The idea of non-OEM dealerships supposedly was originally to increase competition by preventing OEMs from competing with dealers to run them out of business, th

The idea of non-OEM dealerships supposedly was originally to increase competition by preventing OEMs from competing with dealers to run them out of business, though it was likely way oversold since 100 years ago there were far more OEMs than there are now. Today, when it's trivial to price compare online between different offerings from different OEMs, the entire structure of dealership laws exists to keep the large donations from those businesses flowing to politicians. I watched an online video of a Texas committee meeting with the public, and lobbyists, considering allowing such direct sales. The thing that jumped out to me was the political grandstanding about how dealerships donate "so much money to little league baseball teams, etc.", with no mention of their own significant reception of such monies, and with no discussion that removing the middleman of dealerships would mean less money extracted from the buyer to pay for all those shiny showrooms, meaning such money could be donated directly by consumers to their favorite organizations. But the most remarkable thing to me was watching the politicians greet the automobile dealers lobbyist with some pleasure by name when she got up to talk and mentioning how often they saw her.