What Would Google Do_ - Jeff Jarvis [93]
Now we come to the big problem facing car companies: dealers. We don’t like car salesmen (in a 2007 Gallup survey, Americans rated them at the bottom—tied with lobbyists—with only 5 percent saying dealers had high honesty and ethics). They add little or no value to the transaction and none to the product. They make buying a car uncomfortable. Car companies in the U.S. are stuck with franchise laws that won’t allow them to sell directly. So what should they do? I suggest they start by creating a platform for customers to say just what they think of car salesmen so companies can rub dealers’ noses in it. Perhaps the voice of the people will reach and convince Congress to deregulate and open up car sales. We now do most of our car shopping online. We comparison shop, read reviews, review specs, and talk with friends. All we need the dealer for is a test drive. Once I know I want a car, why should I have to drive to the dealer; why doesn’t the dealer or a manufacturer’s representative deliver the car to me? Why can’t I buy a car at the auto show? Why should I have to negotiate with three dealers for the exact same product when open pricing online has already told me what the market will bear? The dealer structure builds in inefficiencies and costs that the industry—and we—cannot afford.
The repair system is little better. My warranty is really an insurance policy that I should be able to redeem at any repair shop. The car company could still provide training—I would prefer to go to someone certified—and would sell parts. If the repair market were more competitive, the car company and I would each benefit.
I discussed my rationale for the open-source car platform with Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist you’ll hear from shortly, and asked him what a Googley car company would look like. He said it already exists. It’s Zipcar, which provides 5,000 cars to 200,000 drivers in various cities and campuses. Drivers join Zipcar for $50 a month, then make reservations online and pick up a car in any of a number of garages, paying $9 an hour or $65 a day in New York, including insurance, gas, and 180 miles. I can get similar rates from traditional rental companies but with less flexibility and convenience. Zipcar says each of its cars replaces 15 privately owned cars and that 40 percent of its members decide to give up owning a car. Similarly, Paris’ mayor announced in 2008 that the city would follow its successful bike-sharing program by making 4,000 electric cars available to residents to pick up and drop off at 700 locations. The goal is to get Parisians to buy fewer cars.
I know what you’re thinking (and can hear the peals of laughter all the way from Detroit): The last thing a car company should want is fewer cars. Are you nuts, Jarvis? Are you a communist or some tree-hugging fanatic? No. I’m just turning the industry upside-down. When I put the question to adman Rishad Tobaccowala, whose agency works in the auto industry, he said Detroit is not really in the business of making cars. He channeled the Googley car company and said: “I’m in the business of moving people from place A to place B. How can I do it in different ways? And as they are moving from place A to place B, how do I make them feel secure and connected?” He said that except for sleep, we spend more time moving around than at home. “Screw Starbucks as the ‘third place.’ The third place today is the automobile.” What is the automobile really about? “Navigation and entertainment,” he said—not necessarily manufacturing. Indeed, Tobaccowala said the most interesting parts of the General Motors business had been OnStar and—credit crunch aside—financing. Manufacturing is expensive, vulnerable to commodity pricing, labor-intensive, weighed down