The power of lobbying

[infinitelybanta]

This all sort of ties into Louis's frequent refrain that you can't just boycott a single company to solve something like Right to Repair. All of us, as consumers, need to be aware of policies, sometimes decades old or longer, which may be sold as necessary under the guise of "protecting us from ourselves." These are almost always anti-competitive and the end results are fewer (and more expensive) options. And it isn't always the "big guy" who benefits. I doubt the car dealership owners in Texas compare to some of the mega-corporations that can be found influencing public policy through lobbying (mostly because these regulations likely predate them), but it's still the same mindset. Businesses care about increasing their bottom line and will generally get any advantage possible to do so. It's our job to keep them in check (or in theory, delegate that to elected officials, hahaha). Especially in this era of identity politics, I think we tend to forget is what we all have in common is that we are consumers, and the rights and responsibilities that go along with that.

[Mesarthim]

The power of lobbying is a cat.

This is the information I acquired from the thumbnail.

[MCsCreations]

He's the darkness, but he's also the cuteness.

[nyankers]

the mafia "offered" protection too, though at least in some cases they'd actually deliver lol

[cyclopsvision]

Tesla's direct sales is not competing with dealerships, since there are no Tesla dealerships to begin with

[francoisleveille]

The cat is highlighted this time!! My previous comment left a mark!

[pixeldaisies]

That repair wiki makes me feel like we really picked the right man to back on this whole right to repair thing. Louis isn't just looking out for his own back, he's trying to help everyone

[SharonLougheed]

I'm sorry, I only clicked on this video because of CAT, but I'll watch it till the end regardless.

[qunas]

I have to say, that "CAT" thing worked

[jeremytome]

Lobbying is legalized bribing, unfortunately it's so rampant you need it to be heard to counter years of corporate influence.

[nobisspectare]

Always remember that almost all the dealerships in the United States are owned by the same handful of families. Good luck trying to open one independently, another example of the perversion of the "free market".

[LiLxSOULJAx]

If you ask me, dealerships fail way more than manufacturers. So leave it to the consumer on this matter!

[VileVamp]

I wasn't going to watch this video, but the yellow cat box forced me to.

[jimlstheworldyewww]

I used to own a victory/Indian motorcycle in Australia, for a long time the dealerships were direct owned. The service was fantastic.
They have since changed to a new “model” and sold the dealerships off. I understand they could invest and operate differently while trying to get a foothold in the market here.
But since the change all kinds of murky things are happening now. Glad i sold mine.

[AcidSugar]

How many people have you heard, who HATE going to buy a car at a dealership? I’ve never heard anyone who likes it. even my friends who like to haggle think they are inept at their jobs, and feel like they are getting screwed somewhere in the process.

Thank you, Louis 🙏🏻

[tayloregleston]

A little tidbit/anecdote:

I work at one of the car companies' factories and, while they have discounts on new vehicles for their employees that the dealerships are REQUIRED to adhere to, there's plenty of times they won't, even after being down your employee badge and all that.

The discount is a certain percent off the invoice price (not the window price) iirc, so the "dealerships wanna line their pockets too" mentality can apply here as well.

[rushtestecho]

Wasn't really planning on watching this until I saw the hidden cat in the title image. Glad I noticed!

[GrimOfDonuts]

I am 24, never had a car (And don't know much on their parts) and no drivers license (Driving is honestly very hard for me and gets harder every year), so I don't feel like I personally have much to can put in. But hearing how it all runs, it makes absolutely no sense why dealerships exist in the first place- outside of manufacturers who don't want to sell vehicles themselves. And my parent's truck had a small issue, needed to realign the wheels. After ~$400 for the service, *after* dealership "discount", and about 2 weeks later, it turned out some other stuff was done without us knowing in the first place and an important screw was not screwed in properly- causing something underneath the car just dropping while driving on the road, and forcing the truck to stop from its drag force on the ground.

Another terrible dealership issue we had was when we tried to get another car (Before the truck), we were told the vehicle had absolutely zero accidents and was hand checked by a professional that it was true. Come to find out, a week in of using that new car, it had to go into the shop to be fixed (Was never told the original problem, just know that the engine was making sounds it definitely should not have, as I was in the car at the time). The frame was far from straight with clearly visible modifications, not stock paint on the front bumper, hood and the sides; that which the mechanic told us it was at some point clearly in an accident, as some parts did not have some kind of number on it that it should have either.

[KrishnaDasLessons]

I got it, cats use lobbying to block right to repair so that they can get new beds every month.

[Grayald]

To be honest, lobbying just sounds like a different word for bribing.