# Why do car manufacturers not sell directly to the public **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 15, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007 "2019-05-15T15:55:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/21 "2019-05-16T11:44:27Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I was hoping to find the answer for the UK and Europe here. AFAIK there are no laws preventing Ford or anyone else from selling cars direct to the public, but it seems that they all prefer to keep the buyers at arm’s length. I used to work for a large UK company that purchased many hundreds of Fords every year. All these sales were routed through a dealer, although we did get a huge discount. I was told that the really big buyers like Hertz, dealt direct with the factory, but I don’t know that for a fact. > > I believe that Mercedes used to allow a buyer to collect their new car from the factory. Apparently, you would wait in a reception area with coffee and biscuits and your car would be driven out onto a red carpet and ceremoniously handed over. In spite of this, the purchase was through a dealer and not direct. They discontinued the scheme in 2013 I believe. I also heard that with premium Mercedes via the dealer the buyer (via the dealership) would be flown to the factory in Germany when his cars engine block was being forged. Not sure if this isjust an urban myth. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/22 "2019-05-16T12:45:06Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I don’t need to go to a car store for that; one nice thing about renting cars often (due to traveling often for work, as I do) is that you get to test-drive a lot of different ones, without a salesman trying to bore a hole through your eardrums while you’re trying to listen to the sounds of the motor. The problem with this is that the company tends to only pay for a certain class of rental cars, which are unlikely to be the class of car that I would ever consider purchasing. In the USA, at least, we have this ridiculous rental car trends where shitty econoboxes are considered “midsize,” and consequently it’s common to end up in something like a Toyota Corolla. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/23 "2019-05-16T12:54:30Z")
The company is me except when my client insists in paying for it directly, so I’m golden 🙂 Plus, a Corolla is already about two car sizes bigger than what I’m interested in when I travel by myself. Usually ☹ For some reason every time it’s the client who pays they insist on Hertz and Hertz insists in giving me an upgrade. Call me weird but if I ask for something “Yaris hutchback or similar” I don’t really want a Qashqai. Last time I was in the US I got an upgrade that was pretty cool due to my initial sedan having a booboo: I got some sort of Caddy. But that landbarge can’t even be purchased in Spain unless you import it individually, and anyway it wouldn’t fit into my street. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/24 "2019-05-16T13:50:25Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > The laws preceded the internet by decades but the advent of the internet (and particularly, Tesla) has caused many states to amend their franchise laws. > > This is wrong. Tesla, for one, wants to sell individual cars directly to consumers but they are prohibited from doing so in many states by law. Other automakers who might like to adopt a direct-to-consumer sales model can’t do so because of the same laws. Why wouldn’t the Fed law be supreme as it falls under the ICC? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/25 "2019-05-16T15:48:35Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Why wouldn’t the Fed law be supreme as it falls under the ICC? Which federal law? One might be passed someday but I don’t think anything exists now to address this. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/26 "2019-05-16T16:37:23Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Which federal law? One might be passed someday but I don’t think anything exists now to address this. Then it would fall under the same paradigm as railroad rules\*. If it is under Federal jurisdiction and they choose not to make up laws for a certain situation the States cannot make laws regulating the activity. Reference to a previous thread about trains blocking traffic. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/27 "2019-05-16T16:41:15Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The company is me except when my client insists in paying for it directly, so I’m golden 🙂 Plus, a Corolla is already about two car sizes bigger than what I’m interested in when I travel by myself. I guess I didn’t mean the size of the car per se, because there are definite cultural differences. When you get a subcompact (labelled midsize) in the USA, its chief attribute is that it’s _cheap_. In this market, people who buy Corollas, for example, buy them because they’re cheap, and don’t spruce them up with optional features that inflate the price, if they’re even available. I’d wanted a Fiesta several years back, when it finally arrived in our market. However, aside from power windows, it was very downmarket, without any of the features one could get in, say, a Fusion/Modeo. Certainly, there are austere versions of the Fusion available, but their take rate was about 5% (mostly fleets). (These days, lowest-end vehicles made by my company aren’t even available to the general public, and must be ordered from fleet sales.) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/28 "2019-05-16T16:52:15Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I believe that Mercedes used to allow a buyer to collect their new car from the factory. Apparently, you would wait in a reception area with coffee and biscuits and your car would be driven out onto a red carpet and ceremoniously handed over. In spite of this, the purchase was through a dealer and not direct. They discontinued the scheme in 2013 I believe. You can do this with a Chevrolet Corvette; my father-in-law picked his up from the factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky a few years ago. The package also can include a factory tour, but, as with the Mercedes example, you still have to make the purchase through a dealer. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/29 "2019-05-16T17:13:34Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I was hoping to find the answer for the UK and Europe here. AFAIK there are no laws preventing Ford or anyone else from selling cars direct to the public, but it seems that they all prefer to keep the buyers at arm’s length. I used to work for a large UK company that purchased many hundreds of Fords every year. All these sales were routed through a dealer, although we did get a huge discount. I was told that the really big buyers like Hertz, dealt direct with the factory, but I don’t know that for a fact. I don’t know about mainland Europe, but in the UK a large number of dealers _are_ manufacturer-owned. For example, the Rootes Group was a dealership chain before it bought up Hillman, Humber and other manufacturers and started building its own cars. The Rootes dealership network lives on as Robin & Day which is [wholly owned by PSA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupe_PSA#United_Kingdom) (Peugeot/Citroen). Ford of Europe also owns [a number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Retail_Group) of UK Ford dealerships, primarily in the south. As far as I can tell, the prevalence of private dealerships in the UK has something to do with English and Welsh usury or finance laws; it seems as though manufacturers were prohibited from offering financing direct to the public, so it was more profitable to sell to third parties who could. I can’t find a direct citation for that though. It probably also has something to do with coachbuilding; until the 1930s, even low-end vehicles were often built as rolling chassis, and coachbuilders (who also functioned as dealers) would attach bodies and interiors to customers’ tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/30 "2019-05-16T17:58:07Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Then it would fall under the same paradigm as railroad rules\*. If it is under Federal jurisdiction and they choose not to make up laws for a certain situation the States cannot make laws regulating the activity. Why would the federal government care about car sales directly to consumers? With trains I can see the interstate commerce and general infrastructure interest, but there would need to be a reason for the federal government to assert control over car sales. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/31 "2019-05-16T19:46:44Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Why would the federal government care about car sales directly to consumers? With trains I can see the interstate commerce and general infrastructure interest, but there would need to be a reason for the federal government to assert control over car sales. Because a car sale that crosses state line falls under ICC where the Feds reign supreme. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/32 "2019-05-16T19:48:36Z")
The US is such a large country that the logistics of selling and delivering a car to many markets would seem complex to me. Tesla only has showrooms in select well to do markets. If you like in Podunk, Kentucky and really want one you’ll have to drive several hundred miles to test drive it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007/33 "2019-05-16T20:31:40Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Because a car sale that crosses state line falls under ICC where the Feds reign supreme. Pretty much the sale of everything in the US can cross state lines. But again, why does the federal government care about direct car sales to consumers? Why would they take a stance either way? And what makes you think they would come down any differently than the 50 state legislatures already have? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-manufacturers-not-sell-directly-to-the-public/834007.md?page=1)