page_title: Plug-in electric vehicles in the United States
section_title: Car dealers' reluctance to sell
hierarchical_section_title: Plug-in electric vehicles in the United States / Markets and sales / National market / Car dealers' reluctance to sell
caption_attribution_description: English: Two 2012 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrids in Alexandria, Virginia, US
context_page_description: The adoption of plug-in electric vehicles in the United States is supported by the American federal government, and several states and local governments. As of December 2019, cumulative sales in the U.S. totaled 1.45 million highway legal plug-in electric cars since 2010. The American stock represented 20% of the global plug-in car fleet in use by the end of 2019, and the U.S. had the world's third largest stock of plug-in passenger cars after China and Europe.
  The U.S. market share of plug-in electric passenger cars increased from 0.14% in 2011 to 0.75% in 2014, and fell to 0.66% in 2015. Then climbed to 1.13% in 2017, and achieved a record take rate of 2.1% in 2018, but slightly declined to 1.9% in 2019. California is the largest plug-in car regional market in the country, with almost 670,000 plug-in electric vehicles sold by the end of 2019.
  As of December 2019, the Tesla Model 3 all-electric car is the all-time best selling plug-in electric car with an estimated 300,471 units delivered, followed by the Tesla Model S electric car with about 157,992, and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid with 157,054 units of both generations.
context_section_description: With the exception of Tesla Motors, almost all new cars in the United States are sold through dealerships, so they play a crucial role in the sales of electric vehicles, and negative attitudes can hinder early adoption of plug-in electric vehicles. Dealers decide which cars they want to stock, and a salesperson can have a big impact on how someone feels about a prospective purchase. Sales people have ample knowledge of internal combustion cars while they do not have time to learn about a technology that represents a fraction of overall sales. As with any new technology, and in the particular case of advanced technology vehicles, retailers are central to ensuring that buyers, especially those switching to a new technology, have the information and support they need to gain the full benefits of adopting this new technology. A 2016 study indicated that 60% of Americans were not aware of electric cars.
  There are several reasons for the reluctance of some dealers to sell plug-in electric vehicles. PEVs do not offer car dealers the same profits as gasoline-powered car. Plug-in electric vehicles take more time to sell because of the explaining required, which hurts overall sales and sales people commissions. Electric vehicles also may require less maintenance, resulting in loss of service revenue, and thus undermining the biggest source of dealer profits, their service departments. According to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADS), dealers on average make three times as much profit from service as they do from new car sales. However, a NADS spokesman said there was not sufficient data to prove that electric cars would require less maintenance. According to the New York Times, BMW and Nissan are among the companies whose dealers tend to be more enthusiastic and informed, but only about 10% of dealers are knowledgeable on the new technology.
  A study conducted at the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS), at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) published in 2014 found that many car dealers are less than enthusiastic about plug-in vehicles. ITS conducted 43 interviews with six automakers and 20 new car dealers selling plug-in vehicles in California's major metro markets. The study also analyzed national and state-level J.D. Power 2013 Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) study data on customer satisfaction with new car dealerships and Tesla retail stores. The researchers found that buyers of plug-in electric vehicles were significantly less satisfied and rated the dealer purchase experience much lower than buyers of non-premium conventional cars, while Tesla Motors earned industry-high scores. According to the findings, plug-in buyers expect more from dealers than conventional buyers, including product knowledge and support that extends beyond traditional offerings.
  In 2014 Consumer Reports published results from a survey conducted with 19 secret shoppers that went to 85 dealerships in four states, making anonymous visits between December 2013 and March 2014. The secret shoppers asked a number of specific questions about cars to test the salespeople's knowledge about electric cars. The consumer magazine decided to conduct the survey after several consumers who wanted to buy a plug-in car reported to the organization that some dealerships were steering them toward gasoline-powered models. The survey found that not all sales people seemed enthusiastic about making PEV sales; a few outright discouraged it, and even one dealer was reluctant to even show a plug-in model despite having one in stock. And many sales people seemed not to have a good understanding of electric-car tax breaks and other incentives or of charging needs and costs. Consumer Reports also found that when it came to answering basic questions, sales people at Chevrolet, Ford, and Nissan dealerships tended to be better informed than those at Honda and Toyota. The survey found that most of the Toyota dealerships visited recommended against buying a Prius Plug-in and suggested buying a standard Prius hybrid instead. Overall, the secret shoppers repo
caption: Car dealerships can play a role in the sales of plug-in electric vehicles. Shown is a Chevrolet dealership exhibiting first-generation Volts.
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