[cstross]

What is this word "allow"?

Who forces car manufacturers to go through a dealer network? Or rather, who forbids them from selling direct to the public? Doesn't that constitute unfair restraint on trade?

I'm serious here. (Non-American speaking.) Is there some law that mandates that cars can only/must be sold through dealers?

[flinty]

There literally is a law in every state that prevents direct sales. Check out this planet money podcast about this very topic http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/02/12/171814201/episode-...

[notdrunkatall]

I think the point is that law should change.

Maybe it actually protected consumers three decades ago, but now, consumers have access to more than enough information to make those kinds of decisions for themselves.