Who's To Blame For Rules That Block Tesla Sales In Most US States?

cartechboy writes The common assumption among Tesla fans seems to be that state auto-dealer lobbyists are working with Republican legislators to enact laws banning direct sales of Tesla's electric cars to retail buyers. Is it true? The New York Times published an article with some data points that assesses the supposition. While the article mainly focuses on the conflict between Uber and the Republican party, some quotes could be easily applied to Tesla. For instance, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Preibus said, "It should be consumers, not government bureaucrats or legislators, that deicde what companies get our business." The author of the article, Josh Barro, wrote that 22 states permit direct sales of automobiles by Tesla to retail buyers, and of those the majority--14 of them-- voted for President Obama. He suggested that Democratic California, Illinois, and New York "have freer markets in auto retailing than Texas," which is presently Republican. When looking at a five-year-old article by Nate Silver that looked at political donations by car dealers, fully 88 percent of those donations went to Republican candidates, and just 12 percent to Democrats. That possibly suggests a propensity among Republican state legislators to support the interests for car dealers over those of electric-car buyers. Is the small bit of evidence enough to make a case? Good background on the current system of dealership sinecure can be found in this short 2009 Competition Advocacy Paper from the U.S. Department of Justice, which delves into the history and effects of the dealers-only system which still prevails.

Comments

Re:Turf

[Moof123]

Very good points. Two things stick out from the anecdotes of early adopters:

1) Tesla owners who must get service without the benefit of any dealer network have the highest owner satisfaction in survey after survey.

2) Nissan Leaf owners have a wide range of tales about inept and laughable service and support from Leaf certified dealerships. Better yet, not all dealers are "Leaf Certified". So you can buy a Nissan, but cannot just go to any dealership for basic service, which is supposed to be one of the main arguments in favor of the dealership model. Heck, dealerships can lose/drop their certification leaving buyers in the area high and dry (especially in backwater areas with little to no charging infrastructure to make to the next closest dealer). Early tales from people buying compliance cars (Fiat 500e, Chevy Spark EV, etc) are much, much worse.