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All but 1 dealer in my area are owned by the same person. It's a monopoly but nobody seems to care, they regularly tack on 2-4k on even a basic corolla!
I agree 100% that dealers need to go away. Direct buy is the best method, then the manufacturers are competing with the other manufacturers, so competition won't go away, it will simply move from the dealer to the manufacturer.
The ONLY downside to this model is being able to do test drives. But if the manufacturer simply opens a single "Dealership" for every 20 normal ones, that problem goes out the window, and the costs will PLUMMET! Both for the consumer and the manufacturer, kick backs and what not will go away!
The way it would work:
Each manufacturers dealership would have a comprehensive collection of demo cars, no need for much stock.
A consumer will schedule a test drive of what they like on-line, come in, do the drive.
If they like the car, order it up or pick it up if in stock (similar to how it works in many other countries.)
This has the HUGE advantage of allowing the consumer to get EXACTLY what they want. I'd bet 90% of buyers don't get what they really want, they settle for a lot vehicle with more or less crap than they wanted to begin with.
Blame it on America's desire for instant gratification, but if buyers saw the alternative, I'm sure they'd wait a few weeks for the RIGHT car.
BTW, so far my Subaru dealer has been great, nothing to complain about as of yet, other than updates of course lol! So I'm not against anyone in general, just the current model.
Edit: Oh yeah, the entire cost structure of keeping vehicles on car lots will go away as well, the manufacturer owns the cars on the lot so they don't need to pay all the associated interest fees and whatnot to keep them there. The longer that shitty corolla sits on the lot, the less the dealer makes, so the more they try to mark it up. Putting an end to that would be HUGE.
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