Salesman: Four out of five automobile repair and service franchises

Question

Salesman: Four out of five automobile repair and service franchises use only Elaion engine oil. So, if you are looking for high-quality engine oil, Elaion is the one to go for.

Which of the following, if true, undermines the salesman’s argument to the greatest degree?

A. Many engine oil manufacturers increase product sales to automobile repair and service franchises by selling these products to the franchises at the lowest price the manufacturers can afford.
B. Many automobile repair and service franchises that do not usually use Elaion will do so for cars whose engines cannot handle the engine oil they normally use.
C. Some competing brands of engine oil are intended to be used in machinery other than car engines.
D. Unlike some of its competitors, Elaion can be freely purchased without proof of identification.
E. In product trials, Elaion has been found to be more effective than its competitors that have been on the market longer than it has.

This is a  CR Butler Question

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postAlone · Answer

Correct Answer A

Premise:  Four out of five automobile repair and service franchises use only Elaion engine oil.
  Conclusion:  If you want high-quality engine oil, Elaion is the one to choose.

The Flaw (The Assumption)  The salesman is assuming a direct cause-and-effect relationship: that these professional franchises use Elaion   because  it is of high quality.

A. Many engine oil manufacturers increase product sales to automobile repair and service franchises by selling these products to the franchises at the lowest price the manufacturers can afford.  
--> This option attacks the conclusion directly as we have provided another reason why franchises buy the Oil.

B. Many automobile repair and service franchises that do not usually use Elaion will do so for cars whose engines cannot handle the engine oil they normally use. 
 
  Incorrect.  This actually strengthens the argument by implying Elaion is a safer or more versatile, high-quality fallback for sensitive engines.

C. Some competing brands of engine oil are intended to be used in machinery other than car engines. 
 
  Incorrect.  The fact that other brands make oil for tractors or lawnmowers is out of scope. It doesn't explain why franchises choose Elaion for cars, nor does it comment on its quality.

D. Unlike some of its competitors, Elaion can be freely purchased without proof of identification. 
 
  Incorrect.  This is entirely irrelevant. ID requirements have no bearing on the mechanical quality of the oil or a franchise's business decisions.

E. In product trials, Elaion has been found to be more effective than its competitors that have been on the market longer than it has. 
 
  Incorrect.  This strengthens the argument by providing direct evidence that Elaion actually  is  high quality.

chloreton · Answer

The argument is simple.

4 out 5 people use X. Therefore, X is the best.

Now to weaken it, we need to attack the premise of why 4 out of 5 people use it. May be they use it because they are the cheapest ones available. Therefore, people use X because of its cheapness in cost and not because it is the best.  Option A  is clearly the winner.

kinidaki · Answer

A is the answer. The oil was thought to be high quality that’s why it was used by many services. In fact, they use it because the oil was offered to them as cheap price.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

A is the best choice.  
 
  Video explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkNQd02g6ug

aayushmalhotra01 · Answer

A says:
" Many  engine oil manufacturers increase product sales....."
If  many  manufacturers are offering the same low price, then it strengthens the fact that Elaion is the best since it is being used by 4/5.
How is this being seen as weakening the solution?

vasu1104 · Answer

four out of five uses elaion engine oil.
conclusion- for high quality engine oil, elaion is the one to go for.

A if thats the case then those 4 are not using it for high quality engine but rather its cheaply available to them. so it attacks the core reasoning of the argument, keep.
B so they will use on low level of car engine. but it still doesnt attack the conclusion on solid ground, out.
C out of scope here, out.
D but that doesnt give me reason whether its for high quality or low quality. it only tells that its available easily.
E then it rather strengthen it, reject.

LittleKKKKK · Answer

Would you mind explaining more about choice A? 
Choice A only says that many manufacturers sell cheaply—how do we know that Elaion is one of them?
If Elaion is among those manufacturers, I agree that choice A would weaken the conclusion. But if Elaion is not one of those manufacturers, I feel that choice A would strengthen rather than weaken the argument.

Thank you

guddo · Answer

Salesman: Four out of five automobile repair and service franchises use only Elaion engine oil. So, if you are looking for high-quality engine oil, Elaion is the one to go for. 
 
Which of the following, if true, undermines the salesman’s argument to the greatest degree?

The argument says that because most repair franchises use Elaion, Elaion must be high quality.  The key flaw  is that the argument assumes those franchises choose Elaion because of quality, when they may choose it for some other reason, such as price.  If they buy it mainly because it is cheap, the conclusion about quality falls apart.

(A) Many engine oil manufacturers increase product sales to automobile repair and service franchises by selling these products to the franchises at the lowest price the manufacturers can afford.

This most weakens the argument. It gives a strong alternative reason why franchises may use Elaion: low price rather than high quality. So the salesman's evidence no longer supports the conclusion well.

(B) Many automobile repair and service franchises that do not usually use Elaion will do so for cars whose engines cannot handle the engine oil they normally use.

This does not weaken the argument much. If anything, it could make Elaion seem more useful in some cases.

(C) Some competing brands of engine oil are intended to be used in machinery other than car engines.

This is irrelevant. The argument is about oil for car engines, not oil made for other machinery.

(D) Unlike some of its competitors, Elaion can be freely purchased without proof of identification.

This is irrelevant. Ease of purchase says nothing about engine oil quality.

(E) In product trials, Elaion has been found to be more effective than its competitors that have been on the market longer than it has.

This strengthens the argument, not weakens it.

Answer: (A)

vasu1104 · Answer

the argument is jumping from saying that hey, 80% of people/companies are buying our product to concluding that if you want any high quality product, use this product.
so they are assuming that 80% of these companies are using this particular product for its superior qualtiy.
but wait? what if they are not revealing the truth? what if the product is cheap to purchase or available? then entire reasoning breaks down.
and thats what exactly A does. 
if the product is available to you cheaply and readily, you would go for it regardless of how it works.

and with regards to your concern on how Elaion belongs to one of those category, we have to see that argument is coming from salesman and he/she is making this claim about companies, so from that i just inferred he/she is representative of that company.

hope it helps!

Salesman: Four out of five automobile repair and service franchises

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Salesman: Four out of five automobile repair and service franchises

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