SECOND-HAND CARS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 28 January 1928, Page 12

SECOND-HAND CARS

HINTS POE, PURCHASERS. AVOID BUYING TROUBLE. The failing prices of new cam and the fact that many old motorists are fortunate enough to be. able to indulge fcneir whims and buy a car every two yearn have resulted in the trading into Auckland dealers of hundreds of good second-hand cars (writes “Focus” m the “Auckland Herald”). The second-hand market .has been so heavily deluged that prices are very attractive, and since many dealers have had to call a halt in their used car departments, there are many cars for private sale at prices which have been forced to a low ebb by' the trend for an over-supply of second-hand vehicles. The Auckland market is certainly passing through a phase when the opportunities for the motoring aspirant with £IOO or £2OO are distinctly encouraging. If the prospective purchaser is mechanically incompetent to see whether the steering has too much play, or that the gears have a chipped tooth or so, or that the backlash of the propel ler shaft is excessive, to say nothing of the condition of the engine', he should ask the local expert to give it a “once over.” Amateur advice on strange cars is seldom worth accepting when it comes to actual mechanical testing of the competence of the various parts to do their job. After the report lias been received, the would-be purchaser can ask if the engineer thinks it worth while paying the. price with the knowledge lie ban of its condition. The pedigree also gives the date of the car’s manufacture and first sale, so that, although the seller may call it, say, a 1923 model, the maker’s report will clinch that or reveal it as a late 1922 oi some other year. Discard the appearance of the paintwork as a factor for a iow-pricod car, but rather test the doors, windows, side-curtains, etc., far rattles, squeaks, and general shrikiness.

The trap that every purchaser of a second-hand car desires to avoid is + o pay, say, £SO for a car that will cost him another £SO or £IOO in repairs after he has bought ifc —unless, of our.se, he feels that the vehicle will he worth the total sum expended after it has been refitted. In other words, avoid buying trouble. One source of worry to-day to the would-be purchaser is the hire-purchase system of new car selling, so that, unless .he is very care fid lie will find after he has paid over his cash that the so-called owner was in fact only the “hirer,” 'and the registration and licensing papers would not disclose this fact. Down comes the hire-purchase dealer, who is the owner, and demands, from the unfortunate holder of the vehicle either the car or ■ the balance due under the “easy payment” agreement with the late “hirer.”