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Tesla Pushes Even More States To Upend Auto Dealer-Friendly Laws (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the under-pressure dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Tesla is now pressing ahead with lobbying efforts that would allow it to expand its direct dealerships in two more states: Nebraska and Wisconsin. For now, more than 20 states already allow the California automaker to sell its own vehicles, while others have set up a system that at least partially bans manufacturers from direct sales and effectively protects auto dealers. Those states include Texas, Michigan, West Virginia, and Utah, among others. Last year, court rulings and changes in the law in Arizona, Missouri, Indiana, and other states have paved the way for Tesla to sell directly to the public. In Nebraska, the new bill under consideration is known as LB 830. It has been met with opposition from existing dealers who are concerned that other manufacturers like GM or Ford will want a similar arrangement. Similarly, in Wisconsin, SB 605 would carve out an exception in state law for a "manufacturer [whose] motor vehicles... are propelled solely by electric power."

12 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. So what about states that oppose this? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 4, Funny

    Will they be charged in court?

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    #DeleteFacebook
  2. Why exceptions? by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why wouldn't you want to order a Ford or GM (or Toyota or whatever) directly, instead of having to go through a middleman? Are these laws pure corruption or is there some way to look at them in the best light, where they serve the peoples' interests?

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    "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
    1. Re:Why exceptions? by Comrade+Ogilvy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There is a fig leaf of an argument that a car is such a significant purchase that there should have some minimal in state presence for service/support for the customer.

    2. Re:Why exceptions? by michiganbob · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you could just order a car directly from Ford, what's to stop you from visiting a dealership, taking a test-drive, wasting the sales clerk's time, then leaving and buying your car on ford.com? I'm sure this isn't exactly what lawmakers had in mind originally, but I can see this being some kind of protection for the dealerships.

      Semi-related, my local camera store has had this exact problem since the advent of the internet. I'm amazed they're still around.

    3. Re:Why exceptions? by Luthair · · Score: 4

      The flaw in your argument is that most people already would go test drive at the closest lot, then contact a large number of nearby dealers seeking the best price.

    4. Re:Why exceptions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There is a fig leaf of an argument that a car is such a significant purchase that there should have some minimal in state presence for service/support for the customer.

      They can keep the showroom and service bays, I just want standardized prices with no need to haggle over stupid stuff. I'd like to just be able to place the order online, even fill out the paper work electronically and place the deposit, only having to show ID and put down the final signatures when I arrive to take delivery.

    5. Re:Why exceptions? by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Semi-related, my local camera store has had this exact problem since the advent of the internet. I'm amazed they're still around.

      Which makes you wonder why are they still around. You see it becomes a question of value. Do I go waste someone's time and then take my business online with a re-seller I've never seen who is in god knows where subject to god knows what laws, or do I spend a couple of hundred dollars extra to protect a major investment by buying locally, a product that I get instantly, where if I have a problem I can not only return it with ease but also deal with a living person rather than some RMA email service.

      Unfortunately dealerships do nothing of the sort. Fuck them. You know what the opposite to a dealership model is? Tesla. Where you can go into the Tesla store, take a test drive, waste the sales clerk's time, and then leave buying your car on tesla.com all the while the people running the stores still happily take home a paycheck and don't try to heap on after market worthless "extras".

  3. This is uniquely a US problem. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    No where else in the world do these types of protectionist laws for car dealerships exist. They were originally intended to protect car dealers from having to compete with a manufacturer if they wanted to start up their own dealership. Manufacturers were pushing less successful models to their dealers. This was all in the 1920 or 1930's.

    Now, the dealerships are using this law as a guise to "protect the consumer", but really it should be transparent that they're doing it because it's easier to lobby and legislate your competition away than to actually compete with them by trying to sell cars.

  4. movie theaters can't be owned by studios by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    https://constitutioncenter.org...

  5. Where Is The Need? by ytene · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm not a US citizen so not directly impacted by this specific discussion, but something which interests me about it is the apparent argument [from the dealers] that there is something uniquely special about an automotive purchase that requires that all such transactions cannot happen directly with the manufacturer and must go through the dealer. Why is this?

    It can't be simply transaction value: huge numbers of new homes are built every year, many sold by agents and not by the builders.

    It can't be because it's a mechanical device or has an engine in it: motor boats and motor yachts are sold every year - many for prices far higher than cars - without enforcing dealership based purchase.

    Maybe it's because the dealers can continue to gouge their clients for years and years - on servicing and a raft of other things. Maybe it's because it allows for artificial control of used vehicle pricing.

    Bottom line is: there doesn't seem to be any established or practical precedent that explains *why* motor vehicle dealers think they have such a unique use case as to grant them this special dispensation.

    Or are they just being precious?

  6. Barrier to entry by Camel+Pilot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Obviously setting up a dealership network is a huge barrier to entry to new innovation and disruptive technologies. This is just a feature of crony capitalism.

  7. Fuck dealerships by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Last time I was in the market for a car the first place must have caught a wiff of "fell off the turnip truck." I test drove one vehicle, didn't really like it. The salesman hands me a document acknowledging I'd seen the carfax report. Right after that with a casual "and can I get you to sign this?" he pushes the bill of sale in front of me with an absurd 20% interest rate. I tore it up, stood up and started to walk out. Apparently the salesman and manager had planned this in advance because the manager approches me as I'm leaving and shakes my hand and saying "congratulations" as I was leaving. Congratulations on walking out of a dealership? I wonder how many people that trick works on. I'll bet it's more than 0.

    The place I did get my car from wanted to charge me *more* for not using financing. They wanted to tack on around $2,500 to the asking price for paying cash. I was like "no" but I've never had to try so hard to get someone to take thousands of dollars from me on the spot. It was totally insane. I didn't have to pay that added price but I had to make a scene to get it.

    In conclusion, fuck the dealerships. Their sole job is to fuck over consumers in new and creative ways just on the bleeding cusp of legal.