Car Dealership Laws Aren’t Fit for the Electric Age
More EVs are being sold in states that allow direct sales.
No longer the only place to buy a car.
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/BloombergCar dealerships are, in essence, giant lots staffed by folks trained in the art of emptying those lots as quickly as possible and repeating the process ad infinitum. But 2021 was a strange year for all of us, dealers included. Their lots emptied ... and then quite often stayed empty as supply-chain snafus idled auto factories (see this from Bloomberg News). Figures released this week indicate sales were a bit better than in 2020 — also ravaged by Covid-19 — but roughly a million units fewer than in the beforetimes.
On the other hand, even amid a pandemic, Americans love buying cars and trucks. So while fewer vehicles were sold, they came with surge pricing. Volume was down perhaps 7% compared with 2019, but the gross margin on each vehicle was roughly double.