God I fucking hate stealerships. If car dealer cartels in the US as a concept die as a result of this era of idiocy we’re in, that’s a pretty great silver lining.
In most states, manufacturers are prohibited from selling directly to consumers.
There are a variety of reasons for it, some were consumer-friendly (like preventing the manufactures from monopolizing repair/service), but it basically created a system of middlemen that raised costs.
I worked at a Honda dealership in college and I learned a lot.
For example, when you finance through a dealership, the dealer doesn’t actually put up any money. They find a 3rd party financer then tack on a few percentage points.
Salespersons also earn higher commissions on dealer-provided upsales, such as window-etching, rust-preventative, custom badging, extended warranties, etc, so they try to push those things.
Dealers are also locked into individual manufacturers, usually. That is, a “family” of dealerships, are actually multiple businesses, each with a contract with a different manufacturer.
The person that owned the Honda dealership I worked at, owned others. On one side, they had a Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealer, then Chevy, Chevy truck, and Cadillac on the other side. Even they it was all General Motors, they were run separately. Down the street, they had a dealership that sold both new Toyotas and Subarus.
Want wasn’t it regean that made it a law you couldn’t buy directly from the manufacturer because he was buddies with people who owned major dealerships. And it just stuck since then.
He also imposed an import tax on motorcycles because Harley Davidson was deathly afraid that riders would rush out to purchase a Japanese bike that didn’t drip oil everywhere and reliably starts when you press the button.
Things like that and tariffs are absolutely useful tools for trade issues: TARGETED, TEMPORARY tools. There would have been nothing wrong with temporary protection for Harley Davidson if it were temporary, if there was a deadline where they have to start competing again.
Regulations were put in place to prevent manufacturers from opening their own stores right next to the dealers they worked with. Dealers assume some risk when they take on inventory. Apparently it’s not like a bookstore where any unsold copies just go back to the publisher. It’s still a flimsy justification though and enshrined these middlemen who then enshittified everything. Worse, in some cases manufacturers are entirely prevented from selling direct, even if they don’t work with dealerships. It’s too much.
Deregulate? So corporations can enslave you completely? Huh?
Where did Americans get this idea that regulation is holding you back? Probably the same “think tanks” that convinced so many they were poor because of immigrants instead of… as usual… the wool being pulled over your eyes by the wealth addicts…
Probably because the regulations protect the corporations while screwing the consumers. If a rule heavily benefits the companies then it could be a good idea to remove it. Although I do think that blanket deregulation is too broad and too prone to being twisted against the populace.
Which is hilarious considering how so many of them are getting absolutely wrecked by the tariffs. Because they can either eat the tariff and hemorrhage money, or pass on the tariff to customers and hemorrhage sales (and thus hemorrhage money).
I wonder when they’re gonna realize that they should try something other than shooting themselves in the dick? Time will tell, I suppose.
God I fucking hate stealerships. If car dealer cartels in the US as a concept die as a result of this era of idiocy we’re in, that’s a pretty great silver lining.
Such a weird, American-only practice, like with American health insurance. The whole country is a scam, jeez.
It really is
Um, only having been tourist to the US, how does it work?
Edit: the car dealership. What’s different to e.g. Europe (the referenced American only practice)
Which one?
The first comment talks about stealership, the next about weird us practice and I have no idea what they are referring to 😁.
In Europe we habe car dealers, franchise, independent or do buy privately but they can all act independently.
Is there a cartel or something in the US for car dealerships?
In most states, manufacturers are prohibited from selling directly to consumers.
There are a variety of reasons for it, some were consumer-friendly (like preventing the manufactures from monopolizing repair/service), but it basically created a system of middlemen that raised costs.
I worked at a Honda dealership in college and I learned a lot.
For example, when you finance through a dealership, the dealer doesn’t actually put up any money. They find a 3rd party financer then tack on a few percentage points.
Salespersons also earn higher commissions on dealer-provided upsales, such as window-etching, rust-preventative, custom badging, extended warranties, etc, so they try to push those things.
Dealers are also locked into individual manufacturers, usually. That is, a “family” of dealerships, are actually multiple businesses, each with a contract with a different manufacturer.
The person that owned the Honda dealership I worked at, owned others. On one side, they had a Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealer, then Chevy, Chevy truck, and Cadillac on the other side. Even they it was all General Motors, they were run separately. Down the street, they had a dealership that sold both new Toyotas and Subarus.
Thank you.
Sounds like a lot of lock in or lock out.
That’s the neat part, it doesn’t!
Want wasn’t it regean that made it a law you couldn’t buy directly from the manufacturer because he was buddies with people who owned major dealerships. And it just stuck since then.
He also imposed an import tax on motorcycles because Harley Davidson was deathly afraid that riders would rush out to purchase a Japanese bike that didn’t drip oil everywhere and reliably starts when you press the button.
Things like that and tariffs are absolutely useful tools for trade issues: TARGETED, TEMPORARY tools. There would have been nothing wrong with temporary protection for Harley Davidson if it were temporary, if there was a deadline where they have to start competing again.
Regulations were put in place to prevent manufacturers from opening their own stores right next to the dealers they worked with. Dealers assume some risk when they take on inventory. Apparently it’s not like a bookstore where any unsold copies just go back to the publisher. It’s still a flimsy justification though and enshrined these middlemen who then enshittified everything. Worse, in some cases manufacturers are entirely prevented from selling direct, even if they don’t work with dealerships. It’s too much.
We have one of the most car dependent societies in the world and also the highest car prices. Burn it down and deregulate.
Deregulate? So corporations can enslave you completely? Huh?
Where did Americans get this idea that regulation is holding you back? Probably the same “think tanks” that convinced so many they were poor because of immigrants instead of… as usual… the wool being pulled over your eyes by the wealth addicts…
Probably because the regulations protect the corporations while screwing the consumers. If a rule heavily benefits the companies then it could be a good idea to remove it. Although I do think that blanket deregulation is too broad and too prone to being twisted against the populace.
Bet most of them voted for Trump too.
Which is hilarious considering how so many of them are getting absolutely wrecked by the tariffs. Because they can either eat the tariff and hemorrhage money, or pass on the tariff to customers and hemorrhage sales (and thus hemorrhage money).
I wonder when they’re gonna realize that they should try something other than shooting themselves in the dick? Time will tell, I suppose.