Texas Is Trying to Block Tesla from Servicing Its Cars

Megalith

Megalith

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Tesla’s problems are beginning to grow in the Lone Star State: the automaker’s direct-sales model is already banned in Texas due to the clever use of old laws by local car dealers with a loud lobbying voice, but legislators have now introduced a bill that would prevent the company from servicing its cars through its own service centers. While Texans have managed to get their hands on Tesla vehicles by having them delivered from other states, the passing of this law could mean a whole new can of problems.

Well, Texas’s use of direct-sale laws was already ridiculously abused but they are now pushing it to a whole new level of stupidity. If the legislature actually approves this bill, it would be extremely disappointing from a political standpoint and a major hit to Tesla itself and Tesla owners in Texas. Texan EV fans, or free market fans for that matter, should contact their local representatives and let them know how you feel about this ridiculous attempt to abuse legislation to give a monopoly to franchise dealers who are afraid of fair competition from Tesla and other companies looking to sell and service their own vehicles.
 
Ultima99 said:
It's not OK to mess with Texas, but its OK for Texas to mess with capitalism/free markets/healthy competition...
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no it is not.
first, this is not yet law
second, there is absolutely no way this passes. as written no manufacturer or dealership would be able to work on cars that they EITHER manufacture or distribute.

Meaning even dealerships would no longer be allowed to work on cars that they sell. in other words, you could no longer take your Ford to a 'ford certified' repair shop if that shop was owned, even in part, by a Ford dealership
 
I can guarantee you my Dad would already own a Model S if he could visit a showroom and drive one....
 
What a dipshit. As I understand it, the 'non-competition' clause that Texas bases its laws on exists to prevent company-owned dealerships from competing with privately owned dealerships.

I can see a reasonable case for that law - it would be unfair for a manufacturer like General Motors to decide that it was going to open and run its own dealerships in competition with existing dealerships that have already purchased a regional dealership license from GM. That's fine, but I cannot see this being relevant to Tesla since Tesla does not have licensed dealerships. This new law is doubling down on the original law by further saying that a manufacturer cannot own and run its own repair centers - repairs must be done through a dealership or an independent party.

What isn't being said is that this is all targeted at Tesla because, for some reason unknown to me, Tesla supports liberals, democrats, left wing ideals and socialism.


P.S. I'm sure the nut cases in Texas are considering another law, a law that says that a manufacturer cannot own a refilling station, and that the refilling stations cannot be exclusive to the manufacturer's cars.
 
I honestly fucking hate the whole Indirect (dealer-based) sales model. I fucking hate car dealerships. I fucking hate car dealership service centers. They are the epitome of the biggest pieces of shit in the world.

You are lucky to find even 1 reputable one in your lifetime.
 
Texas...... steers, queers, and corrupt polishitians.
This is not how government should work.
Are they going to go after people that buy other cars outside of Texas?
 
Soooo ? this is about local car dealers wanting their cut too ??
Sound like turf war to me.
 
Cyraxx said:
You are lucky to find even 1 reputable one in your lifetime.
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They murdered my car salesman! True story!

When I was just out of school I was pretty poor, and I had a poor man's need for a car. I had a good job, I just didn't have money, and I needed a dependable car.

After a few bad experiences with car salesmen in Spokane I tried shopping a little more locally, and I finally wandered onto the valley Ford dealership, where I was met by a good-old-boy named Pete. I was wary, and I told him exactly what I wanted and what I could afford. He thought for a moment, we went to his cubicle, he looked through his listings and said, "I don't have anything. But let me look here for a bit," and he sifted through a bunch of ads, called some people, and after about 30 minutes he came up with a list of 4 cars that might work, and where they were, and who to talk to. All of the cars were at other dealerships. Let's emphasize that - he was spending time working to sell me a car at a different dealership.

None of those cars worked out either. I came back to him later to thank him, and as I was about to leave he stopped me and said, "We can try something else. Ford is over run with Ford Escorts this year, and about a month from now we're due to get a few dozen of them that we're going to sell for below cost. It's smaller than you wanted, but it's about $8,000 off of list. I'll pre-approve you for a new Ford 6-year loan, you limp along with your car and wait a month, and when we have the sale you can come pick up a new car and be paying about what you were going to pay for a used one." And I agreed.

Two years pass, I am more financially secure, the Escort is working fine (they were surprisingly sturdy cars) and then a student on campus T-bones me at an intersection and totals my car. And I go back to Pete, and as I'm walking through the dealership doors he sees me, puts his finger up to stop me, and says, "Wait, don't tell me..." And then he thinks for a moment, and then gives me my name.

For 10 years I only bought cars from Pete Stucky. He was a salesman, but he took care of everything concerning my cars - he even saved special dealership coupons for routine stuff and he'd make all the arrangements for all my services, made sure I had a good loaner, applied all the coupons he'd saved, and made sure the car was washed and vacuumed before I picked it up. I realize that the things Pete did are simple tricks to ensure customer loyalty, but they worked, and I appreciated them. And they murdered him. I didn't know it was possible to be that angry about someone killing my car salesman.


P.S. Later, when I needed a new car, I went back to the dealership that I had purchased all these cars from, and the salesman I got was a salesman-style dickhead, and I've never been back.
 
seanreisk said:
They murdered my car salesman! True story!

When I was just out of school I was pretty poor, and I had a poor man's need for a car. I had a good job, I just didn't have money, and I needed a dependable car.

After a few bad experiences with car salesmen in Spokane I tried shopping a little more locally, and I finally wandered onto the valley Ford dealership, where I was met by a good-old-boy named Pete. I was wary, and I told him exactly what I wanted and what I could afford. He thought for a moment, we went to his cubicle, he looked through his listings and said, "I don't have anything. But let me look here for a bit," and he sifted through a bunch of ads, called some people, and after about 30 minutes he came up with a list of 4 cars that might work, and where they were, and who to talk to. All of the cars were at other dealerships. Let's emphasize that - he was spending time working to sell me a car at a different dealership.

None of those cars worked out either. I came back to him later to thank him, and as I was about to leave he stopped me and said, "We can try something else. Ford is over run with Ford Escorts this year, and about a month from now we're due to get a few dozen of them that we're going to sell for below cost. It's smaller than you wanted, but it's about $8,000 off of list. I'll pre-approve you for a new Ford 6-year loan, you limp along with your car and wait a month, and when we have the sale you can come pick up a new car and be paying about what you were going to pay for a used one." And I agreed.

Two years pass, I am more financially secure, the Escort is working fine (they were surprisingly sturdy cars) and then a student on campus T-bones me at an intersection and totals my car. And I go back to Pete, and as I'm walking through the dealership doors he sees me, puts his finger up to stop me, and says, "Wait, don't tell me..." And then he thinks for a moment, and then gives me my name.

For 10 years I only bought cars from Pete Stucky. He was a salesman, but he took care of everything concerning my cars - he even saved special dealership coupons for routine stuff and he'd make all the arrangements for all my services, made sure I had a good loaner, applied all the coupons he'd saved, and made sure the car was washed and vacuumed before I picked it up. I realize that the things Pete did are simple tricks to ensure customer loyalty, but they worked, and I appreciated them. And they murdered him. I didn't know it was possible to be that angry about someone killing my car salesman.


P.S. Later, when I needed a new car, I went back to the dealership that I had purchased all these cars from, and the salesman I got was a salesman-style dickhead, and I've never been back.
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F
 
Stupid law, but I wouldn't move out of Texas for anything.
 
Cyraxx said:
I honestly fucking hate the whole Indirect (dealer-based) sales model. I fucking hate car dealerships. I fucking hate car dealership service centers. They are the epitome of the biggest pieces of shit in the world.

You are lucky to find even 1 reputable one in your lifetime.
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The few Toyota dealerships I have had vehicles worked on at.. mostly warranty and recalls have been great.

I've also bought quite a few parts from Toyota and Honda dealerships... stuff that was no available aftermarket and have not had any problems with those either.

I wouldn't touch a Chevrolet dealership with a 5 million foot pole though.

But it really does depend on the dealership and who runs the dealership on what kind of service you get.
 
Megalith said:
the automaker’s direct-sales model is already banned in Texas due to the clever use of old laws by local car dealers with a loud lobbying voice.
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Tucker comes to mind but then, Tucker didn't also build rockets ;)

Maybe Elon will start doing ONLY factory direct sales
 
Kwaz said:
Are they going to ban Toyota, Chevrolet, Harley Davison and the like from working on their own vehicles too?

At that, wouldn't this law be stricken down by the right to rose
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They don’t. A service center that is typically owned by a dealer is doing the work.
 
Sounds like Chinese EVs will have a major edge in Texas when they arrive in a couple years.

They also offer EV incentives, but setup through dealerships, meaning Tesla can't access it, lots of legislative prostitution going on down there apparently.

Pretty short-sighted if this passes, pretty sure it would be violating the interstate commerce clause for starters though.
 
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Cyraxx said:
I honestly fucking hate the whole Indirect (dealer-based) sales model. I fucking hate car dealerships. I fucking hate car dealership service centers. They are the epitome of the biggest pieces of shit in the world.

You are lucky to find even 1 reputable one in your lifetime.
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LoL so true and wonder why we want the Right to Repair are own shit but places like Tesla is blocking it even Apple, John Dee and many other as they make harder to get replacement parts as say on backorder
Even on Rockauto only about 2% of the parts are available
 
shspvr said:
LoL so true and wonder why we want the Right to Repair are own shit but places like Tesla is blocking it even Apple, John Dee and many other as they make harder to get replacement parts as say on backorder
Even on Rockauto only about 2% of the parts are available
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But the safety! /s :p (although to be fair there are alot of idiots out there)
 
Time to sink Texas into the Gulf of Mexico. Oklahoma will sure have a awesome beach front tho y'all
 
As someone from Texas, I don't know a single person who supports the bill, it is lobbying at it's best. Myself and most people I know also work in the oil and gas fields, and none have any negative out look on EV's.

So in short, this is not Texas trying to pass this law, but rather a single Senator by the name of Kelly Hancock.
 
Fuck all of you that don't like Texas, still the best damned state in the Republic!

Boohoo, I can't buy my overpriced electric car to make everyone envious of me...boohoo. Well good! Pieces of junk anyway. I seriously doubt you'll find one bought today on the road 10 years from now. But I tell ya what, you will find the batteries in the landfills.
 
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