If the salesman is known to discount his future benefits at a low enough rate then it is the case that the outcome, where at each period the customer enjoys 1 —@ and the salesman a — that is, where at each date the customer enters the showroom and the salesman hands over a reliable car — is an equilibrium outcome even if there is no possibility of binding commitment of any sort.

DEFINE: Explains that a repeat-game equilibrium yields cooperation (reliable car each period) even absent enforceable contracts, contingent on the salesman valuing future payoffs sufficiently.

Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking…, loc. 962