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10
North American auto manufacturers,
13% of her nickel production, 75%
of the nation's rubber output.
Thc auto rcpair industry is big busi–
ness. The annual repair and maintenance
bill for America's passenger cars exceeds
$20 BJLLION per year.
General Motors has a larger yearly
gross revenue - sorne $24 BILLJON -
than the Gross National Product of
mosl
of the member nations of the
United Nations.
The Ford Motor Company, Chrysler,
other motor companies are in themselves
monoliths. And, of course, there are the
far-Rung Standard and Shell oil com–
panics.
All these are the producers and sup–
pliers of well over 210 million motor
vehicles the world ovcr. The United
States alone possesses over 105 million
vehicles of all types. More than 85 rnil–
lion are automobiles. The U. S., in fact,
has almost as many cars as all other
nations PUT TOGETHER!
Produce, Produce, Produce!
By 1968 a motor vchicle was pro–
duced every three seconds in the United
Statcs alone. Around nine or ten mil–
lion motor vehicles pour off the U. S.
assembly lines every year. AH but two
million of thcm are cars.
And so we are having our own auto–
mobile population explosion.
Jt
is grow–
ing at a rate
three times
faster than
the birth of babies.
California alone has an estimated
tu·eit ·e mil/ion
registered motor vehicles.
This one state alone possesses more cars
than any single nation on earth with
the cxception of Britain, France and
West Germany! Is it any wonder cities
in California are choked with smog?
But are all these cars
ueceJSary?
Almost 14 million U. S. families own
TWO cars. An additional
2
million own
three or more. Virgil Boy, President of
Chrysler, estimated that 54 percent of
all new-car sales in 1970 would be
made to families that
rllte&tdy hrwe
two
or more cars.
And what are we ultimately doing
wíth the unbelievablc orgy of automo–
bile production? What happens to the
cast-off icons? One "solution" is the
auto graveyard.
Seven million
hulks are
junked annually.
Tbe
PLAIN TRUTII
Ambouodor
Corloge
Photo
Mount.lins of tires are also discarded.
The aver,tgc motorist in the U.S. will
purchase around 84 tires in his lifetime.
But this is only one part of thc incredi–
ble expense which the average person
must shoulder in bis attempt to appease
the god on wheels.
The High Cos t of Driving
According to the American Automo–
bile Association, the average American
shovels out about $88 dollars pcr month
simply to OWN a car. Driving expenses
are pi led on top of that. Americans
owed approximatel}' S36 BILLION dol–
lars for their automobi les at the begin–
ning of 1970.
Result? Car expenses rank third,
below on ly housing and food. In a
typical family budget, the automobile is
whacking off a hefty 20 percent of
income.
The average driver is forking out
anywhere from $4.80 to $12.00 per
hour as he rods his luxury car or
inexpensivc compact at 60 m.p.h. down
the ribbon of freeway.
When a typical car owner buys a
standard-sized automobile, he is signing
a contract which will cost him $11,000
cvery ten years.
Here are a few expenses for ten
ycars : $2,230 for 7,000 gallons of gaso-
Occober-November 1970
line; $ 1,415 for insurancc; $1,763 for
repairs and maintenance; $1,188 in
state and federal taxes; $1,180 for park–
ing and tolls. Thcn there is intcrest.
And on a $3,000 automobile, the
owner will lose $850 the first year on
deprcciation. In fact, thc moment he
d rives his shiny new car out of the
showroom, he cannot get what he paid
for it.
But the ads must go on. Turn your
TV on and you see the various used–
car hacks peddling their wares, replete
with microphone cords, placards and
dogs. In back you see thc roaring frce–
way traflic. The automobile barker is
barely visible through the haze. And
he's chattering on about the "sensational
barg.tins" he has - the pitch to make
you walk clown the aisle to his used–
car lot.
"Buy
a
new or useJ car and you're
bound to live happily ever after," the
idea goes. We all know, however, that
the sale of a used car has been jokingly
called thc nearest thing to a perfect
cr imc.
But buying
a
new car isn't going to
be much less
o(
a head,tche. Perhaps
most
(
rustrating for the new-car owner
are the Jefects in the car. For those
who think that a new car means no
repairs or problems, prepare for a
shock.
Brand New Junk Heap
Your
neu car
may have as many as
25 to
tio
defects aod defi ciencies, esti–
matcd one authority. A Consumers
Union specialist testified before a Senate
anti-trust and monopoly subcommittee
that thc consumcr is
so
111ed
to shoddi–
ness that he often doesn't even bother
complaining.
This testimony caused Senator Phillip
A. Hart to ask, "Are we kidding our–
selves when we say that our manu–
facturing techni<¡ue is supreme in the
world ... ?"
According to the executive director
of the President' s Committee on Con–
sumer Interest, of the 30,522 com–
plaints received by the agency in a year,
the overwhelming numbcr conccrned
cars. Shoddy "craftsmanshi p," the ab–
surdities of warranties, exorbitant repair
charges were sorne of the allegations.
According
to
one questionnaire,