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.

Comments

Rent a Tesla for $1

[istartedi]

Rent a Tesla for $1. This is a one-time offer. Limit one per customer. Problem solved.

Re:Rent a Tesla for $1

[Frosty Piss]

Rent a Tesla for $1. This is a one-time offer. Limit one per customer. Problem solved.

I like this idea, but there must be some reason that Tesla is not doing it. Also, I think Tesla should focus on breaking these absurd laws. Tesla has shitloads of cash available from its founder, Tesla should take a "scorched earth" approach and start suing, and take all the way up.

Re:Rent a Tesla for $1

[ShanghaiBill]

the whole dealer thing was to protect the consumer from purchasing a vehicle and not having any support for it.

Not true. It was to prevent manufacturers from running their own dealerships, which would have, arguably, provided even better service. My experience is that a dealership is the worst place to get your car serviced. Almost any independent mechanic will do a better job for less money.

expect an influx of inexpensive vehicles from SE Asia with no means of warranty repair or service.

... except for the tens of thousands of independent mechanics, garages, and body shops.

is it a good idea for the masses to be purchasing vehicles from Amazon?

Yes. They would likely get a better purchase price, and better quality service than from the existing rigged cartel.

Re:Rent a Tesla for $1

[Frosty Piss]

Properly targeted campaign donations would almost certainly be more cost effective.

Apparently, they are not doing this or it isn't as effective as the money from local business?

State and local politicians know who elects them, and it ain't Elon Musk.

The courts are the only way for Tesla out of this bullshit.

Re:Rent a Tesla for $1

[danbert8]

I agree, claims of voter suppression and racism are bullshit. Is it suppression for all the other things that require ID in the modern world? I hope you never have to fly, buy alcohol, medicine, cash a check, or do anything else either.

As far as us being a democracy, our founding fathers had a healthy fear of it. The direct election of senators for sure messed up the system of government. If we want only representatives elected by the people, just drop the senate altogether. The house already represents the will of the people. The senate was supposed to represent the states, and now it doesn't... It represents the people, but in a horrible proportion unlike the house. In what world does that make sense?

The "old boys' club"

[Chas]

The sooner Tesla breaks open this idiotic "members only" crap, the better.

I'm not saying dealers don't provide a valuable service. Or that they didn't provide protections to consumers at one time.
The fact is, one angry consumer, TODAY, has orders of magnitude more power to make an automaker acknowledge a grievance than we EVER had in the past.

One nasty little YouTube video can, potentially, reach millions of consumers.

Wheras 80 years ago, if Joe Blow in Podunk, Idaho got shafted, what was he gonna do? Drive to Detroit and crash the gates?

Re:The "old boys' club"

[__aaltlg1547]

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.

They want the court fight

[Sycraft-fu]

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.

Car dealer: money-media nexus in local politics

[pupsocket]

Advertising revenues from local news is the largest source of income for most local television network affiliates and local car dealerships are the foundation of their revenues. (TV stations get little or nothing for carrying national programming, just the right to borrow the audience for a couple of hours.)

Local television economics is a political protection racket with car dealers as the collection point for funds, precisely as kings and shahs and sultans handed out exclusive franchises for cloths and dyes and wines and every manner of goods.

Car dealers fund a local-news system that ensures that Congressional representatives and state governments are rarely reported on.

Threaten laws protecting car dealers, and get you a lot of enemies who don't want to show their faces.