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State of Iowa Tells Tesla To Cancel Its Scheduled Test Drives
puddingebola writes: Conflict continues between state governments and Tesla. From the article: "Iowa joined a growing list of states tussling with Tesla Motors' business model when it told the company to cut short three days of test drives earlier this month in West Des Moines. The Iowa Department of Transportation said the test drives were illegal for two reasons: Tesla isn't licensed as an auto dealer in Iowa and state law prohibits carmakers from selling directly to the public." While the article touches on the legal restrictions on selling cars in Iowa, it seems that Tesla was only providing test drives.
Er, yes, of course it is. Tesla is not an Iowa company. Iowa customers are. When they buy off Tesla, that's an interstate commercial transaction.
it's pretty damn hard for a state like iowa to tell Tesla what they're doing is illegal when Tesla can point to a federal ruling that preventing car manufacturers selling cars to the public is legal. Until Tesla have that ruling all they can point to is legal opinions which carry a lot less weight.
The State is right. Tesla is breaking the law:
Iowa Code 322.3.1 A person shall not engage in this state in the business of
selling at retail new motor vehicles of any make or represent or
advertise that the person is engaged or intends to engage in such
business in this state unless the person is authorized to do so by a
contract in writing with the manufacturer or distributor of such make
of new motor vehicles and unless the department has licensed the
person as a motor vehicle dealer in this state in motor vehicles of
such make and has issued to the person a license in writing as
provided in this chapter.
Iowa Code 322.3.14. A manufacturer or importer shall not directly or indirectly
be licensed as, own an interest in, operate, or control a motor
vehicle dealer. "
You need to change the law first, THEN you can sell cars legally. Were I in Iowa, I wouldn't buy a Tesla. There's a risk that it may be impounded as evidence in a case against Tesla.
"If you loved renting it in California, did you know you could buy it here?" is a typical pitch.
I have rented cars hundreds of times. Never once have I receive that, or any other, sales pitch.
Conservatives are criminal-minded hypocrites and voters should wake up and vote them out.
Car dealer franchise laws are common in both conservative and liberal states. Iowa, the subject of TFA, is a moderate swing state.
They know this is an issue they'll win in the long run. There is no justification for the states doing what they are doing, they've just been paid off by the auto dealers. Tesla has won every fight about this I'm aware of. So they want it, they want to get this straightened out in the courts.
If you try to do something to skirt the law, you risk it biting you in the ass later. If you get a court ruling saying "You are allowed to do this, the state has to F off," then you are good to go.
Also, you might notice it gets them press. Nothing like looking like the poor trod on underdog to get more people sympathetic to your cause an interested in your product. They go about everything above board, get stepped on, fight back, win, and then get their way, plus good PR.
Have to take the long view on these things.
No. You could say that our Constitution was designed as a counter-revolutionary reaction to the Articles of Confederation, designed to keep any important decisions out of the hands of ordinary citizens. It's "democratic" in the sense of people being able to vote, but everything from the electoral college to the Senate to the Supreme Court were designed as safeguards against the will of the people.
There were democratic movements in various eras in the US, the most recent being in the decades after WWII when women and blacks both had the right to vote, but everything today is pointing away from "the Will of the People". From our legal system which every year creates millions of adults who cannot vote to the new spate of voter suppression efforts in Red states throughout the country to the recent movement by conservatives to repeal the 17th Amendment, which allows for the direct election of the Senate. Even the recent Citizens United opinion was designed to reduce electoral participation. When it's clear that a handful of the richest donors control the electoral process from school boards all the way up to the Presidency, why bother voting?
Nosirree. We were not founded as a democracy. We've been something other than democratic from the day the Constitution was ratified, not by popular election, but by a group of wealthy white slave-owning men. "Democracy" is a fairy tale we tell school children in the hope that they'll someday enlist in the military and be willing to go die in some foreign hellhole to protect the assets of the wealthy.
You are welcome on my lawn.
In fact, there is a count. There have been investigations into voting fraud in every state and at the Federal level by both Republican and Democratic administrations. The number has never been more than a handful.
So to answer your question, "Who are these people"? They are the people who live in your imagination and the imagination of AM radio talk show hosts.
The Voter Fraud Myth:
http://www.newyorker.com/magaz...
You are welcome on my lawn.