[jnw2]

The dealers claim they are protecting consumers from the automakers.

I keep wondering where I can find an example of a person who clearly is not an owner/employee/etc of a dealer who genuinely feels protected. There are probably far more people who enjoy going to the Apple Store (which was created by the same guy who now works at Tesla to set up Tesla's showrooms) than who enjoy the dealership experience.

Also, in a lot of the rest of the world, there apparently are no independent dealers, and that seems to be pretty non-disasterous.

[ericd]

I honestly have no idea what the nominal protections are supposed to be, or what they were supposed to be once upon a time. It's not like they offer awesome warranties themselves, or even provide good value for repairs.