StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
I wish legislators were prosecuted under RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act).
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New Texas Bill to Screw Tesla Owners!
- Thread starter LoveMX
- Start date
I wish legislators were prosecuted under RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act).
StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
I find it troubling when people try to downplay very real threats to their freedoms.
The only reason the prohibition of selling a Tesla in Texas hasn't resulted in no Tesla's in Texas is that they offer such a compelling product and you can still buy them in other states and import them. So, technically, Tesla has sold exactly zero cars in Texas. I disagree that it's a good strategy to allow things to get worse in order that we will have the ammunition to make things better. That's ridiculous! If you want to cause change, there already exists a clear enough injustice to take a strong stand.
When the traditional auto manufacturer's granted or sold the rights to independent franchises, the purchase/sale agreements should have specified whether they were exclusive rights or not. The current laws that restrict Tesla sales were in response to the failure of the independent businessmen to ensure the contracts they were signing offered adequate protection from manufacturer competition. The obvious solution is to re-write those laws such that they only prevent competition from manufacturers who have sold/granted franchise agreements.
That's not going to happen as long as Texas has the best government money can buy.
And it's immaterial anyway because the dealer landscape is not as it was when the original legislation was written. Now most metropolitan dealers are really mega-dealers owning multiple dealerships for various car brands. The car manufacturers no longer have nearly as much clout as when is was one dealer, one car brand.
StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
What's "immaterial"? The fact that manufacturers have less clout now doesn't weaken the existing laws against manufacturer sales.
The original intent of the law is immaterial because that condition doesn't exist. Not the law itself which is now used for a condition that was never considered at the time.
StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
I see what you were saying. Still, to keep all parties happy would you be in favor of repealing the existing laws and replacing them with general protections for franchises that have already been granted? Because I can see with the changing auto landscape, the Internet, etc, manufacturer's might want to sell directly to the consumer if they could get around those franchise agreements.
AFAICT, the entirety of his amendments fall into definitions and one section of code following those definitions. His amended definitions do not include alternative definitions for dealer or franchised dealer, and I haven't seen anything state the bill also amends Texas Transportation Code 503 or Occupations Code Chapter 2301. As such, assuming those codes apply, I don't understand how you think his new language changes anything. I agree it is ambiguous and unnecessary, but participating in an activity from a list of activities that a defined type of entity may participate in doesn't mean you are that type of entity. For instance, dogs may dig holes, but if a human digs a hole, it doesn't make them a dog.
StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
It appears some people are simply trying to confuse and obscure the very real issues this new bill presents, in effect saying, "nothing to see here, move along".
The bottom line, if Tesla's legal department is concerned about the language of this bill, and it's abundantly clear they are, so should all Tesla owners be concerned, particularly those in Texas.
I believe that is what will eventually happen regardless, as the other car manufacturers (and their dealers) get into trouble because they have fewer and fewer vehicles that are competitive. The best of them (Volvo) just introduced a car that is two years away, and has higher prices and lower specs than the currently shipping M3. So they are a minimum five years behind Tesla and have little chance of catching up. The end result is that a number of dealers will close. (Putting more engineers on a project that is already late just makes it twice as late and four times as expensive.)
I'm afraid that this legislation will pass because there is so much money behind it (although I really hope it doesn't pass) and Texas politicians have always shown disdain for their constituents, so for a few years it will be a royal pain for Tesla owners. But you know, I believe that Tesla owners, and future Tesla customers, will not buckle under. People strongly resist subjugation and suppression. And people want a better product.
[Apologies to those who have read this before.] What I think will happen is the same thing that happened in the tire industry when radial tires were introduced into North America. At first the North American tire manufacturers pooh-poohed them and spread all kinds of FUD. (Mostly you could take the tire articles from back then and do a search and replace with BEV, and come up with mostly the same articles we're seeing today.) As radial tire penetration grew, they developed bias-ply tires to stem the tide of radial tires. That proved to be a disaster, and they finally started developing radial tires, which is very hard to do and the early ones were very poor. Eventually all but one of the North American tire manufacturers closed their doors and now exist only as brand names owned by Michelin, Bridgestone, etc.
StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
I sincerely hope you are wrong about that!
If I were a Texan, I would fight this tooth and nail before it passes, not after, in part to defend free market capitalism but just as much to defend the honor of Texas. Because, if this passes, Texans will become the laughing stock of the rest of free-market America (and even Europe). Yes, I know there are other states with protectionist laws on the books but none are as large of a market as Texas. Especially the Californians will be snickering. So don't just sit there and take it like starry-eyed little communists worshiping a marketplace run by the "wisdom" of the state.
Isn't resisting what I suggested? Every Tesla owner I know has written and/or called, but you seem to have missed the point. Texas politicians have continually run roughshod over their constituents because they received money from some group(s). The only effective way is to vote with your dollars.
Except "your dollars" likely don't scratch the surface compared to the money already in what you're trying to vote against. To me, the frustrating part is that it's not all that money that's keeping these politicians in office, it's all of the voters who pay no attention to what the politicians are doing and then go vote straight-ticket down a party line. I don't care if you're talking about Texas or California, the problem plagues most of the nation.
In this case, how does that work, though? Buy a Tesla in spite of the concerns and complain about it later if they turn out to be justified? Move out of the state? Unfortunately, I'm not really aware of any US state or even alternative country that I would argue really provides and backs individual freedom.
Please explain "concerns and complain about it later if they turn out to be justified". I've had mine for six years and 121K miles. I'm still trying to discover any concerns about it.
Concerns regarding the bill being discussed in this thread, complaints to whoever may listen or effect change if Tesla service centers are actually hindered or shut down.
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It would intensify my desire to keep owning or purchasing a new Tesla and not purchase anything from a Texas dealer.
My reaction would be similar, however, to put my previous question another way, how does using your consumer dollars accordingly affect this bill (or politician?) in the long term?
In the long term, every dollar that doesn't go to a car dealer weakens their ability to purchase politicians. Every dollar that doesn't go to dealer service, weakens their profits. Every dollar that goes to Tesla strengthens their ability to succeed--and I think it will be success on a grand scale.
stephenpace
VIN S00219
Unfortunately, I believe this bill has a decent shot of making it out of committee because Governor Abbott wants it to help Warren Buffett solve his dealership problem. It is going to take a good showing at the committee hearing, better than we've had at previous ones. This will be hard because Senator Hancock will no doubt schedule the hearing and then move it around a few times to try and minimize resistance. Each person gets three minutes to speak and the dealers usually only send a few. Par for the course is Bill Wolters from the Texas Auto Dealer Association or someone who is good buddies with the Chairman, a bogus charity like Easter Seals or junior softball league who will be saying how much money they get from dealers, who will no doubt die if this bill is rejected, and perhaps an OEM like GM who will say "if we can't do it, Tesla shouldn't be able to do it either".
Tesla emailed me the language they are concerned about. It is the warranty information. Attached below is their note to Senator Hancock's office:
SB 1415 (Hancock)/ HB 2940 (Geren)
While we support bringing the franchise system into the 21st century as this bill intends to do, there is language added to the bill this session which attempts to outline specifically that manufacturers cannot perform warranty work.
SB 1415, as proposed, defines acting in the capacity of dealer as “...the business of which includes buying, selling, exchanging, servicing, or repairing...” and adds that definition to subsection 2301.476 of the Occupations Code in an attempt to make it explicit that manufacturers are prohibited from this work.
By adding the language to this subsection specifically, the intent is to add warranty repairs to the definition of acting in the capacity of a dealer, and effectively force Tesla to close its service centers.
While current law is clear that manufacturers cannot also be a dealer and sell vehicles, currently, nothing in statute prohibits a manufacturer from performing warranty repairs; in fact, manufacturers are required to do so under 2301.603 of the Occupations Code, which places the obligation of warranty repair solely on them. While most manufacturers contract with their franchise dealers to complete warranty work, nothing requires them to.
While the new language may appear innocuous, the intent causes great concern, and would give the DMV the authority to interpret the statute and enforce against warranty repairs performed by a manufacturer in a way that does not exist under current law. The intent of the language is to erode the protections currently in place for manufacturers like Tesla, but also those of consumers that have relied and continue to rely on manufacturers to repair and service vehicles.
The committee substitute we offered would accomplish the stated intent of addressing the franchise issue for a manufacturer that makes one product and sells another, while at the same time alleviating the concerns we, along with other manufacturers, have expressed on the current bill version.
Tesla emailed me the language they are concerned about. It is the warranty information. Attached below is their note to Senator Hancock's office:
SB 1415 (Hancock)/ HB 2940 (Geren)
While we support bringing the franchise system into the 21st century as this bill intends to do, there is language added to the bill this session which attempts to outline specifically that manufacturers cannot perform warranty work.
SB 1415, as proposed, defines acting in the capacity of dealer as “...the business of which includes buying, selling, exchanging, servicing, or repairing...” and adds that definition to subsection 2301.476 of the Occupations Code in an attempt to make it explicit that manufacturers are prohibited from this work.
By adding the language to this subsection specifically, the intent is to add warranty repairs to the definition of acting in the capacity of a dealer, and effectively force Tesla to close its service centers.
While current law is clear that manufacturers cannot also be a dealer and sell vehicles, currently, nothing in statute prohibits a manufacturer from performing warranty repairs; in fact, manufacturers are required to do so under 2301.603 of the Occupations Code, which places the obligation of warranty repair solely on them. While most manufacturers contract with their franchise dealers to complete warranty work, nothing requires them to.
While the new language may appear innocuous, the intent causes great concern, and would give the DMV the authority to interpret the statute and enforce against warranty repairs performed by a manufacturer in a way that does not exist under current law. The intent of the language is to erode the protections currently in place for manufacturers like Tesla, but also those of consumers that have relied and continue to rely on manufacturers to repair and service vehicles.
The committee substitute we offered would accomplish the stated intent of addressing the franchise issue for a manufacturer that makes one product and sells another, while at the same time alleviating the concerns we, along with other manufacturers, have expressed on the current bill version.
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