Too bad Utah can't get their act together. Even after Tesla built a showroom and stocked it with cars, the state legislators voted to keep the existing stealership cartel laws on the books.
New Jersey legalizes direct Tesla sales
151–160 of 224 posts
Re: New Jersey legalizes direct Tesla sales
#152It's the 21st century. I find it amusing that I can order my computer build to order in less than 30 seconds and I know I'm getting the same price as everybody else. Yet to order a car I have to spend days/weeks of research, spreadsheets, emails, phone calls and I still won't get the car I want.
The auto industry is ripe for disruption. The sooner the dealership model is replaced by something more consumer friendly, the better.
Re: New Jersey legalizes direct Tesla sales
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
>This is great news. It is! > People often forget that dealerships often abuse their power and take advantage of consumers. I doubt many people forget that. Car salesmen have some of the worst reputations of any profession in the US. Purchasing a car can be nerve-wracking. The research I felt compelled to do beforehand felt like I was preparing myself for battle, because I knew the incentives were diametrically oppos…
If you are buying a new run of the mill car and are not picky about colors/options, you are basically buying a commodity - every new car of the given make and model is just like the next. If you also happen to live in the U.S. near a metro area, chances are that there are a ton of dealerships nearby willing to compete to get their high-value inventory off the lot. You can turn the tables around quite easily and stres…
For those with a trade-in - my uncle, a former car salesman, adds this:
"Pick out a car, negotiate your best price, take your time. The day you're supposed to pick it up, call them up and say, "I thought my vehicle was worth more, I think it's worth $1000 more."
In their mind, that car is sold, the manager counted it, the salesperson is counting their commission already, and the minute you turn it around on them, they will not let that sale go. If they can give you another $500, trust me - they'll do it."
Re: New Jersey legalizes direct Tesla sales
#154What prompted this law in the first place? Can someone from the US shed some light on this? I just don't understand how you can ban selling what you manufacture to whomever you like outside of a planned economy.
The regulatory capture argument someone made below is hard to square with the history: http://www.americanbar.org/publications/franchise_lawyer/201... . At first, cars were sold directly to consumers by manufacturers, and independent dealerships were rare. It's really hard to explain using a regulatory capture or lobbying model how car manufacturers, huge incredibly profitable companies at the time, lost their bid to…
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Re: New Jersey legalizes direct Tesla sales
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
>This is great news. It is! > People often forget that dealerships often abuse their power and take advantage of consumers. I doubt many people forget that. Car salesmen have some of the worst reputations of any profession in the US. Purchasing a car can be nerve-wracking. The research I felt compelled to do beforehand felt like I was preparing myself for battle, because I knew the incentives were diametrically oppos…
The best way to buy cars is option out exactly what you want and get the invoice price. Personally I've used carsdirect. Now with invoice price in mind, send emails to all dealers in your area. Simply explain you want X car @ X price and that you are emailing many dealers and will move forward with the dealer that has the best deal. Its important that you compare cars across dealers by the difference from invoice pri…
What you're describing is (or used to be) called fax-blast car buying [1], and the best move once you've firmed your decision on exactly what you want is to contact the fleet sales managers with either a quote request, or an offer to buy - repeating the offer process until you stabilize on a overall discounted price.
In my case, I worked with 3 dealerships (one where I test drove the vehicle and 2 other fleet managers. I ended up going with the original dealer because I had more rapport, he was flexible on pricing and agreed to complete the paperwork and hand over the keys at our house (we had newborns) - I had no idea this was even possible, and was a nice completion to the purchase experience.
[1] http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/blast-fax-car-buying.html
Re: New Jersey legalizes direct Tesla sales
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. It's like visiting the websites of two competing software vendors. One has a plain-as-day pricing table with a $100 / month plan and a big blue "Buy now" button. The other company's Pricing page just reads: "Call us for a quote". Given the choice, who would ever go with the company that makes you talk to an enterprise salesman? Somehow car dealers in the U.S. have managed to enshrine this sleazy sales model into…
Pro-tip: if you're calling them, they don't have a $100 / month plan to sell you. There aren't many companies that sell most of their business at $5,000 / month through the website. And for those that do, talking to a sales rep gets you a discount just for picking up the phone. Also, having moved from programming to sales/marketing, I'm a bit more sympathetic towards the "call me" model of selling. There's a lot of c…
There are areas where it's reasonable to ask people to call. Where it gets suspicious and tricky is when some businesses state prices up-front, and others ask you to call. When the nature of the thing requires contact, they'll (almost?) all say you should call. For example, plumbers typically won't advertised fixed rates for jobs, and in the rare cases they do that's a warning sign.
Re: New Jersey legalizes direct Tesla sales
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
>This is great news. It is! > People often forget that dealerships often abuse their power and take advantage of consumers. I doubt many people forget that. Car salesmen have some of the worst reputations of any profession in the US. Purchasing a car can be nerve-wracking. The research I felt compelled to do beforehand felt like I was preparing myself for battle, because I knew the incentives were diametrically oppos…
The best way to buy cars is option out exactly what you want and get the invoice price. Personally I've used carsdirect. Now with invoice price in mind, send emails to all dealers in your area. Simply explain you want X car @ X price and that you are emailing many dealers and will move forward with the dealer that has the best deal. Its important that you compare cars across dealers by the difference from invoice pri…
This may have worked where you live, but all the dealerships here are refusing to play that game.
They'll all give you a form letter "come in and talk with us" message. Apparently cost-plus isn't that appealing to them, and they'd rather lose the sale and wait for a higher-margin purchaser.
Re: New Jersey legalizes direct Tesla sales
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
The best way to buy cars is option out exactly what you want and get the invoice price. Personally I've used carsdirect. Now with invoice price in mind, send emails to all dealers in your area. Simply explain you want X car @ X price and that you are emailing many dealers and will move forward with the dealer that has the best deal. Its important that you compare cars across dealers by the difference from invoice pri…
The best way to buy a car is from Tesla. Configure your car exactly as you want it online. See the exact price you will pay. When you're ready, click the button and put down a deposit using a credit card on their web site. When the car is delivered, pay the balance with an ACH transfer. Drive it home. You certainly can do well with traditional dealers if you're prepared. It's just crazy that you even have to worry ab…
I genuinely prefer the no-haggle car sales process. It's ridiculous that some people pay hundreds or thousands more than others for these cars.
Re: New Jersey legalizes direct Tesla sales
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the other hand, this could be an incentive to purchase zero-emission vehicles instead of the alternatives, as the buying experience would be theoretically much better than that of going to a traditional dealer.
If you are not price sensitive, it's very easy to have an excellent buying experience.
Yes if you are not concerned with wasting money, it's very easy to not care who takes your money.
Re: New Jersey legalizes direct Tesla sales
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
The best way to buy cars is option out exactly what you want and get the invoice price. Personally I've used carsdirect. Now with invoice price in mind, send emails to all dealers in your area. Simply explain you want X car @ X price and that you are emailing many dealers and will move forward with the dealer that has the best deal. Its important that you compare cars across dealers by the difference from invoice pri…
You're missing a huge part. Get an insurance quote for what it will run you every 6 months. You can also get a tag, title and tax quote as well. Also 200-300 for DMV is for a $2000 car in CA or a $6000 car in OK. $200-300 sounds extraordinarily low based on my purchases in both the midwest (MO, TX, OK) and west coast (CA 10%+).
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