SECOND-HAND CAR PRICES

Chronicle (Levin), 22 June 1946, Page 2

SECOND-HAND CAR PRICES

MOVE TO CHECK TAAEFIC. LOXDOX, June 20. Second-hand car prices in Britain have reached such levels tiiat both the manufacturers and the liccnsed dealers are seriously perturbed and are taking measures to curb the traflie V. Inch, they contend, is damaging the reputation oi their produots and is victiinisiiig' the public. In future the purchasers of new cars v.ill be asked to sign a covenant agreeing notHo resell their cars in less than six montlis, exeept with the permission of the doalers. This permission will be readilv given if there is a genuine need to resell, hmt'it will be withheld iti alT cases in which it is considered that the resalp is inerelv for proiit. Bubstantiai penalties, amounting to £57 in the case of "an eight," up to £841 in .tlie case of a Kolls-Koyce, are provided ±'o: breaches of the covenant. Buyers, when ordering, will have to produce identihcation cards and will have their names and addresses sent t«i the headcpiarters of the Motor Trade Association for comparison with lists submitthd by other dealers all over ih - country. If a buyer orders tnore than once, he will have to wait until the supply position eases. A tentative black-list of buyer. known to be purchasing cars inerelv to resell has alreadv been prepared and will be added to from theso lists. These measures, it is hoped, wili cheek the growing traflic in the resalc oi' new cars, but no safeguards have vet been devised to protect the buyers oi' older second-hand vehicles, many ot whicli have ehauged liands several times. The recent auetions of used Army motor vehicles at Great Jrissenden an.' elsewhere have demonstrated that at present some members of the publi will pav inore for a probably worn Army reject than the saine car woulil have brought new six years ago. Cases are frequentlv (pioted of buy ers giving as niuch as £.">Q() niore for a second-hand model than the new pricc of the same car if it could be delivered at the present tinie.