If dealers actually add a value they don’t need a law to protect them from direct sales. And if they don’t it’s just a lawful money extortion. Why such laws do exist?
This is from 2009.<p>A more recent analysis can be found in the work of Professor Dan Crane of U. Michigan<p><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3796359" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3796359</a><p><a href="https://profdancrane.com/direct-distribution/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://profdancrane.com/direct-distribution/</a><p>And the Federal Trade Commission from 2015.<p><a href="https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/competition-matters/2015/05/direct-consumer-auto-sales-its-not-just-about-tesla" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/competition-matters/2015/05/...</a>
It really says something about how broken US politics are. Removing these bans would benefit basically everyone who doesn't own or work for a dealership. A quick google search says roughly 1M people work for car dealerships (a number that is kind of staggering actually, and is likely that large because of how much money is artificially funnelled into it due to the regulation). I suspect we can neglect the number of people who own dealerships. With 300M people in the US, that's 1:300 in favor vs against this regulation. <i>And yet because the real votes in the US are cast with dollars, not ballots, this will likely never change.</i>
Car dealers generate tremendous profits for themselves due to regulatory capture. As an example, UT Austin's McCombs school of business is named after a car dealer in San Antonio.<p><a href="https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/about/the-mccombs-difference/our-history/#:~:text=In%20the%20largest%20single%20donation,top%20students%2C%20and%20dream%20big" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/about/the-mccombs-difference/...</a>.
TIL Tesla opens their service centers on Native American land to get around these rules in New Mexico. New Mexico doesn't allow dealerships or service centers that are manufacturer owned.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namb%C3%A9_Pueblo,_New_Mexico#Economy" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namb%C3%A9_Pueblo,_New_Mexico#...</a>
Your honour, I would like to submit Exhibit A into evidence.<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnbTem-8q8U" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnbTem-8q8U</a>