[ampaterry]

“Would you buy a used car from this man?”
Do you remember when that was used in a presidential campaign? That phrase was printed below a picture of the candidate who was being campaigned against. The idea, of course, came from the common belief that Used Car Salesmen are all dishonest.

That is a bit puzzling to me, because I have found some corporate salesmen in several different product lines that are dishonest, while I have found several used car salesmen that were quite honest. I believe salesmen have about the same dishonesty rate as most other professions, with no great difference in those selling used cars.

I believe this idea concerning used car salesmen being dishonest originater many years ago when the Horse was the transportation of the day. Horses were sold by horsetraders, and everyone knew that these guys could not be trusted. Horsetraders acted like Native Americans that were counting coup on their enemies; they took great pride in being able to cheat each other by using many different and very devious methods. Doping the unruly horse to make him docile during the sales presentation was one of the more common ones, but they ranged into very elaborate schemes far beyond that.

Then along came the automobile, and everyone wanted one! They could go faster than a horse, did not get tired, and only required feeding when they were being worked! The country went car-crazy, and who do you suppose became the car salesmen? The guys who knew transportation, of course – the horsetraders! While no longer the rule, this probably is the source of the belief that used car salesmen are all con men.

The Word of God tells us:
Leviticus 19:11-13 (KJV);
Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.

That is pretty clear – we should not steal, deal falsely, lie or defraud. And then folks won’t compare us to the stereotypical used car salesman.

May God bless each and every one of you -