Are new car salesmen qualified to appraise the value of a car offered in trade? Will not their anxiousness to sell the new car warp their judgment of what should be a fair price for the used car being taken in?

Ernest Burwell, Ford dealer, Spartanburg, S. C., does not permit his salesmen to set trade-in figures. He thinks a man who is a good seller cannot be also a good buyer. As he puts it:

“A salesman, overenthusiastic to sell the new car is, indeed, poorly prepared to assume the role of a buyer. Buymanship must be used as well as salesmanship. How in the world can you expect a man to do two things—buy and sell? Salesmanship in founded on optimism. A successful bargain is founded on pessimism, and a good buyer has to tear down the idea of value. But yet, many dealers expect the salesman to do a “Dr. Jeykyl and Mr. Hyde stunt” of being a good salesman and a good buyer all at once, which is the same as expecting him to go East and West at the same time.”

Responsibility of appraising trade-ins has been delegated to the used-car manager. He goes over the car part by part and makes an impartial analysis, setting down its condition on an appraisal form. The amount required to put the car in saleable condition is entered on the sheet and then an offer for the car is made on another form. This is the same as money when presented to the new car sales room.

“When a salesman reaches our used-car manager,” says Mr. Burwell, “he invariably begins to grin, realizing that his commission depends on selling that car to this company in order to deliver the new one and his eagerness to sell that car almost entirely dissipates his judgment as to the real resale value of the old car, and his grinning is the first step in matching wits with the used-car maanger who is the sentry on the firing line to protect the business from the inroads of inflated used-car values. If the customer wants an unreasonably high price for his old car we immediately begin to offer him some of our used-car stock at considerably lower prices which never fails to evoke a laugh if it is handled right. Thus, after taking the wind out of him, well-studied facts are presented in an effort to get his car at a price which will insure a profit.