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State of Iowa Tells Tesla To Cancel Its Scheduled Test Drives

Posted by Soulskill on from the because-reasons-and-whatnot dept.

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.

6 of 335 comments (clear)

  1. Rent a Tesla for $1 by istartedi · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    1. Re:Rent a Tesla for $1 by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    2. Re:Rent a Tesla for $1 by danbert8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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?

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
  2. The "old boys' club" by Chas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
    1. Re:The "old boys' club" by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 5, Informative

      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.

  3. Car dealer: money-media nexus in local politics by pupsocket · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.