Comment by henrikschroder | Hacker News Reader

Comment by henrikschroder | Hacker News Reader

> Legislatures want to open up markets for electric vehicles but are wary of undercutting dealers, which are local economic and political engines.

Which, if you think about it, means that the local community is overpaying for their cars, and this money funds the dealers. We're generally ok with middlemen taking a cut if they add value, but I don't know anyone who thinks car salesmen add any value whatsoever, they're just an annoying hindrance between you and the car you already researched and wanted.

If everyone was super happy about car dealers, allowing some manufacturers to skip the dealerships wouldn't be an issue, because people would still use the dealers for the value they add.

But people aren't, which is why only the dealers themselves, and the politicians they've bought are fighting to keep them around. Everyone else just wants them gone.

> He said he is relying on the Troy community and Ohio’s government to see the long-term affects of potentially losing the business. Arbogast employs 220 people in a city of 25,000. He also contributes to local churches and sponsors youth sports teams and schools.

If the dealer doesn't add any value, then this is essentially a tax on local car consumers, and those 220 employees are essentially on welfare. It's just all disguised as busywork.

Well the problem, of course, is that they would test drive the cars in the dealership and then buy online.

They can still test drive at one dealership and buy at another.

But the difference is that all dealerships have artificially inflated prices, so if you live in a state with no direct to consumer sales you have no choice but to overpay which means there's no incentive to test drive at one dealership and buy at another, you're getting fucked either way. If direct sale is allowed the cars will be cheaper when bought from the manufacturer which is what creates the incentive to test drive at one place and buy at another.

Well, the Tesla model might be more appropriate in this day and age. They have small showrooms just to meet the demand of people wanting to test-drive, and then everything else about the sales process is done online.

This is obviously a more efficient process than large showrooms, large local inventory, and a large amount of pushy car salespeople whose only job is to get you to overpay for your vehicle to cover the costs of said showrooms and inventory.

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