Radio Broadcast (May 1929-Apr 1930)

LIKE USED CARS? When Local Dealers Fail to Cooperate, All TradeIn Schemes Fail — Mistakes the Automotive Industry Has Made — What Can the Radio Industry Learn from the Automobile? during a recent discussion. "For years our people, manufacturers and distributors alike, persisted in using the trial and error method of solving our selling problems. Nothing like the automobile had ever been known before, and the natural but erroneous conclusion was that no similar sales problems had ever arisen before. For years we struggled along with the problem of used-car allowances, trying this and that and the other method of getting a sound policy that would cover a majority of cases; but it didn't occur to us that AUTOMOTIVE TRADE-IN PLANS Formula for Resale Valuation 1st yr. — list less 40% 2nd yr. — balance less 20% 3rdyr.— " " 25% 4th & 5th yrs.— " 20% The current cash price for reconditioned used cars is the resale valuation. The current cash price for reconditioned used cars is the resale valuation. The current cash price for reconditioned used cars is the resale valuation. Multiply list price by .58 — 1st yr. .40— 2nd yr. .30— 3rd yr. .24 — 4th yr. 1st yr., 60% of list 2nd yr., 45% of list 3rd yr., 36% of list 4th yr., 29% of list Determined by Inspection Station. The current cash price for reconditioned used cars is the resale valuation. Trade-in Allowance Resale value less reconditioning cost and 20% commission. Resale value less variable commission and reconditioning cost. See operating method. Determined by each dealer to suit himself. Resale value less cost of reconditioning. Resale value less reconditioning cost and 10% commission. Resale value tioning cost commission. None* less and recondivariable Very small — determined by each dealer to fit each transaction. this receipt as part payment on new car. When "Motomart" sells the used car, dealer the piano trade had faced that same problem and worked out a fair solution to it years before it bothered us." The mistakes that have already been made are not the ones to be feared; a mistake once made and recognized is a mistake well on the road to correction. It is the errors unwittingly committed in the early stages of a new problem, the wrong steps taken before the magnitude of the problem has become apparent, the mistakes not yet made but in the unrealized process of being made, that are to be feared and fought. And it is just there ==«=^^^^^^== that the study of the experiences of others is essential; without that study, the budding problems in one's own industry cannot be recognized at their true worth, the first false steps cannot be prevented. Two problems have been costly, and still are being costly, to the automobile industry : the used-car problem and the service problem. The radio industry is beginning to meet exactly analagous problems, and should decide upon the wisest methods, rather than upon the most convenient makeshifts, for handling the trade-in set allowance and the service problems. Many radio men think they have found satisfactory solutions of those problems; some of them are sure they have. But a review of the various measures tried out by the automobile industry will at least give radio executives food for thought. This article will deal with the usedcar problem, since that is the one which bulks largest in the minds of automobile men, and has for twenty years. Remarks Has operated successfuly for 10 years. Is being used in more than 50 large cities. Started by Chicago Automomobile Trade Ass'n. Still in use. Abandoned after a few weeks' trial. Central bureau staff paid by dealers. Abandoned after 3 years' trial. Lasted 8 months, failed to notify Bureau. Dealers Central Still in use. Has increased market for used cars, has fixed resale values. No dealers permitted to buy or sell used cars. Has been abandoned. Protects dealers from buying same car 3 or 4 times. Is being adopted all over. • OCTOBER 1929 • • 32 1