The dealership system is to provide assurance to the buyer that a corporate entity under the authority of the state's regulators and law enforcement officers but also available to sell parts, perform warranty service, and repair the vehicle.
A dealer being willing to sell a company's cars serves as some assurance that the car manufacturer is stable, reputable, etc.
This all came into being during the big automotive industry boom in the 20's when car frames/powertrains were made by manufacturers and then a "coachworks" company would put a body on that..and both powertrain and coachwork companies were often in business just long enough to get some cars out the door before customers discovered poor workmanship, assemblies not designed to be repaired, non-standard fastener sizes and so on. It was common for people to buy a car, drive it home several states away (in an age where there was no interstate highway system!) and discover that their car was falling apart.
Oh hey, what does Tesla have problems with? Poor parts availability, warranty issues, long waits for repairs...
I wish I were exaggerating when I say Tesla was telling Model S owners that water getting inside the main drive unit (which contains not just the electric motor but the motor's power electronics) because of a faulty seal on a speed sensor was the customer's fault because they drove the car in heavy rain.
There is little distinguishing Elon Musk from the shysters in the 1920's that all these pesky regulations were written to address.
Any reference materials / history on car dealerships and how they’re part of the ecosystem?
When I was writing software for dealership stocking (19 years ago now), it was pretty clear to me that there’s no good reason dealerships exist, as states could also make laws that covered the manufacturer.
It made sense when manufacturers didn’t know how to scale out end consumer services, like marketing, financing, repair, etc. But now in the 2000s and 2020s, all the manufacturers have their own distribution and financing arm as well.
It turns out that people want to buy from manufacturers: “it’s a Ford dealership”, “it’s a Toyota dealership” as opposed to “it’s bfung’s cars”. The extra indirection and separation of legal entities actually make a worse user experience.
In addition, to be able to use the manufacturer’s brand, the dealerships new car pricing are all subject to the manufacturer, so no arbitrage opportunities can be made, except for getting suckers. The incentives of the dealership has skewed toward pushing services and used cars as that’s where they make money now.
A jurisdiction with sufficient desire (political will) and market power will say “if you want to sell cars in this state, you need to follow my rules.”
There are federal laws and Supreme Court cases specifically and exclusively applying to collecting sales tax that require online retail to do so. There is no legal framework to apply, for example, car lemon laws to those same online retailers.
I suppose if you change US law then it might be possible. But if so I would anticipate a major shakeup and secondary effects you wouldn't expect.
The Supreme Court changed it’s mind independent of any changing federal laws and has removed physical presence from the requirements for the commerce clause.
“[e]ach year, the physical presence rule becomes further removed from economic reality”
That ruling is therefore not inherently limited to sales taxes and opens the door to lemon laws etc. At least assuming the purchaser is in their home state when the transaction takes place.
The ruling specified that it was a reasonable cost for SD to impose on Wayfair (the third part of a three part test) because of a 2005 federal setting up an interstate sales tax clearing system SD opted into.
Meanwhile, all credit card companies operate out of SD to avoid the usury laws limiting interest in the various other states. It's a very narrow opinion. Or, to put it another way, ground your argument in finance laws not in sales tax.
A dealer being willing to sell a company's cars serves as some assurance that the car manufacturer is stable, reputable, etc.
This all came into being during the big automotive industry boom in the 20's when car frames/powertrains were made by manufacturers and then a "coachworks" company would put a body on that..and both powertrain and coachwork companies were often in business just long enough to get some cars out the door before customers discovered poor workmanship, assemblies not designed to be repaired, non-standard fastener sizes and so on. It was common for people to buy a car, drive it home several states away (in an age where there was no interstate highway system!) and discover that their car was falling apart.
Oh hey, what does Tesla have problems with? Poor parts availability, warranty issues, long waits for repairs...
I wish I were exaggerating when I say Tesla was telling Model S owners that water getting inside the main drive unit (which contains not just the electric motor but the motor's power electronics) because of a faulty seal on a speed sensor was the customer's fault because they drove the car in heavy rain.
There is little distinguishing Elon Musk from the shysters in the 1920's that all these pesky regulations were written to address.