Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-09-14 | Page 54 | Exchange Cars if so Disposed

fiMK CS11S IF SBJGPOSED The Alkire-Smith Company Makes This Feature of Ford Service. - One of the really important features I of any automobile business, according to Fred Allure, president of the Alkire-Suiith Alkire-Suiith Auto company, Utah's oldest Ford dealers, is the service which is feiven to patrons in the exchange of used cars for new ones. Particularly is this true, in the opinion of Mr. Alkire, with respect to the business of a Ford dealer, because uo other car, probably, is resold and exchanged quite so much as a Ford. "There arc good reasons for this." continued Mr. Alkire, "and one of the most important of these is that in all models of the Ford, from the 1909 model to the .1919 model, all parts are made exactly I ho same and are interchangeable. inter-changeable. A Ford owner need never worry. about finding the necessary parts to jepair his machine, even if it is now ten years old. Such service as this is absolutely distinctive. "Throughout the entire four seasons, when our business is light and when it is heavy, our company takes in on an average about one car a day in ex change for new cars. Already this year 265 used cars have been bought by us, and it is conservative to say that the number will well reach the 400 mark before tho 3"ear is past. "It is interesting to note that while in 1912 75,000 Ford automobiles were built, we scarcely ever Bee a car of that model now. This is not because 1912 Fords are not still in use, but because they have been so fixed up with new parts that it becomes almost impossible to recognize the model of the car. These cars in time contain very j few of the original parts, and therefore are completely disguised. If it were not for the cheapness of standard Ford parts, this continual making over would bo impossible. "Ford dealers do not look upon used cars with the same spirit of hatred that dealers in other cars sometimes must do. This is because of the ease with which new parts can be secured and supplied and also because of the fact that used Fords are always in constant demand. We do not aim to make any money on used cars bought and sold. When a car is taken as part payment on a new car, we appraise it for what we believe it to be worth, fix the car up in our repair shop and sell ir, at the price we paid for it, plus the cost of the repair work. It is not an unusual thing for a customer to buy a used car from us, ruu it for two or three months and sell it for more than he paid originally. ' ' Another feature of our used car service is the benefit which tourists receive re-ceive from it. During the touring season, sea-son, many a tourist traveling overlaml by automobile has brought his old Ford to us for exchange because he has not wanted to start across the desert with his own car."