(06-19-2023, 05:45 AM)EricC85 Wrote:

(06-19-2023, 03:43 AM)p_rushing Wrote: Franchise contracts should already control this. There really wasn't an issue unless Ford wants to stop franchising in an area. The Franchise gets screwed over a lot by Ford and they have to do what they say.

Not sure if this is a reaction to Ford closing franchises and going against the owner's wishes but I suspect that is the case. Some rich dealer got his friends to protect his dealerships to stop corporate from shutting them down.

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My understanding is that's exactly what's going on. Ford saw what Teslas doing and said they where going to cut out the dealerships. This bill HB-67 prevents that for the reasons I described above.

As I understood it, Ford was only hoping to sell electric cars direct to consumers, they would still continue to sell conventional and hybrid cars and trucks through dealerships only.
In theory an electric car should have much less maintenance needs, and much less potential recalls, It might be a totally different type of mechanic executing the recall repair anyways.
There are many car dealers that do not want to handle electric or hybrid cars at all.  Many car dealers try to minimize the options they will stock to best sellers only, and if you base your buying decisions on what sold last year, the product mix can't change. Manufacturers have been frustrated by this for years.

Also, to p_rushing's point, the franchise contract itself should handle most of this.  If a car dealer needs some security that they will have a sales territory and not get undercut by direct sales before they would be willing to provide a service department dedicated to recalls, that's a textbook example of something that a good contract can handle, no legislature needed.  Just judges. 

Personally I think, electric or not, dealerships are total leaches in all but the largest and most competitive geographic areas, and only for the brands with the biggest sales volume.   When Ford wants to move 10,000 F-150s per quarter into Florida, I can see how dealers could add value buying in bulk and taking on risks like "customers like this paint color more than we thought they would" or "customers liked this upgrade package in Jacksonville but not Tampa." But once you get into smaller sales volumes and more choices of packages and paint colors in less densely populated areas, I just don't see the value at all. Customers in these situations are usually fine if they have to wait a few weeks for the exact car they want to roll off the line.
If Progressive insurance can find a body shop they'll contract with in every market they operate in, I don't see why Hyundai and Kia couldn't do the same thing for recalls.

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