Quietly towards the end of last year, threats of legal action caused the mecca of the US auto manufacturing to cave. Folks no longer have to leave the state just to buy a car of their choosing that doesn't have dealerships. Michigan lifts barriers to Tesla sales, settling lawsuit - New Haven Register The Dominoes continue to fall.
back in the day, some states used to require custom fender / Rock guards, rationalizing it kept the cars following behind semi trucks from getting rocks thrown up at them, & if you didn't have that states' particular Fender Rock guards - then you could be fined, if driving in their state. So - the feds threw out the various States' bogus rules that were really drafted just to protect their own States truckers from competition. Prohibited under Article 1 Section 8 US Constitution Commerce Clause. Yes - requiring auto stealerships in order to sell cars are simarly state's bogus laws - set up just for protectionism .... but it's the feds that can ultimately toss the bogus reg's out. It's better for individual state stealerships to let it go -
The law did not get tossed out in court. Tesla still can’t sell directly from a physical store location, it can only service it’s customers through a subsidiary company. Michigan residents still have to jump through hoops to buy a tesla. It has to be titled in another state then brought in as a used vehicle re-registered to its owner. I’m in WI, another prohibited direct sale state. I picked my car up in Chicago with a 30 day out of state transfer tag. I had to go to my DMV with the paperwork Tesla provided to officially register in state. If it had been from an in state Tesla store, they would have submitted the DMV paperwork and I would have had a shorter drive to get it, that’s all.
Thanks for the helpful details. I'm not necessarily a Tesla fanboy, but it is impressive what they've done. The whole thing you guys are dealing with just reminds me too much of the Tucker automobile. Thankfully, Elon has deeper pockets.
