system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
There is no legitimate reason for NJ to prevent Tesla from selling directly to consumers. CMV.

I feel like car dealerships should not have a protected market. A manufacturer ought to have the right to sell their cars directly to consumers. 

Forcing consumers and companies to go through dealers simply drives up costs for little reason at all. It doesn't benefit anyone except for the car dealers.

If consumers don't like a manufacturer's direct sales, then they can just go back to a dealer. If consumers do like direct sales, then they one more choice for buying their car. The dealer should be forced to compete by providing extra value.

And if dealers wouldn't be able to survive in an environment where car manufacturers are directly selling their products, then they are basically unnecessary and shouldn't exist in the first place.
gpt
If we were making new regulations today, I'd completely agree with you.  But, changing the existing rules in place could have significant effects on a number of local businesses, most of which would not be beneficial to the states in the short term.  In the long run it might be better, but most politicians can't see past the short term costs it would impose.

From a state's perspective, selling a car through a dealership means that 5-10% of that purchase goes into the state economy. It funds a local business, which creates local jobs, etc.  When the car is sold direct to the consumer, that 5-10% usually leaves the state, heading back to Detroit or California (in Tesla's case).

These laws have also been on the books for a number of years, and lots of existing businesses depend on those rules.  If direct to consumer marketing becomes the norm, then the local Ford dealer could find his supply cut off, at the same time a Ford direct dealer opens down the street with lower prices.