That provides an explanation for why the consumer might choose to buy from a dealership, but not a reason for why they must. In fact, said bill still allows Tesla to sell direct-to-consumer, so the lawmakers couldn't even find a reason to not let consumers make a choice in the general case, only if buying from a set list of manufacturers.

> But we don't we live in a heavily regulated society, and what seems to work fairly well is having a dealership system.

This is a simple just world fallacy. Most of the times the reason something exists is that it's the best available alternative, but there are definitely times when a systems exists because it is entrenched regulatory capture and rent-seeking, e.g. dealerships and healthcare insurance.

You have to critically evaluate complex systems on a case-by-case basis and see where the money flows to make a determination whether it's good for society as a whole.

The same is said about everything, although we recognize that the concentration of capital enabled by giving certain actors in the economy an unequal advantage is more efficient for the economy as a whole than it is for everyone to be equal.

But dealerships run contrary to that. They see distribution of capital away from the OEMs in an equalizing way. This is recognized and understood by lawmakers, which is why the Teslas of the world are still free to do as they please. The question is really: What's special about GM, Ford, etc.?

There’s no Tesla dealer to get angry and demand his governor take action against them.

And yet nearly everything else you buy doesn’t require a dealer. Even in the rare opportunity of buying a new construction house you can buy from the developer (though with the possibility of being forced through a particular title agency).

Any time I need to go through a dealer for a product (unique appliances or equipment), I know I’m about to pay more than I should.

> because cars require service, someone needs to do that service, be trained and have master techs on that service.

My cars have had no trouble getting service at independent mechanics.

> How do you handle lemon laws without dealerships?

The same way we handle them with dealerships? The organization that sold you the car is responsible for the fixes, or refunding the vehicle if it can't be fixed.

> My cars have had no trouble getting service at independent mechanics.

Have you ever worked at an indy? We rely heavily on dealerships for anything from borrowing specialty tooling, local parts departments, knowledge and advise etc.

> The organization that sold you the car is responsible for the fixes, or refunding the vehicle if it can't be fixed.

Totally.

I think it's six of one half a dozen of the other. Car manufacturers generally coalesce around the efficiency of having new sales, parts departments, repair departments all in one building in many localities spread all over the place.

> We rely heavily on dealerships for anything from borrowing specialty tooling, local parts departments, knowledge and advise etc.

What makes it impossible for the manufacturer to provide such things?

If Ford chose to do away with dealerships, they couldn't provide regional parts and training facilities? (Hell, they'd probably already need to buy out a dealership or two for every major city or region already, anyways.)

Yes and then they'll need a place to store new cars, on lots, and people, to facilitate the handover of keys and handle loans and so forth. back to square one

That was always the case; Tesla has showroom and service facilities all over the place, and handles financing. That's the model the big traditional manufacturers want to move towards.

It's not back to square one; it removes a middleman layer, one that most folks hate dealing with. You buy a car at a set price that's the same for everyone from a salaried employee, not from an intermediary who'll make up a price and pocket a commission off screwing you if you're not good at haggling.

> I think it's six of one half a dozen of the other. Car manufacturers generally coalesce around the efficiency of having new sales, parts departments, repair departments all in one building in many localities spread all over the place.

Why exactly must this be an independent business motivated to collect rents on top of what the manufacturer is already making? Hard to see how that could do anything but drive prices up to keep more fingers in the pie.

Ah yes, having Tesla service come to my house and do repairs as needed in my garage while I'm working is a complete horror show.

It's absolute nightmarish when they don't try to upsell me or berate me for not knowing how cars work, like a RAM service center did to me in the past.

There are countless independent mechanics who service most cars. Teslas have other issues that make them difficult to service. I think this argument is a red herring.