Fly in the ointment (as has already been mentioned upthread) is that is an illegal practice in more than several states.
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Yes, but I don't know if that applies if the pickup is still the dealership. The dealership can still be the middleman as long as they aren't tacking on to it as well. Dealers will still be needed for servicing and for used vehicles.
I want to order online in my underpants at home. Be able to know order status. Know out the door price and financing options. Have vehicle delivered or I pick up. Everything transparent.
Brand-specific dealers aren't needed anymore. We have multiple non-brand specific nation wide chains for buying and selling used vehicles and others for servicing vehicles.
Its just a really bad business model anyway to require brand specific service centers, because it means in smaller towns you may have to drive an hour or two away if they don't have sufficient population to have ten shops being Honda, Toyota, Chevy, Dodge, Hyundai, Nissan, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, and Mitsubishi dealership all in one cluster, but they could have three universal brand-agnostic service centers. Its also liberating for consumers, because while lets say you do have a Ford dealership only 15 mins drive away, what if they suck? The next one may be more than an hour away, whereas if the shops were all brand-agnostic it's much more likely to be closer.
Heck, if someone smashes into your car doing $10K in damage, your insurance has no problem paying an independent shop to do extensive repairs and parts replacements, so no reason Ford can't do the same as USAA.
And even if there are dealerships after all this shortage ends, I'd much rather brand-specific dealership business model dies as its just impractical and inefficient. How much nicer would it be to just be able to go to Carmax and test out a Nissan, Ford, and Chevy that you like back to back, and then buy it there or place an order instead of driving all over town dealing with three different dealership salesman that will run credit checks on you and keep texting your phone.
I think you need to better understand your local State laws regarding dealerships and why those laws are in place before you make a comparison to a fast food restaurant. FYI companies like Vroom and Carvana sell used vehicles so they aren't subject to the same laws as new vehicle manufacturers.
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I am completely aware of the state laws and more importantly WHY they exist... the dealers have unionized and lobbied government for anti-competitive practices that protect their industry, at the expense of the consumer. Tesla has been successfully fighting them, and other new EV startups along with one or two of the big three manufacturers would finally give it enough weight to end that cancer nationally.
I also had a good dealer experience -- no problems -- but most of my interactions with the dealer didn't really add value to the transaction for me.
- I would have been just as happy ordering online. In fact I built the truck online line most folks and just handed the build printout to the dealer.
- Although my dealer did pretty well in keeping me in the loop, I would have been happier if I could have just looked my order up on line to find out the status.
- The financing experience was pretty painless, but again I could have done it online in half the time.
I've used the same mechanic for years for my vehicles that are out of warranty or for items that are not covered. He's good, but he's pretty up front about the fact that he can only provide complete service for the makes his employees are trained on.
So I still see a need for manufacturer-specific service centers, particularly for warranty and recall work.
It's a little bit more complicated then you might think. As apposed to buying a burger from a fast food restaurant.
Explain to me as you would a child how nationally operated service repair centers are able to operate for years now while being brand agnostic. Its not a hypothetical, its already happening, and they typically are able to conduct repairs at much lower costs than the repair centers at dealerships. The quote for a waterpump/fan-clutch/belt/thermostat replacement at Autocare USA was nearly half that of Finnegan Dodge/Jeep dealer in my area, although ultimately I just did it myself as most repairs simply aren't rocket science even just watching a youtube tutorial.
Fact is, most of the maintenance that modern vehicles required are quite universal, particularly as manufacturers share more and more components. That HVAC fan in your Mavrick? Guess what, that exact same part is likely used in several other makes of vehicles. That transmission in your Maverick? GM designed it.
While there are some things that are very proprietary and may require specialists, that's already true today. For example, most Chevy dealerships will not be able to service the powertrain of a Chevy Volt, so they may have to bring someone in. Dealers, which again are independent franchises owned by random wealthy people, may also need to contact the manufacturer for troubleshooting suggestions and sometimes the manufacturer has to send out a representative to assist.
Thank you for posting a video that exactly explains what I was just complaining about, and why brand specific dealerships add overhead costs, want their own pound of flesh profits, and increase prices for consumers and exist in spite of this problem for the average consumer because of the combined lobbying power of so many wealthy business owners reshaping the laws to promote their own interests over that of the manufacturer and consumer. If you were trying to agree with me, that's a confusing way of going about it, lol!
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A lot of people mistakenly believe that the invoice price is what a dealership's cost is for their Maverick (or any car), but for many years dealerships have been profitable selling vehicles for well below invoice. Common sense dictates that you can't resell a product as a middle-man for less than the manufacturer sells it to you for and stay in business, and that is in fact the case. There are incentives called "dealer cash" and "dealer holdback" that pad their profits, aside from other obvious revenue streams like the dreadful financing office and predatory practices like VIN etching, cloth protection (10 seconds of scotchguard sprayed on your seats), "ceramic" coating (quick detailer spray after a wash), and the like that are pure profit add-ons.
After all, look at the below data collected by iSeeCars, and you'll see that its 35% above MSRP, and MSRP is already far in excess of the actual cost from the manufacturer, which can be rounded up to another 5%:
So the tl;dr version is that by eliminating the middle-man, you can not only greatly simplify and destress the buying experience, but the manufacturer could keep the same profits they have now and yet reduce current market prices for the consumer by as much as 40%! With a build-to-order sales model that Ford has already said is going to happen anyway, its a no-brainer that direct sales to customers would HUGELY benefit both manufacturer and consumer.
After all, look at the below data collected by iSeeCars, and you'll see that its 35% above MSRP, and MSRP is already far in excess of the actual cost from the manufacturer, which can be rounded up to another 5%:
| State | Vehicle | % Above MSRP | $ Above MSRP |
| Pennsylvania | Ford Maverick | 34.7% | $7,843 |
So the tl;dr version is that by eliminating the middle-man, you can not only greatly simplify and destress the buying experience, but the manufacturer could keep the same profits they have now and yet reduce current market prices for the consumer by as much as 40%! With a build-to-order sales model that Ford has already said is going to happen anyway, its a no-brainer that direct sales to customers would HUGELY benefit both manufacturer and consumer.
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In wouldn't be annoyed by the lack of meaningful communication from Ford if they would just give us a way to track our orders online. Until they do I will just waste someone in a call center somewhere's time every week until I get a VIN and can track my order myself.
What I propose is that when the dealer submits a COVP/ROVP additional conditions must be met. The order with the agreed upon price and all customer incentives, taxes and fees signed by both the customer and dealership must be submitted to Ford before approval of an order. No changes may be made by either party without the signed approval of both parties. At time of delivery the dealer must accept payment of the amount agreed upon if the customer so chooses, or the customer may accept a dealers offer of financing or a lease agreement. The dealership may not sell the order to anyone but the ordering customer without proof the customer declined the purchase.
This way the dealer can negotiate what ever price the want and the customer can be assured of the price at the time of order with no "suprises" at the time of delivery. The order and price are still the dealers responsibility.
This way the dealer can negotiate what ever price the want and the customer can be assured of the price at the time of order with no "suprises" at the time of delivery. The order and price are still the dealers responsibility.
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