• original_ish_name@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    In many places car manufacturers are not legally allowed to sell their cars directly to customers

    I want to hear the excuse they made for this

    • psion1369@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Back when many of these laws were created, car manufacturers were way worse than franchise dealerships for the consumer.

      • Stoneykins [any]@mander.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Everything I’ve read said it had very little to do with concern for the consumer. As I understand it, car dealerships lobbied for these laws because, according to them, the manufacturers were being anti-competative and squeezing car dealers out of business. So the laws were passed to protect “small” dealers from big car manufacturers, not to protect the consumers.

        But now they use that ubiquity to get higher prices through shady tactics. It needs changed again, this time in favor of the consumer.

      • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        A lot of these laws were created very recently. It was a response to Tesla’s business model. That was the main argument used this time as well, and it’s not wrong.

    • EhList@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It is entirely about taxes. By making the sale in your state/town the government gets a cut. If it was manufacturer direct Michigan would have no income tax and have jetpacks for everyone.

      • wolfpack86@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Disagree. The States will find a way to tax the sale based on destination. The states can move to a different registration/property tax model to recapture the sales tax. See also online shopping sales tax changes.

        It’s entirely about lobbying by autodealer trade groups.