Illinois Dealer Fight

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Jamie@ScoutMotors

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Hi all. I wanted to let everyone know that dealer organizations are trying to change Illinois law that allow for direct sales of vehicles in Illinois. Obviously this directly impacts Scout Motors plans to sell direct in Illinois. In fact they are trying to make it retroactive back to 2022. If you live in Illinois, we have an active link HERE where you can let representatives no that you opposed these changes. Here is the direct link:


Below is a note that Cody Thacker wrote to Illinois reservation holders. Thanks to everyone for helping us provide consumers with choice and a better car buying experience.

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Illinois Scouts,

By placing a reservation with Scout Motors, you have joined us on an earnest adventure. Together, we’re revitalizing an American icon, restoring American manufacturing, and reinvigorating American ingenuity.

If there's one thing we know about Americans, it's that we believe in and thrive on freedom, innovation, and competition.

Now, we're asking for your help to ensure Illinois lives up to those values.

As a newly formed American company, Scout Motors is building everything from the ground up. This includes our vehicles, our factory, and our customer experience. To provide the most affordable and convenient customer experience, we made the strategic decision to sell Scout vehicles directly to you, the Scout Motors customer.

This is the way it should be — Scout vehicles designed, engineered, manufactured, sold, and serviced, all by Scout Motors — and it allows us to offer:

· Affordable trucks and SUVs with prices reduced thousands of dollars per vehicle by virtue of eliminating the middleman.

· Transparent pricing with no hidden fees or last-minute markups.

· A streamlined purchase experience enabling vehicle purchases in minutes, not hours.

· A one-to-one relationship between Scout Motors and its customers providing centralized account management, convenient app experiences, and modern service, like over-the-air improvements to vehicles.

Current state law permits electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers to sell directly to residents of Illinois and for residents to service their vehicles within the state. This framework has fostered innovation and growth in the market, establishing Illinois as one of the nation’s leading states for EV adoption.

A new bill, SB 1939, aims to repeal the existing law. At the behest of car dealer lobbyists, this bill attempts to make it illegal for you to purchase directly from Scout Motors in Illinois. This change would limit your purchase choices and potentially require you to go out of state to buy a Scout vehicle.

The Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, consumer advocates, free-market champions, academics, economists, and environmentalists all agree that direct sales drive innovation, promote competition, and provide benefits for consumers. For these reasons and more, Illinois should not upend its existing automotive laws.

If you agree, we need your support. Help us urge Illinois lawmakers to oppose SB 1939 and maintain your freedom to choose how you purchase vehicles.

Thank you for placing a reservation—and your trust—with Scout Motors. Our mission is to forge the future, and blocking anti-consumer Illinois bills is a critical step on that path.

Cody Thacker
Vice President, Commercial Operations
Scout Motors Inc.
 
Hi all. I wanted to let everyone know that dealer organizations are trying to change Illinois law that allow for direct sales of vehicles in Illinois. Obviously this directly impacts Scout Motors plans to sell direct in Illinois. In fact they are trying to make it retroactive back to 2022. If you live in Illinois, we have an active link HERE where you can let representatives no that you opposed these changes. Here is the direct link:


Below is a note that Cody Thacker wrote to Illinois reservation holders. Thanks to everyone for helping us provide consumers with choice and a better car buying experience.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Illinois Scouts,

By placing a reservation with Scout Motors, you have joined us on an earnest adventure. Together, we’re revitalizing an American icon, restoring American manufacturing, and reinvigorating American ingenuity.

If there's one thing we know about Americans, it's that we believe in and thrive on freedom, innovation, and competition.

Now, we're asking for your help to ensure Illinois lives up to those values.

As a newly formed American company, Scout Motors is building everything from the ground up. This includes our vehicles, our factory, and our customer experience. To provide the most affordable and convenient customer experience, we made the strategic decision to sell Scout vehicles directly to you, the Scout Motors customer.

This is the way it should be — Scout vehicles designed, engineered, manufactured, sold, and serviced, all by Scout Motors — and it allows us to offer:

· Affordable trucks and SUVs with prices reduced thousands of dollars per vehicle by virtue of eliminating the middleman.

· Transparent pricing with no hidden fees or last-minute markups.

· A streamlined purchase experience enabling vehicle purchases in minutes, not hours.

· A one-to-one relationship between Scout Motors and its customers providing centralized account management, convenient app experiences, and modern service, like over-the-air improvements to vehicles.

Current state law permits electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers to sell directly to residents of Illinois and for residents to service their vehicles within the state. This framework has fostered innovation and growth in the market, establishing Illinois as one of the nation’s leading states for EV adoption.

A new bill, SB 1939, aims to repeal the existing law. At the behest of car dealer lobbyists, this bill attempts to make it illegal for you to purchase directly from Scout Motors in Illinois. This change would limit your purchase choices and potentially require you to go out of state to buy a Scout vehicle.

The Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, consumer advocates, free-market champions, academics, economists, and environmentalists all agree that direct sales drive innovation, promote competition, and provide benefits for consumers. For these reasons and more, Illinois should not upend its existing automotive laws.

If you agree, we need your support. Help us urge Illinois lawmakers to oppose SB 1939 and maintain your freedom to choose how you purchase vehicles.

Thank you for placing a reservation—and your trust—with Scout Motors. Our mission is to forge the future, and blocking anti-consumer Illinois bills is a critical step on that path.

Cody Thacker
Vice President, Commercial Operations
Scout Motors Inc.
As a resident of Central Illinois very close to Rivian where they have helped our local economy this upsets me very much. I utilized the link above already but please let me know how I can help. I am more than willing to go to any hearings in Illinois to make my voice heard.
 
I may be going to Springfield to testify next week. I'll let you know.
I can be there. Just let me know. I just added up in my head. We bought 4 new cars in 2022/23. We spent $8,000 on dealer markup and at least $5,000 in required dealer addons we didn’t want like LoJack and Simonize. I am happy to get up and make my voice heard as well.
 
I'm on standby now as there is a limit on the number of people. Deeply appreciate the support and I'll let you all know if we can have anyone else there in person.
Jamie will one of the vehicles be at the Illinois Capitol building like they were at the Colorado Capitol building? And if so what day? I would definitely drive to see them. Thanks!
 
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I can be there. Just let me know. I just added up in my head. We bought 4 new cars in 2022/23. We spent $8,000 on dealer markup and at least $5,000 in required dealer addons we didn’t want like LoJack and Simonize. I am happy to get up and make my voice heard as well.
This is the crap AZ and CO Toyota dealers were trying to pull on me for a RAV4 Prime in '21 and '22 since NM dealers couldn't get any allocated until mid '24 and why I bought my KIA Sportage PHEV and even then, I had to go to CO as deliveries to NM were 12-14 mos out.
 
This is the crap AZ and CO Toyota dealers were trying to pull on me for a RAV4 Prime in '21 and '22 since NM dealers couldn't get any allocated until mid '24 and why I bought my KIA Sportage PHEV and even then, I had to go to CO as deliveries to NM were 12-14 mos out.
Honestly is ridiculous. My son’s car was like that. Very difficult to get and when I finally found one they wanted $10,000 over on a $36,000 car. It was his first new car purchase and we were co-signing. They said that I immediately stood up. Absolutely not. They are not taking advantage of my kid like that. We got them down to $2,000 over. And then it was all the addons. We made it work but honestly I just want to order a car.
 
The direct purchase of my Rivian R1T was the best purchase experience I have ever had.

These dealer lobbies are no different from the taxi cab lobbies that tried to prevent ride shares like Uber and Lyft from entering major markets. The direct model drives competition & fosters consumer choice. These lobbies are struggling to hold onto a business model that is antiquated, predatory and provides consumers with little to no value.
 
The other issue I never realized living in California is it takes longer to get a car living in the middle of the country. They will be all over the place on the east and west coast. Living in Illinois now I see how long it takes if the car has to come through a port. By the time the cars make it to the port and on a train to Illinois it takes forever.
 
The other issue I never realized living in California is it takes longer to get a car living in the middle of the country. They will be all over the place on the east and west coast. Living in Illinois now I see how long it takes if the car has to come through a port. By the time the cars make it to the port and on a train to Illinois it takes forever.
Yup, and considering the NM has one of the highest solar indexes in the country and lots of folks, like me, have solar, you'd think PHEVs would be sent here, but nope! The only PHEV I could get in less that 3 months was the VolvoXC60 T8 Recharge for around the $73k mark which is a beauitful car with 455 hp, but the car's controlls were all set via a large Google center screen and I decided that was far too distracting so I pulled my deposit.
 
Toyota is the worst.
Sorry this happened.

I agree, we were going to order a rav 4 PHEV or hybrid Toyota from the dealer and they said they weren’t taking custom orders. We could pick from what’s on the lot, they had no idea when or what they were getting in, but we could place money down to be on a list to call if any models we liked came in. Like no thanks.
 
Sorry this happened.

I agree, we were going to order a rav 4 PHEV or hybrid Toyota from the dealer and they said they weren’t taking custom orders. We could pick from what’s on the lot, they had no idea when or what they were getting in, but we could place money down to be on a list to call if any models we liked came in. Like no thanks.
Pretty much what I faced. Rumors are that the 2026 RAV4s will all be either hybrid, OHEV or EV.