BUYING PROTECTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 June 1938, Page 9

BUYING PROTECTION

♦ GUARANTEED USED CARS MODERN MERCHANDISING METHODS The average life of a used car in New Zealand is estimated to be 13 years. Admittedly few motorists retain the one car in their possession for such a long time, but the first step in motoring is generally the purchase of a used car —a second-hand vehicle which gives all the joys of motoring at lower initial cost. So it is that, despite the increasing sale of new cars, there is an ever-increasing market for used vehicles.

Many potential motorists, however, possess an instinctive fear of a used vehicle. Because it is “second-hand." they fear a bad bargain, that they might be buying a “load of trouble." But in modern motor merchandising such a fear need never deter any person from buying a used car. Ford dealers, in particular, have, with the co-operation of the Ford Motor Co. of New Zealand Limited, instituted a special protective plan ensuring the impossibility of buying "a pig in a poke." It is known as the “R and G Plan,” and is operated both in Australia and New Zealand with great success both from the dealers’ and customers’ viewpoints. Brieflly the “R and G Plan" provides for the thorough reconditioning of used cars "traded in” on sales of the new 1938 Ford vehicles. They are then sold with a written guarantee of condition backed by the dealer’s signature, a thorough protection against a bad bargain. An ”R and G” Used Car is a reconditioned and guaranteed used car.

This reconditioning involves an enormous outlay on the part of the dealer, necessitated, in the case of both Messrs Gordon Hughan Ltd and Fagan Motors Ltd.. Ford dealers in the Wairarapa, the establishment of a separate department wholly engaged in this service. But the benefits passed on to the buyer, the increased confidence and goodwill engendered, and the rapid turnover of these “R and G" cars prove the benefits of this extra service. Since this plan was instituted last year, thousands of satisfied used car buyers throughout New Zealand pay general tribute to the thoroughness of this merchandising plan. The buyer of an ”R and G" used car knows exactly what he is buying. Moreover, he can buy it on the usual A.F.C. deferred payment system operated by authorised Ford Dealers. The “R and G" Plan is operated in the Wairarapa by Messrs Fagan Motors Ltd.. Masterton, and Gordon Hughan Ltd.. Carterton, who elsewhere in this issue offer a comprehensive classified list of suitable cars being sold under this plan 0 .