Direct sales of EVs

It is the way it was always done in communist countries, the were no car dealers people ordered them from the company, it sometimes over a decade to get delivery. People want to go to a dealer lot and look at cars and buy it not order it online or a some sort of kiosk.
There is no other human being on the planet I wish I could see their picture on the back of a milk carton than the muskrat. LOL
 
I wrote about this 10 years ago.

https://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motor...ed-for-selling-too-many-teslas-192235038.html

Which led to this...

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/...er-or-no-dealerteslassalesmodelunderfire.html

And eventually I really said what was on my mind and wrote this.

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/08/hammer-time-fellow-dealers/

Thanks to this thread, I just found out that Yahoo still uses my Tesla related insights. But now they pay someone to make money off of me. Funny how that full circle comes to a dead end.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/totaled-tesla-model-x-sold-160000289.html
 
cptbarkey said:
Why are we not fully refunded our insurance premiums if we had no claims?
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Because .... "are you feeling lucky?"

Seriously, in California we can put down a bond in DMV so we don't have to buy insurance. It is fine if you have nothing to lose but that bond but what if you have a house they can go after? Do you really think you will never hit someone? or someone will not sue you for no reason?

If it is really that profitable you can buy liability only insurance at really low cost. The fact that insurance companies still sell you an insurance with a certain amount at all, means you (as a number) is still a risk, and you (or someone who stole your car, or your wife, or your teenage kid) can still get the insurer into serious trouble if you never pay a premium beyond admin cost. Insurance claims pay out 90-97% of its premium, and that means statistically you are still a risk to them by 90-97% of your premium.
 
Trav said:
It is the way it was always done in communist countries, the were no car dealers people ordered them from the company, it sometimes over a decade to get delivery. People want to go to a dealer lot and look at cars and buy it not order it online or a some sort of kiosk.
There is no other human being on the planet I wish I could see their picture on the back of a milk carton than the muskrat. LOL
Click to expand...

People likes to bargain for large purchase like cars and houses, that's why we still have those real estate agents to help us negotiate, and insurance agents are more of a salesman than a claim adjusters.

So how do you keep those guys around to help you with everything on sales? build a dealership. Tesla is able to get away with it because they are able to sell everything they build so far. Eventually they will need to work with someone, either a fixed priced retailers or their own stores hiring sales like a dealership.
 
Trav said:
It is the way it was always done in communist countries, the were no car dealers people ordered them from the company, it sometimes over a decade to get delivery. People want to go to a dealer lot and look at cars and buy it not order it online or a some sort of kiosk.
There is no other human being on the planet I wish I could see their picture on the back of a milk carton than the muskrat. LOL
Click to expand...
Well, I'm not sure what cars you are talking about, but that sure isn't how Tesla sells cars.
You can go to a Tesla showroom and view the cars, take a test drive, whatever. Very similar to a traditional dealership except they do not carry inventory. The personnel will answer questions. Then you can order there or go home and order, if you choose to do so.

Tesla's manufacturing model is a blend of build to order and build to plan. They build in batches based on location and then deliver via a caravan of car carriers.
The bigger difference is fixed pricing; there is no haggling, even though the prices do change from time to time.
 
JeffKeryk said:
Well, I'm not sure what cars you are talking about, but that sure isn't how Tesla sells cars.
You can go to a Tesla showroom and view the cars, take a test drive, whatever. Very similar to a traditional dealership except they do not carry inventory. The personnel will answer questions. Then you can order there or go home and order, if you choose to do so.

Tesla's manufacturing model is a blend of build to order and build to plan. They build in batches based on location and then deliver via a caravan of car carriers.
The bigger difference is fixed pricing; there is no haggling, even though the prices do change from time to time.
Click to expand...
Pretty much how dealerships work in Europe.
There is one of every model so you can see the car, they aren't for sale.
You order your car after working an option list with the sales guy and it shows up at some point and you drive home.
 
JeffKeryk said:
Well, I'm not sure what cars you are talking about, but that sure isn't how Tesla sells cars.
You can go to a Tesla showroom and view the cars, take a test drive, whatever. Very similar to a traditional dealership except they do not carry inventory. The personnel will answer questions. Then you can order there or go home and order, if you choose to do so.

Tesla's manufacturing model is a blend of build to order and build to plan. They build in batches based on location and then deliver via a caravan of car carriers.
The bigger difference is fixed pricing; there is no haggling, even though the prices do change from time to time.
Click to expand...
Exactly the same sales model as Trabant and to some extend Saturn nothing new or different, if Musk has his way he can control who gets a car and when depending on some algorithm. Musk develops nothing he just rehashes old ideas.
 
Trav said:
Exactly the same sales model as Trabant and to some extend Saturn nothing new or different, if Musk has his way he can control who gets a car and when depending on some algorithm. Musk develops nothing he just rehashes old ideas.
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Good. You should have replied to your own post #23 that was wrong about Tesla's sales model.
I'm not sure anyone said Musk invented Internet sales. He did do well at PayPal, which was an early Internet sales application.
Regarding algorithms; much of your life is determined by algorithms, especially things financial.
 
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Torrid said:
It’s illegal in the state of Wisconsin. I had to pick up my Tesla in Illinois because of it.
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I believe that's true in Texas as well, even though Tesla built the huge Giga Austin plant and Texas will play a big role in the Monterrey plant.
Tesla is selling very well in Texas, #3 in the nation after California and Florida.
 
JeffKeryk said:
I believe that's true in Texas as well, even though Tesla built the huge Giga Austin plant and Texas will play a big role in the Monterrey plant.
Tesla is selling very well in Texas, #3 in the nation after California and Florida.
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Last I recall was 8 states that had bans on direct to consumer. I’m glad that they’ve at least allowed over state line purchases. I think the only way to fix it is to allow the state of the purchase to take the sales tax. That would change the tune of some of these dealership only model states.
 
PandaBear said:
People likes to bargain for large purchase like cars and houses, that's why we still have those real estate agents to help us negotiate, and insurance agents are more of a salesman than a claim adjusters.

So how do you keep those guys around to help you with everything on sales? build a dealership. Tesla is able to get away with it because they are able to sell everything they build so far. Eventually they will need to work with someone, either a fixed priced retailers or their own stores hiring sales like a dealership.
Click to expand...
There’s still bargaining on trade in value.
 
JeffKeryk said:
I believe that's true in Texas as well, even though Tesla built the huge Giga Austin plant and Texas will play a big role in the Monterrey plant.
Tesla is selling very well in Texas, #3 in the nation after California and Florida.
Click to expand...
There are Tesla lots delivering cars all over Texas. The one near me claimed they were delivering hundreds per day.
 
alarmguy said:
I dont think Tesla pulled off anything. They only sell a fraction of vehicles in the USA and the big three make more money than Tesla. I suspect in 3 years time being a mail order EV car company will cost them.
Time will tell, those are my thoughts.
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Tesla has 5x the profit margin per vehicle....
 
JeffKeryk said:
Tesla simply piggy backed on the Internet.
The dealership model is not that far behind as it is easier than ever to comparison shop online, for just about everything.

Ford broke out its EV business unit; online sales cannot be that far behind. Maybe they are doing some of that now?
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The WSJ has an article on the problem Ford was facing in China with their direct sales model but the article didn't suggest that this model was the sole reason for their issues.
 
BMWTurboDzl said:
LOL.

IIRC NJ has a fixed number of licenses for alcohol sales. Only so many ABC stores allowed in the state apparently.
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There is a fixed license system and some towns have very few licenses available so they get very expensive..

We don't have ABC stores in NJ. We have privately owned liquor stores that sell all forms of alcohol. Bars can also sell alcohol to go. There's no shortage of liquor stores in NJ.

In neighboring Pennsylvania, it's a much different system. They have state stores that sell liquor and wine. They have privately owned beverage depots that sell beer by the case. Bars sell beer by the 6-pack. Not that I've purchased beer in PA in a long time. They might allow 6-pack sales at the beverage depots now.

It's always a novel thing to me when buying beer at a convenience store in some states that operate that way.
 
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