In my opinion, we lose a lot, some things practical and others societal. Practically first, when I’m in the market for a new vehicle, I’m not sure which I honestly want. I like being able to go to a dealership and find something that convinced me otherwise from what I came to originally look at it. In the most recent case, I was really wanting a truck and being able to see them in person, how I fit, etc, was what sold me over one make versus another. Second, how does a future where there’s X car dealerships with different sites that I can’t easily compare across makes sound? Now it’s much harder for the average consumer to find a new vehicle. This will lead to aggregators, which will initially not be allowed up front because the manufacturer wants the full cut, but they’ll eventually concede.

Now societal. Sure, car dealerships may be “predatory” (I argue against that, some may be but most I’ve dealt with are opposite of that because they want your business), but at the end of the day it allows for more people to have jobs and participate in the economy. At some point we, technologists, are going to remove everyone’s job from them and we’ll act surprised societal uprisings happen because there’s no jobs available to the average Joe. Now I’m not arguing against automation, but car dealerships employ millions across the country, I don’t think removing those jobs from our fellow citizens who may or may not be able to do much more than sell cars, to no fault of their own, just to make a few more dollars for the manufacturer at “ease of the consumer”.

Once again these are my opinions, I’d love to hear from people who think this could be a good model for selling vehicles and will take them into full consideration.