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Why Car Salesmen Don't Want To Sell Electric Cars
HughPickens.com writes: Matt Richtel writes in the NYT that one big reason there are only about 330,000 electric vehicles on the road is that car dealers show little enthusiasm for putting consumers into electric cars. Industry insiders say that electric vehicles do not offer dealers the same profits as gas-powered cars, they take more time to sell because of the explaining required, and electric vehicles may require less maintenance, undermining the biggest source of dealer profits — their service departments. Some electric car buyers have said they felt as if they were the ones doing the selling. Chelsea Dell made an appointment to test-drive a used Volt but when she arrived, she said, a salesman told her that the car hadn't been washed, and that he had instead readied a less expensive, gas-powered car. "I was ready to pull the trigger, and they were trying to muscle me into a Chevy Sonic," says Dell. "The thing I was baffled at was that the Volt was a lot more expensive." Marc Deutsch, Nissan's business development manager for electric vehicles says some salespeople just can't rationalize the time it takes to sell the cars. A salesperson "can sell two gas burners in less than it takes to sell a Leaf," Deutsch says. "It's a lot of work for a little pay."
Jared Allen says that service is crucial to dealer profits and that dealers didn't want to push consumers into electric cars that might make them less inclined to return for service. Maybe that helps explains the experience of Robert Kast, who last year leased a Volkswagen e-Golf from a local dealer. He said the salesman offered him a $15-per-month maintenance package that included service for oil changes, belt repair and water pumps. "I said: 'You know it doesn't have any of those things,'" Mr. Kast recalled. He said the salesman excused himself to go confirm this with his manager. Of the whole experience, Mr. Kast, 61, said: "I knew a whole lot more about the car than anyone in the building." "Until selling a plug-in electric car is as quick and easy as selling any other vehicle that nets the dealer the same profit, many dealers will avoid them, for very logical and understandable reasons," says John Voelker. "That means that the appropriate question should be directed to makers of electric cars: What are you doing to make selling electric cars as profitable and painless for your dealers as selling gasoline or diesel vehicles?"
Jared Allen says that service is crucial to dealer profits and that dealers didn't want to push consumers into electric cars that might make them less inclined to return for service. Maybe that helps explains the experience of Robert Kast, who last year leased a Volkswagen e-Golf from a local dealer. He said the salesman offered him a $15-per-month maintenance package that included service for oil changes, belt repair and water pumps. "I said: 'You know it doesn't have any of those things,'" Mr. Kast recalled. He said the salesman excused himself to go confirm this with his manager. Of the whole experience, Mr. Kast, 61, said: "I knew a whole lot more about the car than anyone in the building." "Until selling a plug-in electric car is as quick and easy as selling any other vehicle that nets the dealer the same profit, many dealers will avoid them, for very logical and understandable reasons," says John Voelker. "That means that the appropriate question should be directed to makers of electric cars: What are you doing to make selling electric cars as profitable and painless for your dealers as selling gasoline or diesel vehicles?"
Except they do. They have less moving parts and the ones that are there don't burn their own lubricant, are closed to outside contaminates, and are not subject to nearly the same amount of heat and pressure.
Which state would that be, as the ACs mention?
From wiki:
In the United States, direct manufacturer auto sales are prohibited in almost every state by franchise laws requiring that new cars be sold only by dealers.
Customer Experience
According to one survey, more than half of dealership customers would prefer to buy directly from the manufacturer, without any monetary incentives to do so. An analyst report of a direct sales model is estimated to cut the cost of a vehicle by 8.6%.[11] This implies an even greater demand currently exists for a direct manufacturer sales model. However, state laws in the United States prohibit manufacturers from selling directly, and customers must buy through a dealer.
I don't read AC A human right
Costco has a terrible car sales model.
They "shop around" to local dealerships by getting them to give a quote for the requested model. Then they sell it to you at the lowest first-quote price of any local dealership, plus a little markup for Costco, of course. Lowest first-quote price. That's pants-on-head retarded. You at least should get a second round of quotes.
Oh, and the best part is that they won't even bother to get a price for you unless you first commit to completing the sale with them! So you can't even go back and say "no, sorry, that's too much, try again or I'm gone". You have to buy a car from them if you get even a single quote on any car from them. I will never use Costco "services". They're shady as fuck and aren't a good price.
Which state might that be?
California. I live in San Jose, and my wife bought her Tesla direct from the factory in Fremont. We didn't pay a dime to any dealer.
Um, no. Electric cars use permanently lubricated bearings. There's no mechanism by which the dealer can add oil to anything. Eventually, those bearings fail, and you have to replace the motor, but not for a very long time.
Electric cars do need tire rotation, brake pad replacement, and replacement of brake lights and other exterior lights (if they aren't LEDs). Beyond that, they should be largely maintenance-free.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
a vold is not a true electric, it has a range extender (AKA an ICE)
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
We don't force oil to be sold in anything at all.
It's that the sellers of oil prefer to be paid in dollars, because then they can do something with that money which is relatively safe and secure.
In any case, the bond market is much bigger than the petroleum market, and that is the source of dollar, and euro, dominance.
Every car I've ever owned has had more than $4k in maintenance costs by the time it's 10 years old. The water pump, the timing belt, flushing the transmission, flushing the radiator, etc... amount to a pretty penny. But the oil changes alone are going to net you more than $1000 in that timeframe. You get one major part going out on a combustion car that requires the engine to be disassembled and you'll drop $1k before they even know what's wrong. Yea if you do all your own maintenance you can save money on stuff but mechanical engines break down over time.
And from what I've seen of battery replacement information the only batteries failing at 8-10 years are the NiMH batteries in the Prius. The lithium-ion in the more advanced vehicles have not exhibited the same failure rate and currently have a very poorly understood failure rate because not many have failed.