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

Red state

[ugen]

Oh, those individual-freedom-loving Texans.

Re:Red state

[garcia]

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.

Re:Red state

[jythie]

Well, these dealers have more money, so they get more freedom. Texas freedom generally is not about individual for the masses, but about not keeping the power of the powerful in check.

Re:Red state

[gl4ss]

This is what giving regulatory power to your government brings you.

I thought this was what bringing regulatory power to your local businessmen brings you...

Re:Red state

[mwvdlee]

You think any Texans except the oil companies actually want this Tesla sales ban?

This isn't Austin vs. the rest of the state, this is oil companies vs the rest of the state.

Re:Red state

[iserlohn]

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.

Re:Red state

[sycodon]

"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.

Re:Red state

[CanHasDIY]

Well, these dealers have more money, so they get more freedom.

Oh, so in other words, exactly the same as every other state government in the nation, as well as the national government itself.

Re:Red state

[Anonymous Coward]

That is a great example of the No True Scotsman Fallacy, of which the Tea Party makes great use.

Re:Red state

[intermodal]

This one's about the car dealerships, not the oil companies. General Motors has been one of the key electric car pushers, but their dealers were far from hands-off on this one.

For the oil companies, sticking it to Tesla is just a fringe benefit.

Re:Red state

[Anonymous Coward]

(And I hate to break it to you, but it's Senate Democrats who voted down the budget for two weeks.)

You're either an idiot or an asshole. Or both. So let me explain based on the assumption you're simply ignorant. Here's how politics works:

1. Submit a bill titled "The most wonderful bill in the history of mankind which everybody loves excepts evil fucking bastards."
2. Add something in this bill which says that everybody must abduct, kill, and eat 1 dozen babies per week.
3. Watch opponents vote against bill because it is sick and wrong.
4. Proceed to loudly proclaim that your opponent just voted against the most wonderful bill in the history of mankind and thus has proven himself to be an evil fucking bastard.

Rinse and repeat. They all do it. You can claim Senate Democrats "voted down the budget" which is not even close to the whole story. Or you can say that House GOP pushed a pile of pigshit up to the Senate. Most revealing is how you use the phrase "THE budget". There is no budget until it's voted into law, what was sent was A proposed budget.

Quit getting your information from the bullshit on TV, it's mostly a bunch of partisan crap. Go read the actual bill, look at the riders attached to it. Often a bill which looks great up front contains a whole bunch of really stupid bullshit. Ask your elected rep why he/she voted for/against a bill, don't just take the title and start screaming "OMG Senator DickWiggle just voted against the Save the Children bill, so he must be in favor of murdering the children!"

Re:Red state

[interkin3tic]

Lets not engage in false equivalency just to avoid pissing anyone off. There are real differences between red states and blue states in terms of personal freedoms. Liquor laws for example are a hallmark of those fucking bible-thumpers. That has affected me a lot more than restrictions on buying an electric car. Perhaps you're talking specifically about owning a gun? I dunno, seems like you can buy a gun in any blue state, but there are fucking dry counties in Texas where you cannot buy alchohol at all.

You can't even say red states allow more flexibility for companies and "economic freedom." (Points to current article.)

If you're uncomfortable with how close that sounds to (gasp) taking a political position, you can give yourself the following out: it's not political or ideological differences so much as it is culture. This isn't a conservative/liberal difference. This is morons allowing their government to be run by the highest bidder, and maybe a little bit of misplaced hate at environmentalism (electric cars and all). Conservatives should be angry at government meddling here, it's clearly the exact opposite of free market economics. Texas here isn't being conservative, Texas is being dumb, ignorant, and lazy.

Anyway, the point isn't to say "Ha ha, blue states are better than red." Or shouldn't be. The point should be to highlight stupidity in government no matter where it happens. And I'd argue that there's a lot more egregious stupidity in Texas than in some blue states. Perhaps I'm still just pissed off at the dry county thing where I was stuck for New Years that one time. Fuck you, Texas.

Re:Red state

[geekoid]

"...but it's Senate Democrats who voted down the budget for two weeks"
becasue pubs were adding stuff that shouldn't be part of it.

If the rolls were reversed and the Dems added a rider that outlawed guns, would you blame the pubs for not agreeing to the budget?

Re:Red state

[JeffAtl]

This has absolutely nothing to do with oil companies. This is all about the car dealership lobby.

The car dealership lobby tends to have a lot of power in state politics - especially in states with large rural and suburban populations.

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:Red state

[couchslug]

There are no "Conservatives" any more who matter. There exist religious fanatics and pimps for big business, and between the two there is plenty of overlap.

It's time to stop regarding "Conservatism" as having any sort of positive contribution to the US beyond the preservation of the Second Amendment, and if Democrats would embrace that Amendment they'd gain massively in the polls. The Cold War is over, the US and China won, and the US has no effective enemies left. "Defense" now only means "perpetual globalist wars" but the Democrats are down with those too so not even the globalists need "Conservatives" as they own both Parties.

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.

Texas means oil

[ArcadeMan]

Is that how free market is supposed to work? Corrupted government?

Re:Texas means oil

[berashith]

ya. It is really cute when the article flat out states that things wont change for Tesla until they buy more politicians. Sensibility, reasonableness, will of the people... all of these and more get left out in the cold until you pony up the big bucks.

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.

You can't have it.

[stewsters]

We aren't letting you have this car. Doesn't that make you want it more?

Mini-Streisand effect...

[mlts]

I live about 2-3 miles from the Tesla service depot in Austin. One thing that seems to sell the vehicles is the fact that they are "so good, they had to be banned." Even with all the hoops one has to jump through, if one wants a runabout vehicle, a Tesla is hard to beat (assuming one can afford the ticket to entry.)

So, the prohibition on Tesla vehicles in Texas just makes people seem to want them more. Especially with the fact that in Austin, charging stations are popping up in odd but useful places, such as credit union parking lots.

1000 new medals please

[girlintraining]

So how have 1,000 Model S cars been sold? That would be sheer persistence.

Can I buy one just to drive it through the doors of their capitol and park it on top of the assholes who passed all these laws while screaming "ASSHOLES ARE BIGGER IN TEXAS TOO!" I know I'd probably be riddled full of bullets and called a terrorist, but for those 30 glorious seconds, I think I would be a working class hero. :(

In other news; We should start putting warning labels on everything that comes from Texas, including the people: "Warning: This product is known to cause stupidity in every other state but Texas." (with a tip of the hat to another state, whose stupidity created similarily named labels). And now, moderators who live in those two states... fire up the 'overrated' and 'troll' buttons, and I apologize I kept you waiting so long. :P

Re:1000 new medals please

[SJHillman]

Warning: The State of Texas is known to the State of Californian to contain regular unleaded.

"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.

Re:"libertarians" against fair competition

[Specter]

Interstate commerce. Normally I'm all for state's rights, but this is one area where there's actually a Constitutional basis to tell the State to get bent.

Re:how is a "Tesla store" not a dealership?

[TheHappyMailAdmin]

Dealerships are car retailers, they purchase the car form the manufacturer and resell to you. Tesla is eliminating the middleman and operating it's own stores, so purchasing a Tesla is always direct from the manufacturer purchase.

a mockery of the USA

[schlachter]

this kind of criminal behavior from our gov makes us look like fools.
how can we bomb the shit out of people around the world to bring them freedom when we don't even have it at home?

Re:MYOB

[mwvdlee]

How we chose to run our state is our business. Period. If you don't like it, go start an oil company and run our state for us.

FTFY.

Re:Wouldn't have hurt Diet Mtn Dew

[CanHasDIY]

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.

Indeed; if OP really wanted to point out an example of how New York State can be just as draconian and anti-freedom as the Texas example above, he'd have been better off to cite the 4 NY Senators who, back in 2011, insisted that the First Amendment be relegated from a right to a privilege.

They aren't jumping through hoops...

[ruiner13]

They are jumping through coils. Tesla coils...

Tesla's in Texas

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

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.

Classic hypocrisy

[Dega704]

I love how political extremists on the right run around screaming "LEAVE BUSINESSES ALONE!", and then proceed to pass laws that discriminate against specific businesses; albeit ones that aren't chummy enough with the right people.

This is a perfect example of America's hypocrisy

[kawabago]

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.