The power Dealerships have in the US is wacky. They look at auto sales as a way to fuel their service sales - vehicles with half the moving parts (ev’s) don’t appeal nearly as much in that angle. And Tesla really pissed them all off mightily by sidestepping the entire dealer system, leading to a hilarious situation in Texas where deliveries (still, iirc) to Texans can’t just happen at the Tesla outlet - you can’t walk in and walk out with a car, it has to come across state lines. https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-texas-cars-ship-out-of-state-sell-texans-2021-6
Texas fucked Tesla around, so Tesla built a factory there… and it continues lol. Dealers have a lot of power.
Like most things tesla, they also demonstrate the benefits of those regulations.
The cars you see at the tesla stores are, theoretically, the best of the best. So… the ones where things sort of fit together and you can part them outside in the rain.
The ones that get delivered direct to you? Those are the ones with that tesla seal of approval and all their wonderful wonderful build quality problems. So you are either buying THAT specific car or no car at all. As opposed to getting a different car on the lot or a different trim or whatever.
But, because that car has been delivered to you after you already ordered it? Backing out gets a lot harder. Same with saying “Okay, I am going to need to replace that windshield anwyay so how about you either increase my service coverage or take the price of repairs off the bill?”. And being able to compare it to other cars goes a long way toward spotting the obvious defects.
And most dealerships are associated with at least one used car dealership. That is why trade-ins work and are often a case of just leaving the keys with them when you leave. As opposed to needing to coordinate with a third party which adds even more pressure to accept the car where the door doesn’t really close.
Dealerships are INCREDIBLY predatory and one of the best examples of “late stage capitalism”. But the “tesla model” very much demonstrates why there are reasons to salvage the dealership model rather than burn it to the ground.
The cars you see at the tesla stores are, theoretically, the best of the best. So… the ones where things sort of fit together and you can part them outside in the rain.
oof, hadn’t even considered the bait and switch opportunities. yuck.
This is bullshit, unless you have actual stats. Yes, a few years ago Tesla had quality issues for their hand made cars and when they were scaling up for the first time. However they put a lot into getting better and it’s really not the same mess.
I have no idea how they compare to others but they’re much better than they were. I recently bought one and even knowing common issues and walking the lot, I didn’t see anything anywhere
The power Dealerships have in the US is wacky. They look at auto sales as a way to fuel their service sales - vehicles with half the moving parts (ev’s) don’t appeal nearly as much in that angle. And Tesla really pissed them all off mightily by sidestepping the entire dealer system, leading to a hilarious situation in Texas where deliveries (still, iirc) to Texans can’t just happen at the Tesla outlet - you can’t walk in and walk out with a car, it has to come across state lines. https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-texas-cars-ship-out-of-state-sell-texans-2021-6
Texas fucked Tesla around, so Tesla built a factory there… and it continues lol. Dealers have a lot of power.
Like most things tesla, they also demonstrate the benefits of those regulations.
The cars you see at the tesla stores are, theoretically, the best of the best. So… the ones where things sort of fit together and you can part them outside in the rain.
The ones that get delivered direct to you? Those are the ones with that tesla seal of approval and all their wonderful wonderful build quality problems. So you are either buying THAT specific car or no car at all. As opposed to getting a different car on the lot or a different trim or whatever.
But, because that car has been delivered to you after you already ordered it? Backing out gets a lot harder. Same with saying “Okay, I am going to need to replace that windshield anwyay so how about you either increase my service coverage or take the price of repairs off the bill?”. And being able to compare it to other cars goes a long way toward spotting the obvious defects.
And most dealerships are associated with at least one used car dealership. That is why trade-ins work and are often a case of just leaving the keys with them when you leave. As opposed to needing to coordinate with a third party which adds even more pressure to accept the car where the door doesn’t really close.
Dealerships are INCREDIBLY predatory and one of the best examples of “late stage capitalism”. But the “tesla model” very much demonstrates why there are reasons to salvage the dealership model rather than burn it to the ground.
oof, hadn’t even considered the bait and switch opportunities. yuck.
yet another reason to live musk free
This is bullshit, unless you have actual stats. Yes, a few years ago Tesla had quality issues for their hand made cars and when they were scaling up for the first time. However they put a lot into getting better and it’s really not the same mess.
I have no idea how they compare to others but they’re much better than they were. I recently bought one and even knowing common issues and walking the lot, I didn’t see anything anywhere