Volkswagen has related companies (subsidiaries). The segment is saying Scout Motors is one of those connected companies, and that’s why this DTC dispute is bigger than just a small startup.
Direct-to-consumer means the car company sells the car to you directly, not through a local dealership. Dealerships often don’t like it because they lose sales and related business.
The Washington state Auto Dealers Association is a dealer trade group representing franchised car dealers in Washington. In this segment, it’s suing Scout Motors, reflecting how dealer organizations often challenge DTC efforts through state law and franchise rules.
Tesla is an electric car company. They’ve been pushing a direct-sales approach, and the segment uses that as an example of what other brands are now trying to do.
An EV brand is an automaker identity built around electric vehicles as the primary product line. Here, the host is saying Scout is being resurrected specifically as an EV-focused brand, which often pairs with direct-to-consumer sales strategies.
California is mentioned as a state where direct-to-consumer selling may already have been approved. The host uses it as an example of where dealer opposition and state rules intersect.
Colorado is brought up as another state that may allow direct-to-consumer car sales. The host also says dealers there are trying to stop Scout’s approach.
A dealer network is the set of local car dealerships a brand uses to sell and support its cars. The hosts are saying some states allow direct sales more easily if a brand doesn’t already have dealerships there.
Customer-centric means the business is trying to make the buying experience better for the customer. Here, the hosts say dealers may have to be more open and less pushy to keep up.
“Too little, too late” means the fix might not help because it arrives after people have already moved on. The hosts are wondering if dealers will change in time to compete with direct sales.
“Legal bills” means money spent on lawyers and court fights. The hosts are saying some automakers are willing to pay those costs to push through changes to how they sell cars.
This is the traditional setup where local dealerships sell cars under an agreement with the brand. If the brand starts selling directly, those dealers can lose customers and sales.
Carvana is a company that sells cars mostly online instead of making you shop at a traditional dealership. The hosts are bringing it up as proof that this kind of buying experience can pull customers away from dealers.
Term
brand store
A brand store is a retailer location or storefront that sells cars for a specific automaker brand, rather than being a multi-brand dealership. In DTC discussions, brand stores are often part of how automakers try to control the customer experience end-to-end.
The franchise dealer model is the normal setup where local dealerships sell cars for a brand. The host is saying direct-to-consumer threatens that middleman role.
The Federal Trade Commission is a U.S. agency that helps protect consumers from unfair or misleading business practices. In this segment, it’s being used as an example of pressure forcing the auto industry to change how it advertises and sells.
Term
clean up your act
Here, “clean up your act” means dealerships need to change how they advertise and sell so they follow the rules and treat customers better. It’s basically a warning that the old approach won’t be tolerated.
Dealer associations are groups that represent car dealerships in a region. The host is saying these groups are telling dealers they’ll need to adjust how they operate.
Carvana is a car-selling company that tries to make buying a car mostly online. The point here is that they can sell without the usual dealership sales team running the deal.
“Certified dealer partners” refers to dealerships that are approved by a program or platform to participate in a specific sales process. In this context, the hosts suggest they’re using some approved dealers while still reducing the traditional dealership staffing involved in the sales transaction.
Here, “transparency” means being open about the deal—like showing the real price and fees clearly. The host is saying that approach can make the process cheaper and easier.
The “affordability crisis” means buying a car has become too expensive for a lot of people. The hosts think simplifying the buying process could help reduce some of the extra cost.
Concept
extinct
They’re using “go extinct” to mean dealerships could lose customers if they don’t offer something valuable. The idea is that the market will change and dealers have to adapt.
“Gross commission” is the salesperson’s pay based on how much profit the dealership makes on the car. So if the profit is higher, the commission is usually higher too.
“Factory spiffs” are extra bonuses the automaker pays out when a dealer sells a certain number of cars or meets a goal. They’re like performance incentives on top of normal sales pay.
“Sales objectives” are the goals a dealership has to hit—like selling a certain number of cars in a time period. If they hit the goals, salespeople may earn extra bonuses.
Concept
personnel-wise
“Personnel-wise” just means “in terms of how many people you need.” The host is saying a simpler, more efficient process could mean fewer staff members involved in each sale.
Reinsurance is insurance that insurance companies buy to reduce their risk exposure. Here, the host claims dealer-sold warranties are “sitting on” reinsurance in Bermuda, meaning the financial risk is spread through an insurance/reinsurance network rather than being held entirely by the seller.
A warranty is the promise that if something breaks, the company will help pay for repairs. The host is saying dealers’ warranty money is connected to insurance companies behind the scenes.
Bermuda is known for having lots of insurance and reinsurance businesses. The host is using it as an example of where the money and risk for warranties can be handled.
Concept
self-recony going on
The host is basically saying dealers are having to change how they do business because the industry is moving in a new direction. If they don’t adapt, they’ll lose customers.
The window sticker is the paper on the car’s glass that shows key details like the price. It helps you see what the car is supposed to cost before you talk to anyone.
A Monroney label is the official price sticker on a new car. It’s meant to show the car’s price clearly so buyers aren’t guessing what the asking price really is.
They talk about a system that grades dealerships so you can find better ones. The idea is to avoid wasting time with dealers that add surprise fees or pressure you.
Dock fees are extra charges a dealer adds on top of the car’s price. They can feel unfair because they increase what you pay after you thought you had the price figured out.
Add-ons are extra items or services the dealer tries to sell along with the car. They can raise the final cost, so it’s important to know exactly what you’re paying for.
Bait and switch is when a deal is advertised one way, but then the salesperson tries to get you into a different (usually more expensive) deal. It’s basically a trick to change what you thought you were buying.
Out-the-door pricing means the final total you’ll pay for the car, including taxes and fees. The point is you can see the real number up front instead of getting surprised at the end.
LIVE
It's noon here in Ventner City, New Jersey,
and our nation's capital, Washington, D.C.,
and this is Carage Live for Wednesday.
Let me get the date correct.
July 8th with your host, me, Ray,
hanging out in my living room because, well,
I just have nowhere else to go,
and Zach hanging out in the office because, well,
it's a lovely place to hang.
How are you doing today, handsome?
Do fantastic.
Thanks everyone for tuning in.
We're gonna jump into our topic in just a moment.
Automakers want to sell direct to consumer,
and dealers are pissed off, and I think a little scared too.
We're gonna touch on that in just a moment before we do.
Yeah.
A friendly reminder, folks, my dad and I,
we provide car buying services, a car search,
Ask Car Edge, a research-centered dealer reviews,
and so much more back at caredge.com.
Almost seven years now, we've been on YouTube,
we've been building our business back at caredge.com.
I encourage everyone, whoops,
we're also hiring right now.
So much good stuff going on back at caredge.com.
Please spend a few moments on the website
and learn more about all the things we do to support you.
The big story this morning, dad,
will turn our attention to the state of Washington.
We have had in the news for a while now
a Volkswagen subsidiary,
a connected to Volkswagen company, Scout Motors,
who had wanted to sell direct to consumer
for a long time now.
They are now being sued by the Washington state
Auto Dealers Association.
This comes on the heels of many other automakers
trying to get in on the fun of selling directly to consumers.
There was an article in a story a couple of months ago now,
back in April, and this was over in Marketplace
from National Public Radio, Tesla fought to sell cars
direct to customers, and now other car makers want in.
And if I'm not mistaken, at the very end of this piece,
there's a quote from none other than Papashevska.
All right, talking about what's going on there too.
So dad, let's talk about this.
What's going on in Washington state right now?
What's going on with Scout Motors?
And our dealers is the alarm bell going off for them,
saying, oh, crap, these automakers, these new automakers,
at least, want to sell direct to consumer.
They're going to cut us out.
Well, I mean, it's not like dealers haven't known this for years.
I mean, when Scout announced that they were going to
resurrect the brand as an EV brand,
that they were going to do it as a direct to consumer brand,
and dealers knew that then, dealers know that now,
dealers had been fighting it since then.
And there are states where they have already been approved
to be able to sell direct to consumers.
I'm not sure, but I think in California,
they've been approved to sell direct to consumers.
And I want to say Colorado, but I'm not 100% certain about that.
Colorado is one of the states where the dealers are actively
trying to fight Scout back right now.
And whether or not they'll win, I don't know.
The idea is that in most of the states,
rules and regulations are that if you've never had a dealer
network in the state, and you are new to the state,
that they would allow you to sell direct to consumers.
I would be hard pressed as a juror if they went to trial
to understand how the Volkswagen Scout connection
doesn't work in this service of Scout.
I mean-
Let's not go down the legal path quite yet then.
Let's just talk conceptually here.
Are dealers scared of this?
Let's start there.
Do you think automakers should be selling direct to consumer?
I've got queued up for later in today's show,
just so everyone knows we're going to turn to it.
There's an awesome page on Wikipedia
that shows you every single state's
dealer sales exemption list.
So we're going to review this later on in the show,
but let's start higher level here.
Dealers are pissed we know that.
Are they also scared and should they be?
Are they scared?
Yes and no.
I mean, obviously they're opposed to it
because it takes the franchise system
as we know it out of the picture,
and that's how they make their money.
Will they fight it?
Oh yeah, tooth and nail with every last dollar that they have.
And most state associations have a lot of dollars
and a lot of political clown.
In my opinion, they should be more afraid
with what's happening on the new car side of things
with Carvana than they should be
with direct to consumer sales.
Sorry, I'm not going to let you off.
I'm not going, I'm just saying.
No, no, no.
You said yes and no.
Yeah.
Give me more meat on that.
I didn't hear the no.
What's the no, the fact that they're going to fight it?
Like you said, yes, they should be scared.
What's the no?
The no is that they're going to fight it
and it'll take years and years and years.
And the reality is that a brand such as Scout
or such as Lucid Rivian
will control such a small portion of sales.
Their percentage that they'll own with the market share
would be so minute that it really won't matter ultimately
to the franchise dealers that are out there, in my opinion.
But so there's the yes and the no.
The no is ultimately, I don't think it's going to matter
because it's going to be such a small market share.
The hope would be that through many other things
that are happening in the industry today,
that dealerships will change how it is that they operate
to make it a more customer-centric experience
than it's been in the past.
And the reason that these direct-to-consumer businesses
operate and seem to have some success
is that people are sick and tired of having to deal with dealerships.
And so I think ultimately it will force dealerships
to review how it is that they operate.
But in the chat, I have a question for our community.
Do you want to see direct-to-consumer car sales?
Just put either yes or no.
I'm very curious.
We'll pull that up here in a second.
Again, the big story this morning that we're keeping our eyes on
and that is something that's been going on for a while now.
Washington State Auto Dealers Association
is stewing to block scout motors
from direct-to-consumer sales.
Now Tesla obviously, okay, sit down.
Like here's the example in real time.
Yes, yes, yes.
I haven't seen a single no yet.
Why?
And the reason...
You don't like dealing with car dealers, and...
There's a no.
But yeah, the simple reason is that people despise the tactics
that they encounter at dealerships.
And they despise the process as it's set up at the present time.
So in order to avoid that, people like the...
Or think they like the concept of buying directly from the manufacturer.
It makes it easier.
It makes it quicker.
It's simpler.
And Tesla has demonstrated this at scale nationwide.
Yeah, I'm not disputing that, but I think the outcome from this
and the outcome from other factors that are pressuring dealers at the moment
is that dealers will be forced to recognize that they need to change
the way they sell cars, that they need to become more customer-centric, more transparent.
But couldn't it be too little, too late?
Tesla has demonstrated that, hey, direct-to-consumer sales work at scale.
We have brands like Volkswagen who are pretty much going toe-to-toe with their dealer network
and saying, screw it, we're going to incur the legal bills.
It's worth pursuing it.
And this way Rivian obviously is doing it.
We have...
What's the slate?
That slate with Caravana?
I mean, come on, isn't there a chance that it's too little, too late,
and that dealers missed the opportunity to clean things up,
make them more customer-centric to your point?
And now direct-to-consumer sales is what's going to happen?
If you're asking my opinion, my opinion would be no.
I don't think it's too little, too late.
I think it's late, but I think the dealer franchise network is so entrenched
in the fabric of our country that they will lose some market share
to some of these direct-to-consumer manufacturers.
It won't be enough market share that it will really matter, in my opinion.
I wonder in practice what it means...
I'm not trying to...
I mean this genuinely.
I wonder what it means in practice to be entrenched in the fabric of America.
Because we're watching in real time, I think that someone take their sewing machine
and un-stitch that fabric.
I'm not going to be facetious.
I think your point, it's happening with Caravana.
Caravana sold, what was it, almost a thousand cars?
998 CDJR products at the brand store.
Yeah, so for Caravana, there's a huge story in the industry right now,
and it's a huge story for our community, too.
You want to go buy a new car and you want to have an absolutely pain-free experience?
Obviously, we're trying to work on that with our certified dealer partners and everything like that,
but you know what?
It's not Caravana.
It's not going to be okay.
You live in wherever the heck it is and we'll make sure that we can deliver.
I mean, they have perfected something that they went from 30 cars per sale
that sold per month to almost a thousand in 18, 19 months.
They're putting pressure on car dealers right now.
I'd like to think we're putting some pressure on car dealers to clean things up
with the dealer transparency index.
And then you also have what we were talking about at the beginning of this show,
which is scout motors and other automakers getting sued by dealers' associations
because they're pursuing direct-to-consumer sales.
Are we not watching in real time the fabric of America getting
unsown and re-sown in a new way?
Like it feels like dealers are, yes, very much entrenched on the service side,
on the trade-in side, but we're seeing different examples of how to sell cars right now
and it's working.
I would say perhaps some of the clothing is tattered and worn and needs some repair.
But I just think that we forget about how much local dealerships contribute
to their local communities.
They sponsor Little League.
They give charitable donations.
They are part and parcel of what makes a local community flourish in many cases.
Now, that doesn't mean that they can't improve.
I love this comment.
You can sponsor Local Little League with the money you saved.
But you don't.
That's the problem.
You don't.
People don't.
I ran a business.
I had a local golf store.
I can't tell you how many golf events people came to me and they wanted something for free
to give out because, well, they didn't know where else to go.
It wasn't like they were going to buy it.
So, communities depend on local businesses to help support community efforts.
Now, some dealerships do it better than others.
And in some locations, they are really the fabric of that community.
In my opinion, I'm very curious how you react to this.
There is no rational justification for car dealers to exist because they sponsor Little League.
That can't be.
That can't be.
It unequivocally cannot be even one of the top 10 reasons why car dealerships
should exist in my opinion.
And to be clear here, just to be totally transparent, our business is predicated
on car dealers continuing to exist.
We make money at Car Edge by helping people buy cars from car dealers.
So, I just want to be very transparent.
And I can in the same sentence say, it makes no sense that dealers should exist
because they donate to Little League.
That's not it.
It's got to be because they add value to the transacting experience.
And dad, I think in many cases, dealers detract value from the experience,
both at the OEM level, they charge the OEM brand.
And at the consumer level, the consumer experience is not what it should be.
So, I think that's a wake-up call moment for the auto industry.
And direct-to-consumer sales are another attack.
Tesla has demonstrated it.
Now, we've got a scout here.
We have Slate, like Riven.
It's another attack on the franchise dealer model.
And I think dealers are pissed and they're panicking.
I don't think they're panicking.
I think they're reevaluating.
I think there are any number of factors as to why they're reevaluating,
how they do business.
One of them is direct-to-consumer sales.
One of them is the Federal Trade Commission putting them on notice,
making them aware of the fact that the old way of advertising and things of that nature
are not going to be the new way.
Telling them point blank, you need to clean up your act.
Local state dealer associations are holding conversations with their dealers saying,
you need to clean up your act.
So, yes, they're concerned.
They're going to change.
They're going to evolve.
Now, the fact that it's taken them 120 years to evolve indicates that they're kind of stuck
in the ways that they do things.
But I think we're starting to see that evolution to a certain degree.
Now, my hope is it takes forever so you can have this business be successful for a very long time.
In your career, if you feel comfortable sharing, how much money did you make?
What was a good year 20 years ago in your career?
I was making $150,000, $60,000 a year.
Which, to be clear here, thank goodness he was.
I had a great upbringing.
We were able to go on a family vacation every other summer.
I have a sister.
Mom did work, but thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you to the car business and to you for all the work you did to make that type of living.
We have an affordability crisis right now.
Cars are too expensive.
Think about this for a second.
You were sales manager.
All those sales managers, inflation adjusted.
I hope they're making more than you were making 20 years ago.
They add cost to the equation of buying a car.
Not saying anything.
Don't.
Every sales person does.
Every finance manager does.
Carvana, one of the most incredible things they're doing right now.
And honestly, we're doing this with some of our initial certified dealer partners too.
No sales person involved in the sales process.
No sales manager.
No finance manager.
There's probably, I don't know, we got to run the numbers on this one, folks, but
anecdote, I'm thinking there's hundreds of millions of dollars in cost in the car business
that can go out annually if the process was either direct to consumer, more Carvana like
leading with transparency, et cetera.
Maybe that's one way to solve the affordability crisis is take some of the slack out of the system.
That, dad, is what gets me excited about what we see with,
am I pro direct to consumer sales?
I think in my heart of heart, there's a place for it.
And then the other part of me wants CarEdge to exist for a long time and be profitable
and sustain our family and our community.
But I don't think it's going away.
It's definitely not going away.
And so I think dealerships need to look at this as a moment where it's like,
if we don't add value to the equation, we're going to go extinct.
And I think you're right, they will evolve.
I'm very confident that car dealerships will evolve.
But man, oh man, I think there's a lot of cost to be taken out of the system right now.
And that's not to say that the dealerships won't figure out ways to lower those costs.
Won't figure out ways that if you are honest and transparent that you can handle many more
transactions in a given day than if you're hammering your customers and it takes eight
hours to sell a car instead of 35 or 40 minutes.
One of our dealer partners, I'm thinking about Mark Miller-Suber,
they don't have a salesperson.
Like when a CarEdge customer comes in, there's no salesperson involved.
Like that GM doesn't have to pay a salesperson when a CarEdge customer comes.
That's what I think the future of car buying looks like from a dealership.
Why are we paying, what's gross commission to a salesperson?
20% of gross profit, 25% 30% of gross profit?
It depends because there's a cost there.
Absolutely, there's a cost.
And when somebody says, gee, what's the average commission that a salesperson makes?
I can tell you eight, 10 years ago that between what the dealership paid as a percent for commission,
whether it be a minimum commission deal or above that, between factory spiffs and bonuses for
hitting sales objectives, that on average, the commission was about 500 bucks per car sold.
If you're selling 10 cars, you're making five grand.
It's not a lot of money, not for working 12 hours a day.
So is there five grand a month that can be saved per salesperson?
If things are done differently, if things are more efficient in the dealership,
would you need less sales management if things are done more efficiently?
Absolutely.
And I think that's one of the arguments that we at CarEdge have been making for years
is that it could be a more efficient and less expensive personnel-wise way of doing business.
100%. Tesla has also demonstrated it's a more efficient way of doing business.
Carvana right now, if you haven't seen any of the videos, it's incredible.
There's a guy, one guy at the dealership, and there's no customers at the dealership.
Carvana is selling 1,000 cars a month out of a dealership, and there's a guy there with no
I'm not saying that's going to be the thing for everyone in the future,
but direct to consumer is going to be a path.
The Carvana model is going to be a path.
The CarEdge model is going to be a path.
But dad, they're all putting pressure on dealers, and dealers are going to do what they need to do,
which is to be clear, here's suing people.
They're suing Scout.
They'll probably sue Slate.
They'll sue anyone and everyone because they have so much money, which reminds me,
dad, they didn't give all of it to their local little leagues.
I'm not saying they don't donate, but they didn't give it all to the local.
But they gave a lot of it to their local politicians.
Yeah, but they also had a lot of car dealers of private jets and make hundreds of millions of
dollars. There's nobody's disputing that.
Which all I'm saying is there's a lot of profit in the way that this system currently works,
and not a lot of efficiency, I think, like a fair value exchange.
I don't know how to do this equation.
I don't know how to figure out how much profit car dealers make nationwide,
and I'm talking about all the way down to the bottom dollar of we have a reinsurance
company set up, so every single warranty we sell sits on a reinsurance in Bermuda,
and I'm talking billions, hundreds of billions of dollars in profit after all the expenses.
Profit. I'm not sure if the value exchange is there for the convenience of having somewhere
local to go to look at cars, the convenience of being able to buy.
I think there's a lot of self-recony going on in the auto industry right now for dealers,
and I agree with you, dealers will be around forever. I think they are too entrenched to go
away, and I think they have too deep of pockets to go down without a fight, but man, oh man,
I think dealers are getting pissed off that over here, there's a direct-to-consumer sales option
over here, there's Carvana, and the good dealers, they get it. At the future, this is where we're
going. They need to lean into it. I think that's why we're having success with CarEdge, because
there are dealers out there that say, how do I get an A grade on the dealer transparency index?
How do I shout from the rooftops? I'm transparent. I need to differentiate myself from the scum
that have wrecked the name of dealerships nationwide, but man, is there a lot of pressure
on them right now? Yes, but it's not the ... They will evolve. You've heard me say this a zillion
times. They are some of the most creative people on the face of the planet. They are, whether
they're creative when it comes to how they advertise, whether they're creative with
how it comes that they run the sales process, they're creative. They know there's money to
be made there, whether it be in selling the vehicles, whether it be in servicing the vehicles,
whether it be in arranging the financing for the vehicles. They know there's money to be made there,
and they know, many of them, that in order to continue to be able to take advantage of the
money that can be made there, they need to evolve. I did an interview yesterday with a
reporter from a TV station in Salt Lake City, and he said to me, he said, well,
what's changed in all the time you've been doing this? I said, I don't know. How about a windows
sticker? How about a Monroney label? I mean, there was a time when there weren't Monroney labels,
where it wasn't required to have a manufacturer's label on the vehicles showing what the asking
price is. The asking price was determined by the enthusiasm of the customer towards the product.
Things change. You didn't have Monroney labels until you had Monroney labels, so
dealers had to evolve. We've seen the advent of the internet. We've seen the advent of having
so much information at the customer's fingertips that dealerships have had to change. Yet throughout
all that change, they have figured out ways to keep so much of its secret and in the dark,
so that they can take advantage of people. The future, as we are seeing the change today,
is in transparency. It's in meeting the customer where the customer wants to be,
selling the customer the vehicle the way they want to be able to buy it. The good dealers
are recognizing that and they will evolve come up with systems that will allow the
customer to feel good about the purchase that they're making and it will allow the dealerships
to continue to make the type of profits that they need to make in order to stay in business.
So are they scared? I think they're concerned and I think the smart ones will figure it out
and the dumb ones will not and it's like anything in life. Smart people figure it out,
dumb people don't and those who do will end up succeeding.
Again, direct-to-consumer car sales taking another step forward. We've got dealers in the
state of Washington after they fought back against scout motors in the state of Colorado.
Lots of pressure being put on car dealers but direct-to-consumer car sales. A friendly reminder,
we grade car dealers so you don't have to waste your time with the bad ones, the ones that charge
insane dock fees or add-ons and bait and switch on prices. This is caredge.com slash dealers
and you can learn more about. We have certified dealers that guarantee a certain level of experience
all in out-the-door pricing up front, no surprise add-ons, fast pricing, no pressure experience,
et cetera and then just A rated dealers, F rated dealers and all the grades in between. So I encourage
everyone to spend some time back at caredge.com slash dealers to see dealers in your area before
you do the car buying process. Go through that and make sure you have that information. We have
from Matthew. Thank you for this Matthew. Thank you, Matthew.
Zach, glad you like the EuroPixie. Matthew sent me some and they're incredible. Hope you got raised.
Instagram fired up so he could see. Yeah, I don't know if my dad likes an Instagram but I'll help
him out, prolific poster as he is. By the way, Pops, swim race at the Arctic Tahoe Saturday.
Are you ready? What was the last time you went swimming, dad?
Swimming? What was the last time you went swimming?
You know, when I was a little boy, I went to Camp Cherrydale, a day camp. Every day we would drive
out from where we lived in Springfield, Pennsylvania to Cheney, Pennsylvania to go to Camp Cherrydale.
I wasn't a particularly good swimmer. They told everybody to get in the pool and I really didn't
want to get in the pool. One of the camp counselors threw me into the deep end. I was
like bobbing up and down trying to get some air because I couldn't swim. I nearly drowned. The
only reason I didn't drown is one of the other campers jumped in and saved me because the counselors
didn't believe that I was really drowning. Because of that experience, I believe the last time I
probably swam was in the pool we had at our house in Scottsdale when we lived there.
Now, I believe that would be probably 2008 or 2009 was the last time I swam.
So Matthew, no, he's not going to join you on that. Sorry about that. Folks, let's call it a show for
today, dad. We're back tomorrow with more Car Edge Live. We appreciate everyone tuning in.
We'll be back here tomorrow at noon Eastern. Dad, glad you're not swimming. Don't worry about it
and we'll see you back here tomorrow. Nobody's gladder about it than I am, buddy.
More glad, I think. Well, whatever. I didn't say I was good with the grammar.
We'll see you guys back here tomorrow. Love you, dad. Love you too, handsome. Thanks, everybody.
About this episode
Ray and Zach dig into automakers pushing direct-to-consumer sales and why dealer groups are fighting back—highlighted by a Washington state lawsuit targeting Scout Motors’ DTC plans. They compare the regulatory reality across states, note that Tesla proved DTC can scale, and debate whether dealer franchise networks will adapt or lose meaningful share. The conversation also ties in Carvana’s rapid growth as pressure on traditional stores, plus a broader question: do dealers still add value beyond community sponsorships?
Today on CarEdge Live, Ray and Zach discuss the latest news on automakers trying to sell direct to consumer. Tune in to learn more! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com
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