Re:If You’ve Got a New Car, It’s a Data Privacy Nightmare
by abecedarius on Wednesday September 06, 2023 @11:56AM
(#37406975)
Isn't it illegal in many/most states for a manufacturer to sell direct, not through a dealership? I read something like that when Tesla was starting to sell cars. It didn't sound like a "true" free market.
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Re:If You’ve Got a New Car, It’s a Data Privacy Nightmare
by gottorf on Wednesday September 06, 2023 @12:10PM
(#37407177)
> It didn't sound like a "true" free market.
Very few things are in a "true" free market. But considering cars are (or should be, at any rate) substitutable goods, for most people, it should be pretty close to a free market.
I live in a small city (population under 200k), and there's five Ford dealerships, five Chevy, four Toyota, etc. So it's certainly not a free market by any definition if you want a very specific car, but if you want a certain category of car, the forces of competition will work for you.
Re:If You’ve Got a New Car, It’s a Data Privacy Nightmare
by TeMPOraL on Wednesday September 06, 2023 @04:14PM
(#37410669)
I'm by no means an expert on cars, but my impression is that they're one of the worst cases of a class of product that should be substitutable, but isn't, because there probably is only one or two makes & models that are close to fulfilling one's list of requirements, and if those are not available, it becomes a painful exercise of letting go.
Unless we consider begrudgingly buying an option because you need something to be buying a substitutable good. Which I guess is fair in some sense, but makes it feel like buying things is a loser's game.