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Unfortunately the reality is that dealer owners have a huge amount of local political power as they’re usually among the wealthiest people in their area. The us

Unfortunately the reality is that dealer owners have a huge amount of local political power as they’re usually among the wealthiest people in their area. The us is generally decent when it comes to corruption, but this is one area where we have clearly failed.

toomuchtodo 4y ago
They will go extinct eventually from rivals without a dealership network consuming passenger vehicle sales TAM along with service revenue decline as combustion miles traveled decreases (EVs require much less service, and heavy drivers are financially incentivized to transition to EVs). What that tipping/inflection point is, I haven’t done the math. Smaller dealerships or those at the margins of course will be the first to close or sell out to mega corp dealer chains. Carmax is pretty decent for new car sales where they’re able to offer that, in my experience, and their used car buying experience is very good as well (have bought a handful of used cars from Carmax). Cannot speak to Carvana, haven’t used them.
- ab_testing 4y ago
  I dont think that dealerships are going extinct anytime soon. They have a lot of clout and political power. Tesla moved their factory & headquarters to Texas but still cannot sell Teslas in TX without a dealer due to their franchised dealership laws. Carmax is a good service but it does not sell new cars, only used cars.
  - toomuchtodo 4y ago
    You absolutely can buy a Tesla in Texas. You buy the vehicle on their website, and there are 50k+ Teslas currently registered in the state of TX. While Texas’ protectionism of its dealers is definitely a bummer, it’s trivial to work around.
r00fus 4y ago
> The us is generally decent when it comes to corruption Honestly I think this is sadly untrue. The corruption is there, just hidden very very well and legalized in the form of political lobbying and wall st. hedge funds.

toomuchtodo 4y ago

They will go extinct eventually from rivals without a dealership network consuming passenger vehicle sales TAM along with service revenue decline as combustion miles traveled decreases (EVs require much less service, and heavy drivers are financially incentivized to transition to EVs). What that tipping/inflection point is, I haven’t done the math. Smaller dealerships or those at the margins of course will be the first to close or sell out to mega corp dealer chains. Carmax is pretty decent for new car sales where they’re able to offer that, in my experience, and their used car buying experience is very good as well (have bought a handful of used cars from Carmax). Cannot speak to Carvana, haven’t used them.

ab_testing 4y ago
I dont think that dealerships are going extinct anytime soon. They have a lot of clout and political power. Tesla moved their factory & headquarters to Texas but still cannot sell Teslas in TX without a dealer due to their franchised dealership laws. Carmax is a good service but it does not sell new cars, only used cars.
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  You absolutely can buy a Tesla in Texas. You buy the vehicle on their website, and there are 50k+ Teslas currently registered in the state of TX. While Texas’ protectionism of its dealers is definitely a bummer, it’s trivial to work around.

r00fus 4y ago

> The us is generally decent when it comes to corruption Honestly I think this is sadly untrue. The corruption is there, just hidden very very well and legalized in the form of political lobbying and wall st. hedge funds.