Posted on 05/11/2013 5:41:08 PM PDT by Libloather
To date, 80 North Carolina residents have squeezed their savings for the bragging right of owning the Tesla Model S electric car, some paying more than $100,000 for their g-force ride, but they may be among the last.
A legislative proposal, backed by the N.C. Automobile Dealers Association, would make it illegal for Tesla, or any other car maker, to bypass dealerships and sell directly in the state. The proposal cuts at the heart of Tesla’s business model: selling luxury cars over the phone or Internet and then delivering them to the front door of high-net-worth customers.
**SNIP**
The whole misunderstanding would go away, the dealers say, if Tesla sold its cars through licensed dealerships. O’Connell countered, in essence, that displaying a Tesla in a showroom of subcompacts and SUVs would be akin to selling Dom Perignon in the food court at the local mall.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
Anybody who buys a Tesla is a fool but I don’t like the legislation. Sounds like the result of dealer lobbying.
I agree.
Yes, laws should be used to force consumers to buy products only in certain venues. THAT is what is troubling America today. /sarc>
The dealers in this case are rent-seekers.
Its like buying a casket in most of America. Its illegal to do without going through a high priced funeral director.
The middle man has to get his cut.
It’s the American way.
I’ll third or fourth that.
I tend to lean that way myself, from what I’ve observed in the Tesla purchase process. None the less, it really rubs me the wrong way to see a state try to insist there has to be a middle-man, which will only drive up the cost of the car, and drive down the sales.
If they have a legal problem with what Tesla is doing, then address the illegality and forget about this plan.
I know a guy here in Michigan who has a 69 Impala ragtop with less than 200 miles on it. He even has the original wheels and tires hung on the wall for when he trailers it to car shows. He bought it right off the factory floor when he returned from Vietnam.
He signed the paperwork before the car was even finished and he drove it off the assembly line.
No it's not. It's to maximize profit. There isn't any "system" either, that's just the old model for sales....before there was a cheap and available method like the internet.
When Sears started selling through catalogs at the end of the 19th century, was that some sort of end run around the "retail system", whatever that might be??
Protectionist crap. It's like here in California where dealers selling the same brands are restricted from being too close to each other: wouldn't want to let a little competition help the consumer, now would we?
I would say that they are running a foul of the constitution as only congress can regulate inter-state commerce. Sounds like a good lawsuit for Tesla.
How does Costco get away with selling them?
they pay some form of taxes to the localities would be my guess.
They’re tight with Baraq, maybe they got a “waiver”
Its not legal in some states. In fact even in some of the states where its legal they must be shipped to a funeral home.
http://www.costco.com/The-Mother-Casket-by-Universal-Standard-Shipping.product.11008302.html
>>Currently, caskets can only be purchased from and shipped to addresses in the following states:
Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Your bill to and ship to addresses must both be in the list of states above for your order to be valid.<<
The new sedan is a good looking vehicle I hate to say. .
there is nothing wrong selling cars without using a dealership.
there is no requirement cars must be sold by a dealership. this is an anti-commerce bill. propping up dealerships.
besides it’s not like major car makers are jumping to do this, this is a dinky little seller compared to what dealerships sell. this has no impact on existing dealers’ bottom lines as they never sold tesla in the first place, and tesla ain’t ever gonna be a major contender against gm ford or chhrysler.
Indiana
I’m good!
thanks
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