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Amazon Now Sells Cars (reuters.com)
Fiat Chrysler said it has teamed up with Amazon to sell its cars via the e-commerce company's site. Not only will you be able to order a car with a simple click online, but doing so will earn you an additional discount. Reuters reports: Initially only Italian buyers will be able to purchase their cars with a simple click online and the offers on Amazon. It will be limited to three models -- the 500, the Panda and the 500L. FCA said the choice was deliberate because the Panda is Italy's biggest selling car, while buyers of the 500 and its larger 500L version embody the young and adventurous nature this initiative is trying to appeal to. "The time has arrived to give consumers a new, more efficient and transparent way to choose a new vehicle," Gianluca Italia, responsible for Fiat Chrysler in Italy, said during an online press conference. The manager at the world's seventh largest carmaker said the partnership will appeal to buyers looking for deals from the comfort of their own home, adding that existing promotions will be improved by up to 33 percent for online customers. So, after making their clicks online, buyers will be contacted by Amazon to decide on a dealer where they can finalize their purchase and pick up the car. The vehicle should be ready within two weeks of the initial click.
They have completely missed the point. I, nor just about any other human on earth, wants to have to "deal" with a dealer. Those sleazy turds are only going to give this process a bad name. If there is a way that any one of them can figure out how to screw us on this deal, then they will. Once one figures out the loophole, they all have figured out the loophole.
One of the few powers I have when dealing with a dealer is to say, FU and walk away the moment they pull their sleazy crap. But if I have made a commitment to Amazon and then have to go to some dirtbag who will own me. I might as well go there not wearing pants as it will just make the whole process of screwing me that much faster.
A tiny example of the sort of sleaze that dealers will do is to hand you a pile of forms for you to sign. They will say things like that they are required by law, or that the warranty won't be valid. But the reality is that you don't need to sign anything but the registration form that is part of the car's title. So what forms are they getting you to sign? A very common one is that you are agreeing to binding arbitration if there is any dispute about the car. Another allows them to do a credit check, even if you are paying cash. Others will look very official but are just to get detailed marketing information. These will look like finance agreements and will ask for SSN wages, employers, references, etc.
The dealers are scum, and Amazon gave me a glimmer of hope that they were going to allow us to end run them, but nope, they are just sending us to a deeper form of dealer hell.
All hail Tesla for doing its damnedest to break the backs of the dealers and their monopolistic abuses.