I have a feeling the US auto retailing comples will become a canonical example of various concepts for Econ textbooks for a long time. Austrian creative destruction, regulatory capture. I also think there might be room for new concepts such as regulatory accumulation and you could find some good examples of this here too.

For anyone who knows the ins and outs of the system.. What prevents a dealership from setting up a base in an unregulated state and selling new cars directly to consumers everywhere in The States using fixed pricing. No showroom, test drive or salesman costs. Just a website with a price and trucks that deliver the cars.

Is there no usage loophole created by interstate commerce? Aren't all these laws local?