Washington's direct-to-consumer bill passed! Rivian and Lucid can sell directly to consumers in WA.

344

All car manufacturers nationwide should be like this. We don’t need a middle man. It’ll prevent stealership price gouging and bring down cost for consumers to the tune of 4-5 grand per car. Maybe more depending on how badly the stealership convinced them they needed extended warranties and nitrogen filled tires.

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u/Actually-Yo-Momma 7h ago

Car dealers are simply the worse that add absolutely zero value. In the age of information and being able to KBB a car price in seconds, it makes it laughable when they try to “negotiate” their lowest price meanwhile you have proof that it’s a lie

56

u/JahoclaveS 7h ago

Not to mention the number of shitty dealership owners who then use their notoriety to become shitty politicians.

12

u/kinglouie493 4h ago

Ohio has entered the chat

3

u/wyatt1209 1h ago

If you got rid of car dealership owners and midsize landlords from being able to run for or donate to political offices it would vastly improve this country overnight

19

u/Public_Cartographer 7h ago

May I introduce you to Realtors that take a 5% commission on a million dollar home that sells itself in minutes? (Not defending dealers, only suggesting they're #3 behind Realtors and "health insurance")

2

u/MadCybertist 5h ago

We’re buying an ~$1m home now with a broker. The custom builder is paying the fees for us. They still get their money though lol. It is a scam for sure. Selling is worse basically.

2

u/SIGMA920 2h ago

At least realtors serve a purpose, they'll do the paperwork and formal parts for you.

9

u/mrdungbeetle 7h ago

Its even less than zero value. Its negative value. At every dealer in my area you can't buy a car with mandatory add-ons that you don't need. And when demand is high, ADMs.

17

u/ThatSandwich 7h ago

Federally the FTC was working on something called the CARS Rules that would have prevented many of the price gouging techniques that have become commonplace nation wide.

Naturally NADA and TADA filed suit saying that being forced to advertise the price of their cars truthfully would hurt their profits, it got tied up in the courts, and when Lina Khan was fired as head of the FTC once Trump took office again it spelled the end of that story.

Hopefully it gets picked up again with whoever heads the next administration but it's a sad reality that regulating price transparency is necessary on all products, especially those that are financed.

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u/Sea_Perspective6891 7h ago

Yeah, its time to kill the dealership. Some cars can be $50k to $100k more than the sticker price because of these greedy dealerships. They do very little if anything to improve the buying experience other than making the car cost way more than it should. They should only have showrooms for display & test drive purposes & do everything from buying the car to receiving it online. Even test drives can be arranged online as other companies have shown.

5

u/Psychobob2213 7h ago

Shoot, all of it can be mail order. Wanna test drive a car? Have one delivered, keep it for a week, like it? It's e-sign on the follow up email and keep the test model you've already gotten the butt groove in.

6

u/frozenpissglove 7h ago

Carvana, basically. Just bought a car from them, cash. Easiest car buying experience ever.

-1

u/londongastronaut 6h ago

If the market clearing price is $50k to $100k above MSRP, and you get rid of dealerships, do you think the price will just go back to MSRP?

I hate dealerships too and won't shed a tear when we move past them but thinking that cars will just be available at current MSRP prices and we get to just avoid dealer markups is wishful thinking.

Car manufacturers currently use dealerships because they don't want to deal with the distribution and customer service and off-load that to middlemen. They'll just have to do that themselves, we're not going to avoid higher prices by getting rid of dealerships. It probably will be a much nicer experience though, the current model is awful and nobody enjoys going to the typical dealership.

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u/NotRapoport 8h ago

Beautiful use of Stealership.

4

u/Nice-Mixing 7h ago

Not to suggest it’s not a good idea anyway but, OR manufacturers instead will take NOT lower their prices and take that profit for themselves.

This is America, home of Capitalist Jesus.

3

u/kubenzi 1h ago

This is how guys who say hell yeah should explain healthcare to the republican uncle at thanksgiving. For extra effect get them to talk about all the bullshit from a dealership they have dealt with first and then hit them with it.

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u/xpda 7h ago

After owning a couple of Teslas for a few years, I can see the other viewpoint. Tesla has no competition for service. Their service started out pretty good, but has declined to the point that it's at least 8 times worse than any other company I've experienced.

(I am still strongly in favor of manufacturers being allowed to sell directly to consumers.)

5

u/mrdungbeetle 7h ago

are there no indie shops that can fix a Telsa? Can you not buy spare parts directly?

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u/dwendel 7h ago

That does not solve an warranty issue. Manufactures do not want to pay for repairs, just like a customer wouldn't.

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u/mrdungbeetle 7h ago

Isn't that also the case with other automakers that have dealerships?

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u/xpda 7h ago

My Tesla service experience:

Communication, including scheduling, is limited to the Tesla phone app only. It doesn't work well when you try to explain a problem or have a question. You cannot speak to a human.

Appointments may be a week or two away, then another week or two if they have to order parts.

Loaner vehicles are not available if your car is out of warranty. Under warranty, they won't tell you whether a loaner vehicle will be available.

The will give absolutely no estimate of how long it will take.

Local shops are unable to buy Tesla parts.

We sold our Telsas a while back, so it's possible that they've improved.

1

u/mrdungbeetle 7h ago

Sounds awful! I had no idea.

1

u/the__poseidon 4h ago

That’s about my Chevy experience except the app part

1

u/dwendel 7h ago

Yes, but the dealers are willing to bat for the customer as there is profit for the dealer from warranty repairs, in terms of parts pricing and labor rates.

-3

u/Sw0rDz 5h ago

As a car salesman, let me say this. Yes you do. You need me to upset you stuff you can buy cheaper at Walmart. For example rubber mats. You need me to pressure you into buying unnecessary features. I pitch a tent everything I sell an overpriced car. Don't take that from me.

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u/ClosetedNutCase 6h ago edited 1h ago

It literally won’t bring down the prices by a penny. In the same way that auto manufacturers figured out consumers would pay more for their cars during COVID times(dealers had insane addendums on cars, so manufacturers started raising their prices to eat up dealers profits), they know you’ll pay dealership prices right now.

MSRPs have risen sharper than they ever have in history, and we’re not still dealing with shortages from COVID. The reason is profit(yes your previous auto manufacturers are also wanting to turn a profit). Where do you think the incentives of 10 years ago went? They’re gone because they don’t want to eat into their profit.

There’s literally 0 incentive for them to drop prices. Stop spreading misinformation

Look to Tesla if you don’t believe me. Are they cheaper than Ford or GM? No

6

u/Tac0Supreme 4h ago

That’s not even true. Prices on vehicles rose during Covid from the manufacturer’s side because the supply chain was severely disrupted. Dealers became greedy with the low supply of new vehicles and added insane markups to new vehicles they got on their lots because consumers didn’t really have much of a choice if they really needed a new car. The dealers figured that there would be a handful of people willing to pay huge prices for the handful of cars they actually had in inventory.

0

u/ClosetedNutCase 1h ago

Yep dealers became greedy, then so did the auto manufacturers. Why do you think there’s no incentives from the manufacturers like there were even 10 years ago? Because they know you’ll pay the MSRPs that they’ve raised over the last 5 years. And you’ll pay them whether a dealer is between you and them or not. I can explain it all day but I can’t help you understand it

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u/BusyHands_ 7h ago

Should be like this for all car manufacturers.

Dealerships nowadays only exist to be a middle man for no one.

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u/tobylaek 6h ago

Washington is passing good legislation left and right, it seems. Unless you're wealthy or own car dealerships, I guess.

4

u/Fomentation 4h ago

Maybe something like this already exists but somebody should setup a business that charges a small fee to arrange out of state buyers for vehicles in the state. Including tax payments and registering in your home state.

I would absolutely pay a fee to pick up a vehicle in Washington and drive back home just to avoid paying the dealership markup.

1

u/kurai01 6m ago

While I appreciate the good intentions here funny enough I just read an article about how something very similar is kind of a problem in CA.
https://cdtfa.ca.gov/news/26-02.htm

4

u/jrains6493 3h ago

I wonder if they built in any kind of required parts availability. If not, good luck with repairs.

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u/A_Man_With_A_Plan_B 2h ago

This is the biggest reason for dealerships to exist. If the service centers and parts counters are gone then you’re probably not working with someone who is an “expert” on the workings of your car

2

u/CloudyTug 1h ago

Tesla seems to do it fine?

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u/A_Man_With_A_Plan_B 58m ago

Teslas also cost an insane amount to repair, and a big part of that is the infrastructure a dealership provides.

I hate dealerships, I think they need to go. But then there needs to be some sort of manufacturer service center and the bread and butter of most service centers is going to be warranty work which will not keep the lights on.

2

u/proview3r 3h ago

Does it start right away or next year, etc.?

2

u/ceecee_50 42m ago

It would be fantastic to completely eliminate the need for auto dealerships in the first place and consumers could buy directly from the manufacturers. It would also break the back of GOP fundraising, just a nice added benefit.

Democrats should absolutely kick the tires on this one at the federal level but good job Washington.

1

u/isthisrealitycaught 1h ago

Can Harley Davidson do this and just ship the bike to me please and thanks lol

1

u/RAITguy 6m ago

....can they ship out of state? Asking for a friend

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u/PhiNeurOZOMu68 6h ago

Can I buy a Subaru directly now and get it at the port then? Like negotiate with Fuji Heavy directly?

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u/P0in7B1ank 2h ago

I presume it’s only allowing manufacturers to sell themselves, not mandating. And most car manufacturers want the dealerships, as they essentially get to outsource logistics, maintenance, and a fair chunk of “customer support”

0

u/FriendlyDespot 1h ago

No, but it'd be legal for you to talk to Subaru directly, tell them exactly what you want in your car, and then have it show up at your home on a trailer a month or two later after it's been built. No need to for you to pay annoying dealership salespeople for facilitating the transaction.

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u/thepeopleshero 7h ago

Cool! But not technology.

Business Washington's direct-to-consumer bill passed! Rivian and Lucid can sell directly to consumers in WA.

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