Burren
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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What vehicle do you drive?
- Thread starter Marmac
- Start date
Kobayashi
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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I'd look into a 2nd Gen Nissan Leaf - they've depreciated to all hell, so, you could probably find one for about the same price as that Veloster if you try. A commute like that would be about the perfect use case for the vehicle - you could even charge exclusively at work (except maybe in the winter) if they have a spot. Hyundai Ioniq and Chevy Bolt of that vintage are probably in a similar situation, but I'm not sure about their reliability.
Hateyou
Not Great, Not Terrible
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I imagine most Velosters are beat to shit and will die around 100k. Every veloster I see is a young dude driving it like he’s in fast and furious. I guess for $6k though, maybe it’s worth a shot.
Also if you’re tired of bending down to sit a veloster is not the path forward.
Sludig
Potato del Grande
- 11,575
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Ya many had stupid stickers and dumb stuff, a few unmolested. Ugly ass it is was our Juke actually lasted to like 180k before engine blew and get maniac parents that have it now replaced the engine.
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Hateyou
Not Great, Not Terrible
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I’m sorry but I have no idea what you are trying to say here.
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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Fucker
Log Wizard
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Sludig
Potato del Grande
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Edited, one handed quick text auto corrected to words not even near the keys I swyped. Hell handed tried to change to have when I dragged around for a much longer word. "Like" I can never drag have to type it out always changed to line or similar.
Burns
Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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State Dealer Laws Add Up to $5,000 to New Car Prices, ICLE Study Finds - International Center for Law & Economics
PORTLAND, Ore. (March 30, 2026) — State laws requiring automobile manufacturers to sell through franchised dealers add an estimated $3,934 to $4,992 to the price . . .
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Siliconemelons
Ssraeszha Raider
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View attachment 624773
State Dealer Laws Add Up to $5,000 to New Car Prices, ICLE Study Finds - International Center for Law & Economics
PORTLAND, Ore. (March 30, 2026) — State laws requiring automobile manufacturers to sell through franchised dealers add an estimated $3,934 to $4,992 to the price . . .laweconcenter.org
But some yahoo will open a car kiosk in the mall with an IPad and be able to sell whatever car directly to the consumer…. Think of the horror!
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Haus
I am Big Balls!
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Of you'll be able to just go, customize your ride on line, do the financing through your bank or the manufacturer, and have it delivered...
We can only hope to survive this long enough for the courts to see the error of these ways my friends.
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Kirun
Buzzfeed Editor
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Those were originally put in place to prevent manufacturers from undercutting independent dealers and creating monopolistic control over distribution and service. Whether they still serve that purpose effectively today is a different question, but there was at least some rationale behind them.
Where I'd agree with you more strongly is that the current system feels totally outdated and overly rigid. Instead of blanket protections, it probably makes more sense to revisit and modernize the framework. Allow more flexibility for direct sales while still ensuring consumer protections and fair competition. Right now, it feels less like a balanced system and more like one that hasn't kept up with how the industry actually operates in 2026.
Sheriff Cad
scientia potentia est
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How does the person who makes a product "undercut" someone who has to buy the product from them and then generate a profit?
Why are "independent" dealers (which are really just brokers, or resellers) entitled to "fair" competition with the company that actually makes the fucking products?
What consumer protections do dealers give? How to dealers ensure fair competition? Dealers are fucking ripping us all off and providing no value.
I completely disagree, car dealerships are some of the worst, scammiest, shittiest businesses alive, and we have ACTUAL LAWS protecting THEM and FORCING you to deal with them.
Fuck that.
Kirun
Buzzfeed Editor
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A manufacturer controls supply, pricing structures, incentives, and financing relationships. If they sell direct and supply independent dealers, they can absolutely squeeze those dealers via preferential pricing, inventory access, or even just underpricing them outright because they don't need to maintain a separate margin layer. It's exactly the kind of vertical integration issue these laws were originally trying to prevent.
Second, calling dealers "just brokers" ignores some of the actual functions they serve. Are all of those functions efficient or fairly priced? No. But things like localized inventory, trade-ins, immediate delivery, service departments, warranty handling, and financing access don't just disappear if you wipe dealerships out. The question then becomes: who takes that on, and how well? In a direct-sales-only world, you're basically betting that manufacturers will handle all of that better and more importantly, in your favor. That's not guaranteed.
And that leads into the bigger point that removing dealerships doesn't automatically mean a better deal for consumers. It might feel like it should, but if you eliminate the middle layer and the competition between independent sellers, you're often just concentrating more control in the hands of a few large manufacturers - business consolidation is something America needs less of, not more. That can just as easily lead to fixed pricing, less negotiation, and fewer local options. In other words, different problems not necessarily fewer problems.
Where I do agree with you is that the current system often protects bad behavior and limits alternatives. Forcing consumers into one sales model is hard to justify in 2026. But swinging all the way to "burn it down" without thinking through what replaces it could just trade one kind of frustration for another. Dealerships absolutely deserve scrutiny and reform. But the solution probably isn't pretending they serve zero purpose or that manufacturers would magically act more consumer-friendly if given total control.
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Haus
I am Big Balls!
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I think at one point in the past there might have been some justification for the distributor/dealer model. I see it in my industry. The traditional cybersecurity model was Vendor produces, Disti distributes (as it's name), and resellers sell. Back when this started it made sense because no vendor had the capacity to do legal agreements with every possible customer (resellers could), and they didn't want to deal with massive shipping and logistics chains (Disti).
Now, most Cybersecurity products are software, so there's no "distribution network" to get these products shipped to customers, that's an email. And purchasing can be done with a few clicks on a website in many cases. (there goes disti) And most companies have existing contracts with one or more of the big cloud vendors which allow them to transact deals with vendors that cloud provider deals with (essentially removing the reseller). And I'm watching in real time as the disti and reseller spaces are being absolutely wrecked and becoming essentially unprofitable. That's the market handling the problem, and how IMHO it should work.
The car dealership nonsense is shameless protectionism and government interference with the free market.
As soon as a good and viable method for selling a car online happened that was, IMHO, the last nail in the coffin for dealers. Now the only dealer in DFW I can think of that seems to really be holding on well is Sewell maybe, and they're going full tilt on "You pay more but you get the Sewell kit glove pampering experience" bougie angle. But honestly their service isn't that great now and the premium paid for that is kinda ridiculous.
On a lighter note :
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Xarpolis
Life's a Dream
- 16,275
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I strongly dislike the names that MFG's are using on their cars right now. I'm currently in a 500 while my Pacifica is getting service. What the fuck is a 500? That doesn't tell you anything.
What does CX-50 tell you different than CX-5? It's all nonsense.
What does CX-50 tell you different than CX-5? It's all nonsense.