>Why aren't dealerships just consignment stores for cars? That seems like it'd work out better for everyone involved. It wouldn't be better for the dealership

>Why aren't dealerships just consignment stores for cars? That seems like it'd work out better for everyone involved. It wouldn't be better for the dealership when you take into the fact that they are a dying business that literally everyone (car manufacturers, clients, etc.) hate. The only thing that keeps them in business is laws that were passed so f()cking long ago that your grand parent were not even born yet. The justification at the time were valid, they were helping protect consumers and tried to create a "fair" market place amongst car sellers. That was back in the pre-internet and for some people even pre-phone era. when society changed and they became a useless parasite, they never tried to innovate or adapt to the new reality, they just doubled down on their hostile model. There is no long term future for most of them, especially not with EV cars that require less maintenance. If there were no laws protecting them, most of them would be gone and car manufacturers would let you buy direct from them online. None of the crap they force you to go thought would be tolerated if you could just pull your phone in front of the sales rep and buy the exact model you want on the spot at msrp.