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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."
I'd love to see the Tesla sales numbers from Austin vs the rest of the state. Austin residents have long been at odds w/the rest of the state and their politics and as such I have a feeling we'd see a pretty high correlation with Austin vs Tesla ownership when compared w/the rest of the state.
lots of new automakers set up dealerships in the USA in the last 30 years?
its a $80,000 car, not a blu ray player. this is something you want to buy in person
Regulations that protect the public from profiteering corporations == good.
Regulations that protect profiteering corporations from competition to maintain profits == bad.
Seems easy enough to understand. The problem is not regulations, but what it achieves (and how it does it). Spend too much time thinking about the means and you'll lose sight of the ends.
:. Ultimate Control Dedicated/VM Servers
"I'd love to see the Tesla sales numbers from big cities vs the rest of the state."
Fixed.
In all those itty bitty northeastern states, where you can spit from one state to another, having charging stations plentiful enough is easy. But in Texas, once you get out of the big cities, even for gas you need to at least think a bit ahead.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
I like Texas, but they have some of the worst legislature and blue laws in the nation. Two taht come to mind frmo my days living in San Antonio:
Burger King came into San Antonio back in the early 80's, but there was already a burger chain in San Antonio called Whopper Burger which was locally owned. During the ensuing 2 year legal battle by BK, they had stores but they had no signs. It looked like a BK, but it couldn't say Burger King anywhere because the local chains big burger was called the King Whopper. You'd go to the unmarked BK drive through and order a Whopper and they would say "sir, we don't have them, we call them a Deluxe"! THey even had to wrap it in clear plactic because the BK wrapper had Whopper or Bruger or King onit! Talk about stupid. BK finally won and bought out the other chain.
Then there were the blue laws, where you could go to the store on Sunday but not buy certain things. You could by a hammer at Home Depot, but you couldn't buy the nails on Sunday. Batteries! You could buy a battery opreated device, but not the batteries, on Sunday. My car died and I needed to buy a new battery but could not becasue it was sunday, I hade to jump start or leave it running until midnight, then go to the 24 autoparts place and get one at 12:01 in th morning! You could buy baby formula, but not diapers. Insane! The would even rope of the sections in the stores with hanners that read "never on a Sunday". I once picked up a small package of nails at a 7=11 and the cleark told me taht he could sell them to me and if I persitied he would have to call the cops, but you could buy beer!
That is a great example of the No True Scotsman Fallacy, of which the Tea Party makes great use.
Business can buy whatever laws they want, even ones like these that hurt the majority of the population. The politicians that approved these Texas laws are the enemies of the people of Texas.
Watch out when you paint with a wide brush. Missouri is a "red state".
Guns? Hell yes. Even concealed ones, with a ridiculously easy-to-get permit, of course.
Liquor? There used to be dry counties, right up until the state legislature repealed and banned blue laws state-wide. It's such a hands-off approach that the state gives up millions in federal highway maintenance money due to allowing passengers to drink from an open container in a moving vehicle. Minors are allowed to consume alcohol here, just as long as they're not "in possession", so when the cops show up, they just put the cup down before the cops can bust them. The rural baptist nutbags haven't been able to even gain a small foothold. The excise taxes are low per-unit, but provide a substantial boost to the state economy, especially around the borders. The eight bordering states (IL, IA, NE, KS, OK, AR, TN, KY) all have more restrictive alcohol control laws, and they all have people come across the border to Missouri to buy booze. Oh, and fireworks. Those are legal here too.
Meanwhile, there's no push to swap textbooks for bibles or force Tesla sales to be handled through a dealership.
What makes Missouri so hands-off? Pre-civil war, it was a slave state. During the civil war, it didn't secede, instead waiting for the feds to pass appropriate legislation to decide the whole issue, like how that whole "representative democracy" thing is supposed to work. After the civil war, the whole state went "southern democrat" for the most part. That's when the "Show Me" attitude developed. (See here for more.)