Tesla gets a win on the direct-sale front in Arizona

While Tesla’s direct-sale battles in Texas, Connecticut, and Michigan are currently at the forefront of the company’s attempt to legitimize its business model in the few states where it is still prohibited, a small victory in Arizona went under the radar last week.

A judge has approved a dealer license that the DMV has issued to Tesla last year.

Rose Law Group reports:

“Thanks to a dealer license granted last year by the Arizona Department of Transportation, Tesla is now availing itself of opportunities that had long been denied it. ADOT granted the license Tesla sought after an administrative law judge determined that a law that was widely believed to prohibit it from selling directly to customers didn’t apply to the company.”

That’s a similar approach as the company took in Utah, where after a failed attempt at changing the law through the legislative process, Tesla went to court instead to prove that the law shouldn’t apply to them since they never had any franchise dealerships and therefore, it’s not unfair for them to compete in the space.

Tesla was already operating two service centers and a gallery around Phoenix, but now it will be able to operate them as full stores.

It’s a small victory for Tesla after recent defeats in Texas and in Connecticut, where they are still trying to lift the ban through the legislative process, but their recent bills didn’t get to a vote in the last sessions.

In Connecticut, Tesla has still hope to maybe cut a deal through the special session for the state budget next month and in Michigan, the company is moving forward with its lawsuit against the state.

There’s a sense of emergency because in the few states where Tesla still can’t sell directly through its stores, it complicates the buying process, which will see a significant increase in demand with the upcoming Model 3 by the end of the year.

Buyers can still get all the information required or even place an order through the company’s website, but the stores still handle a lot of the work in most places.