BUYING A USED CAR

NZ Truth, Issue 1151, 22 December 1927, Page 13

BUYING A USED CAR

Mechanical Condition Main Factor In Success

The price of a second-hand motor-oar is not nearly so important m its way as the prioe of a new car.

ONE knows that the new oar is as perfect m condition as its makers can present it, and so its cast can definitely be determined with the knowledge that it will entail no further expenditure for most 'part of a year at least— lf no aooidents Intervene. But with a second-hand oar one never knows. The seller may be quite convinced that the car he is parting with is as good as new, and yet the new owner may find his hand dipping periodically into his pocket for repairs and renewals from which the original owner had been free. There oomes a time m the life of every maohine when all Its com*

ponents m turn require repair or replacement, and invariably this oocurs m a motor-oar immediately after it appears to have renewed its youth. No second-hand oar is cheap to-day the mechanical condition of which re-

quires immediate resort to the repairer, because repair overhauls ate expensive and seldom increase the market value of the car by anything like their amount. Put Into other words, that m*ane that np oar should be considered which is not merely In fair but m good meohanlcal condition. That oan only be determined by a. ' somewhat elaborate dissection of Its principal components and an intimate inquisition into various chassis items which disclose much more to the expert eye than the ordinary driver could perceive. Of course, one cannot afford to travel round inspecting every oar offered for sale attended by an

expert or two. So it is imperative that the purchaser c i th c r should have sufficient it eohn io a 1 knowledge to Enable him to decide whether or not the car Is worth "putttlng the vet. over" i — i.e., putting into ithe hands of the expert for report

— or depute the matter to somebody able to make that decision for him. The safest, and that means the most economical, way ia to put oneself into the hands of a respectable and wellestablished firm handling second-hand cars.