Popular Science Monthly
��515
��opinion on it. Names in starting systems
mean nothing. Some of the great electric
.shops unhappily put their august names to
starting systems as shoddy and unreliable
as their higher priced ones are good and
desirable. The Alcove
may mean a fine start- -^. -^^ "^
ing system fit for the £- ^ j ,
Fondulac Eight, or "
may mean a junky
thing designed for
the famous $695
Tincar.
There is of course a legiti- mate field for the sale of second- hand motorcars, and there are many responsible business men engaged in sell- ing them. The buyers who suffer in second- hand car deals are the ones who are on the hunt for unfortunates from whom hard luck has pried loose a car — and who bite on decoy advertisements, or those who go straying along the curb markets or the corner open air emporiums with full
���How Could Any One Pass This Gem By ?
Horse trading is childishly simple compared with the second-hand auto- mobile trade. There can be but a certain number of things wrong with a horse. But the motor-car may have more vices than a herd of horses
���To the Junk-Pile at Last You can junk the old car for $100 if you can't do anything else with it. This is what happens to many second-hand "bargains." A prominent dealer in second-hand cars remarked recently: "There may be exceptions here and there, but no car made prior to 1913 is worth more than $100"
��confidence in their own smartness. Smart- ness avails one nothing in the second-hand game- — the other chap is always still smarter; else he couldn't make his salt.
Always Consult the Agency
As a matter of choice the £ t c ker after the second- ed car ought to consult the agency of that car, be- cause the agent is reliable, knows the car, and does not care to have it go out and earn either him or his firm a bad name. On the other hand, the buyer is likely to pay a bit more, because just as the agent for that make dees not want to see his cars drop too fast in value because of the lapse of a year or two, the agent of some other make always smiles when he can put over the sale of the opposition second-hand car at a low price, and still make some money at it. He does not forget to adver- tise the sale to his potential customers as showing the quick fall- off irt* value of the Hinkydink car. Also, as he's not crying his eyes out if the said Hinkydink car does not turn out well, he'll live up to his guarantee merely to the bare letter.
In spite of the re- liability of the respon- sible firms that sell second-hand cars as part of their business, the person not at all versed in the motor car game would do well to get a new car, even though it fall many grades below the second-hand car.
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