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Does the auto industry like dealers? One of Tesla’s two best differentators is its direct sales model. If I could buy a Mach E directly from Ford that would rai

Does the auto industry like dealers? One of Tesla’s two best differentators is its direct sales model. If I could buy a Mach E directly from Ford that would raise its value like 20% for me.

AlexandrB 3y ago
You're saying you'd be willing to pay 20% more for a Mach E straight from Ford than from a dealer?
- idontwantthis 3y ago
  Yes because I’ll avoid markups raising the price and save days or weeks searching for the model I want, comparison shopping, negotiating. I won’t necessarily stand by 20 if I actually ran the numbers, but if I had an option between a dealer’s 50k and Ford’s 50k+ the dealer would need to get me that car on day one before I would give up and pay extra to Ford. Same deal with CarMax: Oh you have the car you say you have and it’s the price you say it is and it costs a bit more?
  - shepherdjerred 3y ago
    I would definitely pay $1000-$2000 more for a car if it meant I could just click a button and not spend a day negotiating with a dealer
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - Daneel_ 3y ago
      I’d pay thousands more to be able to actually choose the options I want instead of being forced to take packages, especially when they artificially limit choices for no apparent reason. “Oh, you can have the off-road package OR the heated seats” - why can’t I have both? Just bolt the heated seats into the off-road model!
- q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 3y ago
  The amount is already being spent — but it's spent in the much more valuable currency of time right now. Buying a car is a nightmarish process of emailing/calling dealers, making the rounds (often in person) to see what variations/colors are in stock, building spreadsheets of numbers, sanity-checking prices by surfing various online forums, and eventually facilitating your own personal local bidding war to decide which dealer gets your business. It takes weeks — and, even after that's done, the actual process of physically buying the car is another multi-hour slog of paperwork, shuffling through an endless series of drab fluorescent-lit offices as you physically sign things on literal pen and paper like a caveman. Why? There's no rational reason that buying a car can't be as easy as buying anything else online. It should be about as much work as ordering a pizza — go to the web site, pick your options, punch in your credit card number, and get a live tracking page that shows your order being put together and then delivered to your door in realtime. I think most people would gladly pay a healthy premium to have that kind of streamlined experience instead of having to endure their own personal multi-week Homeric odyssey.
  - jjav 3y ago
    > The amount is already being spent — but it's spent in the much more valuable currency of time right now. > It takes weeks This doesn't jive with your willingness to spend 20% more for the same car as a direct sale. The dealer experience can take weeks if you want it to, because you want to comparison shop and negotiate to the last penny. Some people enjoy this (I hate it). But if you're willing to pay more, you can be in and out in an hour. Walk to the closest dealer, point at a car and say you want it and will pay the price in the window sticker. Zero searching or negotiating, fill paperwork and drive out. It won't even cost you +20% over the best negotiable price, although you will pay a bit extra for the convenience.
  - jpalawaga 3y ago
    Ok, you can pay the healthy premium and streamline the process by removing all of the bits that you’ve deemed necessary but aren’t. If I asked you to buy a certain vehicle today and gave you MSRP+20%, I’m sure you’d drive off the lot today, with plenty of time to do other things. I’ve watched someone walk onto a showroom floor and buy a car from the lot like that. It wasn’t too complicated. You’re complicating it if you’re actually willing to pay the premium.

Does the auto industry like dealers? One of Tesla’s two best differentators is its direct sales model. If I could buy a Mach E directly from Ford that would raise its value like 20% for me.

AlexandrB 3y ago

You're saying you'd be willing to pay 20% more for a Mach E straight from Ford than from a dealer?

idontwantthis 3y ago
Yes because I’ll avoid markups raising the price and save days or weeks searching for the model I want, comparison shopping, negotiating. I won’t necessarily stand by 20 if I actually ran the numbers, but if I had an option between a dealer’s 50k and Ford’s 50k+ the dealer would need to get me that car on day one before I would give up and pay extra to Ford. Same deal with CarMax: Oh you have the car you say you have and it’s the price you say it is and it costs a bit more?
- shepherdjerred 3y ago
  I would definitely pay $1000-$2000 more for a car if it meant I could just click a button and not spend a day negotiating with a dealer
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - Daneel_ 3y ago
    I’d pay thousands more to be able to actually choose the options I want instead of being forced to take packages, especially when they artificially limit choices for no apparent reason. “Oh, you can have the off-road package OR the heated seats” - why can’t I have both? Just bolt the heated seats into the off-road model!
q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 3y ago
The amount is already being spent — but it's spent in the much more valuable currency of time right now. Buying a car is a nightmarish process of emailing/calling dealers, making the rounds (often in person) to see what variations/colors are in stock, building spreadsheets of numbers, sanity-checking prices by surfing various online forums, and eventually facilitating your own personal local bidding war to decide which dealer gets your business. It takes weeks — and, even after that's done, the actual process of physically buying the car is another multi-hour slog of paperwork, shuffling through an endless series of drab fluorescent-lit offices as you physically sign things on literal pen and paper like a caveman. Why? There's no rational reason that buying a car can't be as easy as buying anything else online. It should be about as much work as ordering a pizza — go to the web site, pick your options, punch in your credit card number, and get a live tracking page that shows your order being put together and then delivered to your door in realtime. I think most people would gladly pay a healthy premium to have that kind of streamlined experience instead of having to endure their own personal multi-week Homeric odyssey.
- jjav 3y ago
  > The amount is already being spent — but it's spent in the much more valuable currency of time right now. > It takes weeks This doesn't jive with your willingness to spend 20% more for the same car as a direct sale. The dealer experience can take weeks if you want it to, because you want to comparison shop and negotiate to the last penny. Some people enjoy this (I hate it). But if you're willing to pay more, you can be in and out in an hour. Walk to the closest dealer, point at a car and say you want it and will pay the price in the window sticker. Zero searching or negotiating, fill paperwork and drive out. It won't even cost you +20% over the best negotiable price, although you will pay a bit extra for the convenience.
- jpalawaga 3y ago
  Ok, you can pay the healthy premium and streamline the process by removing all of the bits that you’ve deemed necessary but aren’t. If I asked you to buy a certain vehicle today and gave you MSRP+20%, I’m sure you’d drive off the lot today, with plenty of time to do other things. I’ve watched someone walk onto a showroom floor and buy a car from the lot like that. It wasn’t too complicated. You’re complicating it if you’re actually willing to pay the premium.