Hacker News Reader

Comment by Panzer04 | Hacker News Reader

TBH, the only real issue I have with this is dealers capturing all the markup - this is happening because paying those prices gets you a new car now, and not in 12mo when the supply shortage is relieved.

I'm not exactly sure how these things work, but if the manufacturer is forbidden from selling direct and dodging the dealer, that's a problem. If the manufacturer could, but is choosing not to, well, that's on them - They are simply transferring the PR hit to the dealer (and giving up the profits, which sounds dubious)

Pretty good example of trading one thing for another though! Pay up now for a car now, or wait and save your money for a car that isn't marked up. It's kind of funny seeing corporations try to apply price controls, rather than the government :)

View on HN

Most states in the US have laws banning the direct sale of cars without dealers.

For states like California where it is legal, can you only buy Teslas directly?

Tesla's can only be bought new directly from Tesla. They are the manufacturer and "dealer". The sales people work on salary, no commission. Here's the list of states where you can't buy a Tesla directly but there are workarounds for those people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_US_dealership_disputes

why?

Regulatory capture.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2013/02/12/171814201/epis...

The auto manufacturers themselves lobbied for these laws ~100 years ago. Cars were very new and they wanted to encourage the construction of single-brand dealerships all over the country. They knew that local businessmen would not invest in dealerships if they could have the rug pulled out from them so they lobbied for much of the legal framework that governs franchisor-franchisee operations today.

> They knew that local businessmen would not invest in dealerships if they could have the rug pulled out from them

If only they realized that sometimes those local businessmen deserve to have the rug pulled out from them.

Historical reasons why it happened are one thing but it’s worth noting that consolidation of corporate power is bad and breaking it up a little is a good thing.

No business wants to sell to consumers, they are irrational and a huge liability. Much better to have some poor schmuck deal with that and be universally hated.

But why do they need regulations to do that? Can't they just... not sell to consumers?

It's a racket protected by law.

I'm not certain the supply shortage will be relieved in 12mo. Or ever. We seem to live in a post-post-scarcity society

I agree and personally it'll be good to see people reducing their consumption. The supply shortage is just a means to get us closer to meeting 2030 goals

It's not a supply-shortage, it's inflation. It's just that some businesses are yet to incorporate the markup into their costs. Once that's done, it'll be distributed everywhere equally.

You'll enjoy this read: https://joinyaa.com/guides/how-did-car-dealerships-become-so...

The reason car dealers are so powerful is because they influence so many aspects of local government.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com