Dealerships serve little real function in the present day. They exist to extract; sitting between car manufacturers and consumers.

You have these parasites (salesmen) who knowingly push garbage products to people they know can't afford it, aiding and abetting people's self-destruction for their own gain.

Mind you, these people have the gall to vociferously defend dealer markups and the base industry in which they are involved.

What about dealership auto shops? They charge ridiculous prices and there's no reason to use one, other than to fulfill some sort of manufacturer warranty or recall work.

Car manufacturers sell garbage vehicles that aren't built to last. 200 to 300 thousand miles of life is the standard the relatively simple cars of the 1990's and 2000's set for the industry.

The requirements (CAFE, Safety) placed on manufacturers (USA) have ruined the new car market.

I don't want to hear about emissions and safety until we ban these 4000-pound automotive atrocities. There's no good argument as to why it's necessary for people to own these trucks and SUVs. The only argument most people present is 'freedom for the sake of it- at whatever the expense to the common good.'

These new cars, especially trucks and SUVs, are a safety, 'fuel efficiency', and 'waste' nightmare.

Maybe I can make an SUV or truck operate with sedan-like fuel efficiency. But that 2-liter turbo I4 engine pushing a 4000-pound vehicle is not going to last 200,000 miles. It's going to need a *lot* of maintenance and repairs to begrudgingly limp itself to 100,000.

There's no replacement for weight in a car crash. A 2025 Ford F-150 (4400lbs) is going to shred something like a 2016 Scion iA (2400lbs), regardless of airbags installed or crumple zone geometry perfection.

(Not to mention the insane LED headlights of new vehicles and the safety problem they represent.)

The excessive, often mandatory, usually safety-related technology further amplifies the waste issue in ALL cars: lane-keeping assist, emergency braking, RADAR cruise control, parking sensors, and more. Material waste aside, it represents an added cost to producing a car and, subsequently, higher purchase prices for consumers.

Of new (2010-) technology, all that's needed is a small screen for a backup camera- especially if we're dead-set on maintaining current rollover safety regulations that make modern car visibility a joke.

And all of this- for what?

So people can waste $70,000 on disposable vehicles that're never going to see use beyond that of a 1998 Honda Civic.