I’ll take any silver lining, but I’m not sure if whatever replaced it will be any better given how the Chinese have acted in markets they’ve achieved majority stake in.
Hate middlemen all you want, but that employment level is the driving economic force behind the middle class. Get rid of the middleman, without any serious wage reforms, and you’ll have a nation of 5% filthy rich, and 95% dirt poor.
We’re pretty much already there. Having worked at a “good” dealership, it became pretty obvious that only the owner and their managers were making good money. Everyone else? Not at all.
Other countries have figured it out and nationalized these various industries. The fun part is that there’s still luxury, concierge medical care and insurance too alongside nationalized health care.
Fully agree. I just don’t trust China any much more than the US to respect privacy and consumer choice.
Color me prejudiced if you want, but I’ve dealt with enough Chinese suppliers to have a decent idea of how they operate.
I mean I don’t either, but us unitedstatesians are now subjected to the tender mercies of Palantir, which is kind of fucking awful… so, potato, potato.
Fair. At least the stated mission of the Chinese isn’t to be evil for evil’s sake. Palantir just seems like an accelerationist’s tool and nothing more.
Yep, and the CEO essentially says as much on a regular basis. Not to mention, the origin of the name of the company is the scrying sphere that Sauron and Saruman (the bad guys) in LOTR use, so that’s telling in a comically dark fashion as well.
I don’t drive, so I don’t buy cars. But I’m curious, how would that work to buy directly from the manufacturer as opposed to a dealership? Like I assume they would still have to have the equivalent of a dealership, where inventory is locally stored, can be test driven, can perform servicing. I assume that’s pretty much the same as a dealership right?
If you go to a us dealership, there’s pretty much always some sort of financing deal or somesuch. But there’s also very often a “dealer markup”. Never, ever pay that.
That said, for some cars, they refuse to budge on that. For instance, when the new Nissan Z came out a few years ago, the dealers tacked on like 10-15k pretty much across the board, and then Nissan corporate was surprised when it didn’t sell too well… because the dealerships got too fucking greedy.
If I needed to buy a new car, I’d vastly prefer to just spec it out online, click “order”, and then have a text come in when it arrives at my local Nissan or BMW or Hyundai maintenance facility (as appropriate for the car). I do not want to talk to a human and have to literally socially engineer them into giving me a fair fucking price. Jesus christ.
All dealers gouged all car buyers during Covid shortages. Jeep was particularly agregious and the world would be better without any Stellantis products.
I’ll take any silver lining, but I’m not sure if whatever replaced it will be any better given how the Chinese have acted in markets they’ve achieved majority stake in.
Tbh being able to purchase cars direct from the manufacturer would be dope. New car dealers are literally nothing but middlemen.
Yeah, useless middlemen are kinda a thing in the US economy.
Tax filling software companies left the chat.
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Hate middlemen all you want, but that employment level is the driving economic force behind the middle class. Get rid of the middleman, without any serious wage reforms, and you’ll have a nation of 5% filthy rich, and 95% dirt poor.
We’re pretty much already there. Having worked at a “good” dealership, it became pretty obvious that only the owner and their managers were making good money. Everyone else? Not at all.
I really don’t think it’s that hard.
Other countries have figured it out and nationalized these various industries. The fun part is that there’s still luxury, concierge medical care and insurance too alongside nationalized health care.
Fully agree. I just don’t trust China any much more than the US to respect privacy and consumer choice. Color me prejudiced if you want, but I’ve dealt with enough Chinese suppliers to have a decent idea of how they operate.
I mean I don’t either, but us unitedstatesians are now subjected to the tender mercies of Palantir, which is kind of fucking awful… so, potato, potato.
Fair. At least the stated mission of the Chinese isn’t to be evil for evil’s sake. Palantir just seems like an accelerationist’s tool and nothing more.
Yep, and the CEO essentially says as much on a regular basis. Not to mention, the origin of the name of the company is the scrying sphere that Sauron and Saruman (the bad guys) in LOTR use, so that’s telling in a comically dark fashion as well.
I don’t drive, so I don’t buy cars. But I’m curious, how would that work to buy directly from the manufacturer as opposed to a dealership? Like I assume they would still have to have the equivalent of a dealership, where inventory is locally stored, can be test driven, can perform servicing. I assume that’s pretty much the same as a dealership right?
Go to website, order car with exact color, accessory you want.
Vs
Company orders 55 blue, 55 red, 56 yellow, 55 black with 55 power seats, 55 power consol, 55 …
Tesla does this. They have showrooms to test drive cars and then you order it online or at the showroom and wait for delivery.
If you go to a us dealership, there’s pretty much always some sort of financing deal or somesuch. But there’s also very often a “dealer markup”. Never, ever pay that.
That said, for some cars, they refuse to budge on that. For instance, when the new Nissan Z came out a few years ago, the dealers tacked on like 10-15k pretty much across the board, and then Nissan corporate was surprised when it didn’t sell too well… because the dealerships got too fucking greedy.
If I needed to buy a new car, I’d vastly prefer to just spec it out online, click “order”, and then have a text come in when it arrives at my local Nissan or BMW or Hyundai maintenance facility (as appropriate for the car). I do not want to talk to a human and have to literally socially engineer them into giving me a fair fucking price. Jesus christ.
All dealers gouged all car buyers during Covid shortages. Jeep was particularly agregious and the world would be better without any Stellantis products.
Lmfao who wants to buy a
ChryslerStellantis product? They’re just… bad. They’re not even cheaper. They’re just worse, and break more.