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Car Dealers Complain To DMV About Tesla's Website

Posted by Soulskill on from the if-you-don't-like-it,-go-on-the-internet-and-complain dept.

cartechboy writes "State and national car dealer groups have been battling Tesla Motors for years, trying to stop them from selling its electric cars directly to buyers. Most of the time, the dealers work behind the scenes to change state laws and and force Tesla to conduct its sales through 'independently-owned third parties' which are... well, car dealers. But in California, Tesla's operations are legal, so that tactic won't work. So dealers there are taking an interesting new tack — complaining to the DMV about Tesla's website."

17 of 364 comments (clear)

  1. Sour Grapes by mythosaz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The dealers have a few good points, but EVERYONE knows this is just sour grapes because the dealerships can't fleece potential buyers out of some more money off the top.

    Fucking scum.

    1. Re:Sour Grapes by jythie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah.. I am personally rather happy to see something finally taking a crack at their pattern. I hate hate HATE dealer and have worked hard over the years to never have to deal with one. The idea that they write laws forcing themselves as the only business options really annoys me.

    2. Re:Sour Grapes by Redmancometh · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As a Texan I am absolutely disguisted by this. So having a conservative state legislature is bad for a lot of reasons. However, supposedly one of the benefits is keeping the government out of things it has no business in. So what the living fuck happened.

    3. Re:Sour Grapes by Jappus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As a Texan I am absolutely disguisted by this. So having a conservative state legislature is bad for a lot of reasons. However, supposedly one of the benefits is keeping the government out of things it has no business in. So what the living fuck happened.

      To be a cynic:
      The voters got exactly what they wanted: Private enterprises buying their own law with no government in sight to stop them. That's what privilege means in its pure form: Private Law.

      After all, remember that a democracy needs at least three pillars to survive: A strong executive (government), a strong legislative (parliament) and a strong judicative (courts).
      Weaken one of them, and you open up the chance for people to abuse the disproportional strength of the other two (or even one).

      Strong executive/legislative with a weak judicative leads to a police state, where the due-process of law is abandonded.
      Strong legislative/judicative with a weak executive leads to corporatism with a nice load of loophole abuse and unfair privileges -- which is what you see above.
      Strong executive/judicative with a weak legislative leads to a static, reactionary state, where a small elite forms a wall against any change.

      Do note that countries that lose yet another pillar are usually civil-war-torn dysfunctional messes or dictatorships of the worst calibre.

      So, why do you want a weak executive again? Or, if you interpret "small government" to include both legislative and executive, why are you so crazy to want that?

  2. how amusing by iggymanz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Telsa's claims might be misleading, but if you want a pathological lying sack of shit, look no further than your local car dealer.

    1. Re:how amusing by mythosaz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Tesla's claims ARE misleading.

      They need to be clear about your out-of-pocket costs - your actual payment to Tesla's finance company.

      ALSO, dealerships exist only to fuck customers out of useless middleman money by skimming off the top and providing overpriced service.

    2. Re:how amusing by hawguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Tesla's claims ARE misleading.

      They need to be clear about your out-of-pocket costs - your actual payment to Tesla's finance company.

      ALSO, dealerships exist only to fuck customers out of useless middleman money by skimming off the top and providing overpriced service.

      If you actually buy the car, the payment is quite clear on the paperwork... But really, If someone buying a $70,000 car can't float the $7500 tax refund until next year when he gets it back from taxes, then he shouldn't be buying a $70,000 car.

    3. Re:how amusing by mark-t · · Score: 5, Insightful

      To be fair, however.... dealerships aren't particularly up front about that information either. You can calculate it yourself easily enough... but the figure that they advertise cars for is in my experience substantially less than what you'll actually end up forking out after all is said and done.

      --
      File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
  3. let's all shed a tear for car dealers by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    there's a reason why they call it disruptive technology, scumbags

    we don't need you

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  4. Free Enterprise! by ebno-10db · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ain't free enterprise great in America? You can do anything, as long as you cut the vested interests in for a piece of the action. Thankfully though we're not a bunch of economically ignorant Neanderthals that would do something stupid like put a nickel tariff on a pair of socks. That would be interfering in commerce!

    1. Re:Free Enterprise! by jythie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "the" cause huh?

      Sorry, but such a complex historical event can not be simplified to a single 'cause'. Then again, your entire argument reeks of simplification. A good tax strategy requires careful balancing of multiple types since they ALL have consequences. Tarrifs benefit some segments and hurt others, same with personal income, sales, property, license, and pretty much any other tax type. All of them try to take a cut of economic movement, but if you cut too deeply into one type or another it just moves elsewhere or breaks down.

  5. You know it's the future... by wjcofkc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...when companies are fighting it.

    --
    Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
  6. Re:Ford Vs Musk by dk20 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not to troll, but i wonder what would happen in the "IP" era of the US economy? If Ford tried this today would he still win or would the "patent holders"?

  7. Re:no problem by jythie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I am sure they will find a way. If not directly, they will try it indirectly like associating Tesla with political movements that make them sound socialist or otherwise un-american... or they will associate them with the _wrong_ elites (i.e. not the rich sexy people who deserve all they have and are better then us, but the wrong rich people who do not deserve their wealth and think they are better then us)... stuff like that. More then one way to convince consumers to screw themselves as long as you can tie your business needs to some pre-existing social narrative.

  8. Dear US car dealerships... by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You guys used to serve a valuable purpose. Yes, you've always screwed us as hard as you could get away with, but hey, can't fault you for following the American Way to the American Dream.

    But now? Congratulations, the internet has made you nothing more than the place I go to test drive your products before I let the nearest 50 of you bid against each other for my next buy (and don't think I won't buy from the other side of the country if someone there has a good enough sale going on to cover the cost of shipping the damned thing to me).

    You had a good run. Congratulations. Now cash out before you run out of cash. Simple as that.

    Please, go down gracefully. Don't let this turn into yet another "when you can't compete, legislate" disaster. That just never goes well for the "legacy" side of the battle.

  9. Re:You're welcome... by rsborg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If they were doing everything right then why the need for the tax credit?

    It's a mere pittance compared to the decades-old infrastructure that a fossil-fuel powered car gets for "free" because we essentially subsidize the entire petroleum fuel supply chain at a federal level [1] to the tune of $10s of billions of dollars. Yes, that's for mega-corporations who are making record profits every quarter [2].

    So 200k models qualify for the credit at $7500 a piece. That's a neat $1.5M for each car manufacturer - how does that compare to the $Billions in yearly subsidies that the petro infrastructure gets that's passed on to each gas/diesel guzzling car/truck on the road?

    Quit whining about the tiny tax credit. Instead start complaining about how the big three auto manufacturers and Big oil are bending us over a barrel.

    [1] http://priceofoil.org/fossil-fuel-subsidies/
    [2] http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5503955&page=1

    --
    Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
  10. Re:Missing Point by drkim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While true if you factor in the cost of the wear on the battery per km driven then cost of an electric car's fuel is actually far higher than a petrol car.

    Interesting point - but wouldn't that mean that petrol car dealers should be adding the costs of, "carburetor wear and tear; carburetor cleaning; air filter replacement; gas tank wear and tear; etc." to their fuel costs; all those costs that electric cars don't incur.