serious light by a major firm, I’m told. A penalty such as the loss of a dealer’s licence for a couple of months would undoubtedly be regarded rather more seriously. Effort overdue To some extent, when popular cars are scarce and the mark-up on them (sometimes eroded by warranty claims) is not particularly generous considering the sums involved, one can see the reasons for dealers wishing to obtain a tradein and make a little more on the deal. Similarly, while I know of cases where the trade-in price given has been laughably low and the price charged for the traded car when it was resold was clearly ex-

cessive in comparison, I also know of cases where a trade-in has been demanded, but the price paid has been fair. Still, it seems no serious effort has yet been made by the authorities to prevent dealers demanding a trade-in as a prerequisite of supplying a new car. Such an effort is overdue. Quote of the Week "Air-bags will never replace seat belts, as a great many car-accidents and deaths and injuries are caused by side collisions and rollovers. In these situations secured seat-belts are the only effective means of protecting a car’s occu-pants.”—-Comments by a safety engineer on air-bag research.