It is a very frequent, and a very just complaint, that the Expense of a Carriage is not so much its First Cost, as the charge of Keeping it in Repair. Many are deterred from indulging themselves therewith, from a consciousness that they are so utterly unacquainted with the management thereof, they are apprehensive the uncertainty of the Expense, and the Trouble attending it, will produce Anxiety, which will more than counterbalance the Comfort to be derived from it.
Few Machines vary more in quality than Carriages, the charge[1] for them varies as much;—the best advice that can be offered to the Reader, is, to “Deal with a Tradesman of Fair Character, and established circumstances.—Such a person has every inducement to charge reasonably, and has too much at stake, to forfeit, by any silly Imposition, the Credit that he has been years in establishing by careful Integrity.”——Dr. Kitchiner’s Housekeeper’s Ledger, 8vo. 1826, p. 20.
Those Carriages which cost least, are not always the Cheapest, but often turn out, in the end, to be the Dearest.
Of Chariots, that appear to be equally handsome to a common Eye, which has not been taught to look minutely into the several parts of their machinery; One may be cheap at 250l., and Another may be dear at 200l.: notwithstanding, the Vender of the latter may get more Profit than the Builder of the former.
The faculty of Counting, too frequently, masters all the other Faculties, and is the grand source of deception which Speculating Shopkeepers are ever ready to take advantage of;—for catching the majority of Customers, Cheapness is the surest bait in the World,—how many more people can count the difference between 20 and 25, than can judge of the Quality of the article they are about to buy?
Quantity strikes the eye at once.—It is recorded, that a certain King having commanded his Treasurer to give an Artist a Thousand Pounds for some work which his faithful Minister knew would be most liberally paid for with half that sum; the sagacious Treasurer ordered, Five Hundred Pounds in Silver to be laid upon a Table in a Room which he knew that his Majesty would pass through with him. On seeing the heap of Silver, the King exclaimed, “What’s all that Money for?” The Treasurer replied, “Sire, it is half of the Sum which your Majesty commanded me to give to the Artist.”—On which, the King said, “Hey, hey! a deal of Money—a deal of Money—Half of that will do!!!”
Quantity may be estimated by an uneducated Eye—to discern the Quality of things, requires Experience and Judgment—capital Guides; but with which the purchasers of Horses and Carriages are Years before they acquire sufficient acquaintance to derive any benefit from them, and their chief security is, to deal with Persons who have justly acquired, and long maintained, an unblemished Reputation.
I must here protest against a Custom which it is high time was abolished, that of asking Guineas instead of Pounds,—as Guineas are coined no more, there is no pretence for continuing this trick of charging 5l. per Cent extra! Those who do it, know that nobody would give them 105 Pounds; but, under the jingle of 100 Guineas, they contrive to poke an additional Five Pounds out of your pocket!
As we have earnestly advised, that the Coachman may be made independent of the Coachmaker, so let the latter be entirely independent of the former.
Be not so perfunctory, as to permit your Coachman to order what he pleases. If you send a Carriage to be repaired, with the usual Message, “To do any little Jobs that are wanted,” you will most likely not have a little to pay.