Would-Be Tesla Owners Jump Through Hoops To Skirt Wacky Texas Rules

cartechboy writes "Texas is known for having the nation's most draconian anti-Tesla rules, based on intense and cash-rich lobbying and political donations by Texas car dealers. What's amazing is what would-be Tesla owners still have to do to get their hands on--and maintain--a Tesla Model S. How do you buy a car the laws try to stop you from owning? By jumping through wacky hoops, it turns out. Tesla store staff, for example, can't tell visitors how much a Model S costs. They can't give test drives, and they can't discuss financing options. Tesla service centers are banned from showing the company logo — or advertising that they do Tesla warranty work or service at all. So how have 1,000 Model S cars been sold? That would be sheer persistence."

Comments

"libertarians" against fair competition

[globaljustin]

the GOP in Texas is a criminal organization like the mafia....Tesla wouldn't pay the 'protection' fee...

any equivocation belies ignorance...if you are a "libertarian" you must criticize this and oppose the Republicans who did it

from TFA:

The current iron-clad Texas franchise law is the result of years of lobbying by the powerful and well-connected Texas Auto Dealers Association (TADA), founded and run for 30 years by legendary Texas lobbyist Gene Fondren.

In 2012, dealership interests "invested" more than $2.5 million in the Texas legislative elections, according to the the watchdog group Texans For Public Justice. Sixty percent of Texas lawmakers received checks from TADA in 2012.Two elderly billionaire car dealers, Tom Friedkin and Red McCombs--the latter is also chairman of the former Blackwater security firm--kicked in more than a million dollars between them.

Wouldn't have hurt Diet Mtn Dew

[tepples]

Bad example. If you're thinking of the New York City soft drink size limit, that would have applied to soft drinks with caloric sweeteners, not diet soft drinks. All that would have meant is that restaurants would start carrying a larger selection of diet sodas, not just the diet version of the cola. I miss fountain Diet Mtn Dew.

Re:Red state

[Anonymous Coward]

They voted down the bills submitted by the house because they had their crazy teabagger anti healthcare bullshit lumped into them. They wouldn't pass a clean bill so the senate shut them down. They still didn't pass a clean bill, just one with the right perks to make everyone happy.

Re:Red state

[evilviper]

seems like you can buy a gun in any blue state

Only because of the courts... NY, D.C., and others, basically outlawed guns, until the courts overturned the rules.

I'm a registered Democrat, who has never owned or fired a gun, yet I'm disgusted at the faith-based gun control laws being advocated, despite all evidence EVER, showing they only have the opposite effects. And worse, exploiting dead children to push for gun control laws that undeniably wouldn't have saved any of those children. Universal background checks are a great idea, but all other gun control laws currently suggested are pure idiocy.

Re:Texas means oil

[PRMan]

Christians are told to ignore Leviticus (except for sexual stuff mostly). It's in Acts 15 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2015&version=NIV if you would like to be enlightened.

Re:Red state

[interkin3tic]

if you were too stupid to figure out where the nearest county line was so you could buy booze, then I have zero sympathy for your rant.

I didn't live there and this was before the era of smartphones. It was new years, and my relatives there don't drink much. Anyway, "There are ways around it" make a bad law become not bad.

Re:Tesla's in Texas

[Yosho]

Then there were the blue laws, where you could go to the store on Sunday but not buy certain things.

Some of those laws are gone, but some of them are still around. Grocery stores can't sell liquor, and they can't sell any alcohol before noon on Sunday. That really confused a friend of mine the first time he needed to get some cooking sherry on a Sunday morning.

Remember, the Republican party is pro-business! Unless your business is doing something they find morally objectionable.

Re:Red state

[Grishnakh]

Oh and Australia has a much more populated Indonesia next door (on the global map it is almost touching) as the Mexican equivalent

There's a slight problem: there's a big body of water separating the two. You can't exactly walk between Indonesia and Australia (and it's too far to swim while carrying a bunch of contraband on your back). Yes, you can use boats, but the Australian Navy is very active in patrolling their EEZ waters, largely to discourage illegal fishers (usually from other neighboring countries), but also to prevent smuggling. By contrast, the border with Mexico is about 2000 miles long, mostly on land (or a puny little creek called a river in parts), and largely wide-open which is why there's so much drug and human smuggling into the US from Mexico.