Automakers Looking To Put Car Dealerships Out Of Business

[Papasito]

GM is leading the way to sell cars online, bypassing Car Dealerships which have invested significant monies to provide showrooms and a staff to explain vehicle benefits, features and usage.
This will in essence either put Car Dealerships out of business, or turn them into Auto Warranty Repair Centers minus a sales department.

Dealer Principles and Investors need to stand up and fight quickly, or sales forces around the country will be unemployed, and New Car Dealerships are going the way of the Dodo.

Sales staffs and Dealer owners should be fighting tooth and nail before they lose their livelihood. And if GM does it while other car lines sit back and watch, they will be NEXT.
Hundreds of thousands of people across the nation could lose their jobs, and significant numbers of small businesses [[Dealers) could go out of business.

This system could be compared to that of electric automaker Tesla, who deals its cars exclusively through its website and a number company owned galleries. The strategy, while modern, has proven to be controversial, with certain state franchise laws protecting car dealerships from automotive companies selling directly to consumers.

Read more: http://gmauthority.com/blog/2013/10/...#ixzz2hEC4yRVH

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...11752452221502



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[rb336]

I really have few problems with this. The comparison to Tesla's system is not apt. The system allows you to lock in your price online, do financing online, etc. the sales go through the dealer.

Survey after survey shows that the least enjoyable part of purchasing a car is the sales experience, the attempts to up-sell the customer, the pushy salespeople trying to get you to buy useless crap.

For my last car purchase, I knew which car I wanted, had Z plan or whatever so that price was fixed and I paid cash. It still took me four damn hours to drive away. and service? I had a warranty repair for my power window switch, made an appointment two days ahead. I had replaced the same part in my last car, with no technical expertise and just normal tools. It took me 40 minutes. Five hours after getting my car, they had JUST removed the door panel FOUR hours later they had still not finished the job, and when I got my car back it smelled like pot. Yes, I informed the service manager of all my issues with that day's service experience and had him smell my car. Do I care if the guy who worked on my car got canned? not at all. I have nothing against smoking pot. I think it should be legal and I have been known to partake occasionally, but I sure as hell don't want someone smoking it in my car when they are supposed to be working on it and driving it.

[Gistok]

Rb336.... I truly think that your indignation is that you couldn't get a good contact buzz with the smell of the potent "medical marijuana"...

Papasito...

slippery slope

noun: a process or series of events that is hard to stop or control once it has begun and that usually leads to worse or more difficult things.

[rb336]

Yeah, it does seem like he is making a slippery slope argument. And we all know that the slippery slope is a form of non causa pro causa rhetorical fallacy

[oladub]

I don't know where it stands but a dealers' association in Texas has put a crimp in Tesla's sales plans in that State.

Employees in Tesla car galleries in Austin and Houston are legally prohibited from offering visitors a test drive, quoting them a price or even directing them to Tesla’s website. If a Texan does order a Tesla from California, the car must be delivered by third-party trucks that cannot advertise the Tesla brand.

Sounds like Republicans being the bad guys in Atlas Shrugged.

http://jalopnik.com/how-petty-money-...xas-1286201748

[guito13]

Dealers are usually a great asset to an OEM. That being said, they also can hurt the OEM as well. Case in point, Joe Schmoe owns a Chevrolet and Kia franchise but they focus more on their Kia brand. This causes the Chevrolet brand to perform badly in the market.

The OEM notices this and tries to work with the dealer to change this. The dealer chooses not to do this and continues their current strategy. The OEM is now in a position where they are losing sales due to an unmotivated dealer so they have no choice but to attempt to close down that dealer point.

THEY CANT!!! Most state franchise laws are so biased towards the dealer that the OEM has to just sit and take it.

This is just one example and there are many more scenarios where this occurs. I dont think the OEM's want to go this route but feel like they have to when they have almost ZERO control of their dealers after they give them a franchise agreement.