Should auto manufacturers be forced to sell through dealers?

The difference being that a car transaction can take 2-8 hours to complete. It's tough to do that after clocking out at the end of a weeknight, particularly if you have kids. Weekends are often the only time people have enough free hours to go buy a new car.

 

My former Toyota dealership: Air conditioner not working. Two trips to dealer offer only an explanation that "it's something electrical." A trip to the local Goodyear shop determines that a couple of wires are loose. No charge.

My Lexus dealership: We lost the wheel lug nut lock somewhere in our move from South Florida. Need to have a tire removed to fix a flat. Lexus dealership cannot remove the tire. Have to go to a local mom-and-pop shop to get the tire replaced.

 

There is no good reason manufacturers should not be able to sell directly to the public or reinvent the sales model for motor vehicles. It's futile long-term anyway, like brick-and-mortar retailers getting together to try and stop the internet.

 

Ah, the classic Southern example of strange political bedfellows. A great way to become financially comfortable is to own "County Line Liquor" in a good location. There are still dry counties in Alabama, as well as counties where you cannot buy alcohol on Sundays, including in restaurants.

Modern retailing and sales has collapsed the traditional Wholesaler > Retailer > Consumer chain. Walmart and Amazon have made huge dollars by subverting that paradigm. How many jobs has Walmart cost across America?

Car dealers are no different from any other business. They are vulnerable to changes in the system, although because of the necessity for warranty service and large part departments for repairs the dollars involved tend to be prohibitive. Tesla is working to change the mindset of the car buyer. They're having to build from the ground up a charging station system. I don't see a reason that they can't overcome a lot of this - but there are a lot of people with a vested interest in sliding a stick in the spokes of Tesla's wheels. It's going to be interesting to watch.

 

I remember living in a small town that a car dealership and gotten cozy with the right people and basically owned a prime area for business and no competitors were allowed within if not city limits than at least within any decent area. It was a stark contrast to when I was growing up, where all the car dealerships were practically on the same street.

 

The NADA is enormously influential as lobbies go. Individual car dealers are highly influential in state and local politics, too. They have networks of support including local media (all those ads!) that make them an interest group that is tough to beat and opposed by almost no politicians.

 

Actually, cars are considered "shopping goods" in that buyers tend to greatly value the ability to check out lots of dealers. Same with jewelry and furniture and appliances (used to be that way with electronics, but that's all but over now). Thus for a car dealer being well-removed from your competition is usually a drawback; you want to be right there with all the other dealers.

 

that makes sense. It really does. But small towns don't always make sense...

 

He'll have to call his puppet masters Charles and David and find out what they want him to do, as usual.