IN YOUR OPINION
Page 64
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Who Buys Used Vehicles?
REGARDING the article by Norman H. Tilsley in the series " A Guide to Used Vehicle Purchase ", pub.-fished in The Commercial Motor on August 30, 1963. After reading this article I was left with the impression, as I am sure most people would be, that only a man in poor circumstances would purchase a used vehicle.
Mr. Tilsley states that the main reason a user might buy a used vehicle is that he cannot afford to pay the price of a new one, and does not like the idea of buying under hire purchase.
May I first point out that hire purchase facilities can still be offered to the man who buys a used commercial vehicle, and secondly that many fleet operators take advantage of the great saving they can avail themselves of through buying a used vehicle from a dealer who has purchased the same from an operator who has no work for this vehicle,
W. CALLIS1 ER,
W, Jones (Manchester) Ltd.
Missed the Point ?
I READ with some amazement the letter (The Commercial Motor, last week) from Mr. Newman, the R.H.A. secretary-general. Frankly. I thought he missed the whole point of your excellent leading article in the August 30 issue.
You were dead right to state that operators are not the only ones to blame—at least, not until all the other matters involved in black smoke emission have been satisfactorily dealt with 538
What was Mr. Newman getting so hot under the collar about? Nobody (certainly not the writer of your leading article) has suggested that hauliers did not have a sense of urgency about black smoke—Mr. Newrnan's words, not mine or yours. So why bring the subject up?
As for his question about what more the R.H.A. can do, surely he should know the answer to that. If they are doing all they can (and I am prepared to believe that they are) why query their own actions? It only makes people wonder.
Twickenham, Middlesex. M. WALLIS.
The Actual Cure I READ with interest your leader of August 30 on the I subject of black smoke.
It is quite correct that tests are still in progress to determine suitable smoke emission maxima and methods of type testing. On the other hand, the actual cure for the black fumes coming from diesel-engined vehicles on the road rests squarely in the hands of operators through the adequacy of their servicing arrangements.
W. T. WILLIAMS,
Secretary, The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Punish Smoke Offenders CONGRATULATIONS on your leader of August 30.
You have posed the question—I shall be interested to see what answers you get! It is, incidentally, high time that the "minority of irresponsible operators"—who get the industry a bad name—were severely punished for their negligence.
Canonbury, London, N.I. E. JAMES.