How Tesla and New Car Technologies Could Send Auto Dealers the Way of the Dodo Bird

[unhappycamper]

http://www.alternet.org/environment/whos-trying-kill-sales-tesla-electric-car?paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark



When auto dealer lobbies cry foul, they are sure to be coddled by state lawmakers.

How Tesla and New Car Technologies Could Send Auto Dealers the Way of the Dodo Bird
By Cliff Weathers
October 7, 2014

Consumers hate the new-car buying experience.They hate the haggling and the cheesy sales tactics, and they hate leaving feeling ripped off, even if they drove off with a good deal. Car salespeople are the least trusted professionals in the nation, even beating out members of Congress for the dubious title.

~snip~

But the auto dealers — knowing their business model is flawed, antiquated and imperiled — are not going down without a fight. Dealer associations are aggressively protecting their turf using their powerful state lobbies to pump legislators and governors either to shut Tesla down or hobble it so it can't become a threat. Many states already have laws stating that automakers can’t sell cars directly to the public and compete with the independent dealerships that sell their brands. But now, dealers want statehouses to rewrite those laws to apply to automakers that don’t have dealers, like Tesla.

Last month, Iowa became the latest state to challenge Tesla Motors’ right to sell its cars directly to consumers. The state’s Department of Transportation told the electric-car manufacturer that it must stop offering test drives in the state, because it isn’t registered as an auto dealer there. The state's DOT ordered Tesla to halt its test drives only after it was tipped off by the state’s Automobile Dealers Association, according to the Des Moines Register.

Iowa joins Arizona, Maryland, New Jersey, and Texas in restricting the direct sales of Teslas. The only states to formally approve of Tesla's direct-sales model are California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Virginia