Any car dealership salesman here ?

[lowside67]

Most car salesmen would struggle to make $60k consistently in a good year and definitely don't make anywhere near that in a bad year. There are certainly some examples who make $100k+ but extremely few and the thing that allows them to make that kind of money is a network of repeat customers which you simply can't create in a few years.

Mark

[LP700-4]

Anybody work at a Mitsubishi?

[Rich Sandor]

I did car sales for over 5 years. Both at Toyota (few months) and Ford (5 years!) and I am familiar with the pay structure at about 10-12 stores due to the fact that I have many friends working at different dealers from Mazda to BMW to used-cars only lots.

Commission structure varies slightly at every store, some stores even have two different commission structures to choose from. In general though, most car dealers are very similar.

You get a base "safety net" every month, even if you don't sell anything that month. At my store, it was $1500 before taxes and MSP/CPP and other deductions.

At the dealership I worked for, if you sold a car (new or used), you'd get 25% of the first $1000 gross, and 40% of any gross over $1000. The minimum commission is $150. (So if the dealer's gross on a car is anywhere below $600, you make $150 on it, even if they are losing money on it) If it's a split deal with another salesperson, you split the commission in half. The % and min comm varies from dealer to dealer. Some dealers have different pay for new vs. used.

Some cars may have a spiff commission on them from managers to motive the salespeople to sell them, usually because the sale price has been dropped to the point where there's no gross and therefore no commission left. I've had spiffs as small as $250 and as large as $2000.

Most dealers also have unit bonuses. For example, if you sell 5 cars in a month, you get an extra $200. If you sell 7 cars, you get a $500 bonus instead of just $200. If you sell 9 cars, you get a $700 bonus instead of just $500. Because manufacturers give dealers bonuses for hitting targets, dealers encourage salespeople to sell volume over gross profit. This can be very draining because the more cars you sell, the more time you have to spend at the dealership delivering that car. Selling a car is rarely a 2 hours ordeal. Showing it, test driving it, delivering it, and following up with issues afterwards can take up entire days. Usually the ones that take the longest are the ones you make the least money on.

Sometimes, if we sold a new car, like a Focus or Ranger, Ford would give us a direct commission in addition to whatever our dealership paid us. (usually $150-$250) So a $16,000 Focus or Fiesta with only $800 markup ($160 commission) would get bumped to a $300 commission with the additional spin and win.

F150's with $4000 markup would never have a spin a win, although because there are so many dealers and rookie salespeople willing to discount down to nothing for fear of losing to another dealer, quite often you'd sell an F150 and make the same commission as a Focus or Fiesta.

You'd also get bonuses for helping to sell warranties, maintenance plans, accessories, etc etc.

The KICKER is that if you sold, lets say, 4 cars, and made $300 on each one, that's $1200 - you haven't yet reached your minimum of $1500 - so you'd only get $1500 for that month, NOT $1500 + $1200.

Since every store varies in pay, management, working environment, business structure, some stores may suit certain salespeople, while other don't. Most of the mainstream dealers have managers who totally babysit their sales guys, and treat them like peons and pay them as such. More upscale dealers like Mercedes or MCL Porsche will allow the salespeople to do 99% of the work without a manager being involved until the final signature, however they don't usually hire rookies.

The most important factor, REGARDLESS of the store and pay structure, is how hard YOU are willing to work. Those who put in the hours and work hard and make phone calls can make $100,000 a year, but it's NOT easy and it's NOT the majority of salespeople that do that. At a Toyota/Ford/Mazda/Honda/GM store that would be 2 or 3 salespeople, the other 8-10 people making between $30,000-$60,000.

If you value weekends off, being home for dinner, or if you have a hobby that you like to spend a lot of time on, being a car salesman, especially at a mainstream dealership that is open till 9pm and always open on weekends, will crush those dreams. You will get phone calls on your cell when you are on your day off with a customer who wants to buy a car with a good commission on it, and he can only come in today, so you get changed, rush into work, and then the guy doesn't show up. If you're lucky, you can have a coworker take care of them and split the commission 50/50.

I couldn't take it anymore and quit 2 weeks ago. 5 years is enough. It takes a certain kind of person (no life outside the dealership) to do it successfully and I came to the realization that I am not that person.

[blee123]

Originally Posted by Rich Sandor

I did car sales for over 5 years. Both at Toyota (few months) and Ford (5 years!) and I am familiar with the pay structure at about 10-12 stores due to the fact that I have many friends working at different dealers from Mazda to BMW to used-cars only lots.

Commission structure varies slightly at every store, some stores even have two different commission structures to choose from. In general though, most car dealers are very similar.

You get a base "safety net" every month, even if you don't sell anything that month. At my store, it was $1500 before taxes and MSP/CPP and other deductions.

At the dealership I worked for, if you sold a car (new or used), you'd get 25% of the first $1000 gross, and 40% of any gross over $1000. The minimum commission is $150. (So if the dealer's gross on a car is anywhere below $600, you make $150 on it, even if they are losing money on it) If it's a split deal with another salesperson, you split the commission in half. The % and min comm varies from dealer to dealer. Some dealers have different pay for new vs. used.

Some cars may have a spiff commission on them from managers to motive the salespeople to sell them, usually because the sale price has been dropped to the point where there's no gross and therefore no commission left. I've had spiffs as small as $250 and as large as $2000.

Most dealers also have unit bonuses. For example, if you sell 5 cars in a month, you get an extra $200. If you sell 7 cars, you get a $500 bonus instead of just $200. If you sell 9 cars, you get a $700 bonus instead of just $500. Because manufacturers give dealers bonuses for hitting targets, dealers encourage salespeople to sell volume over gross profit. This can be very draining because the more cars you sell, the more time you have to spend at the dealership delivering that car. Selling a car is rarely a 2 hours ordeal. Showing it, test driving it, delivering it, and following up with issues afterwards can take up entire days. Usually the ones that take the longest are the ones you make the least money on.

Sometimes, if we sold a new car, like a Focus or Ranger, Ford would give us a direct commission in addition to whatever our dealership paid us. (usually $150-$250) So a $16,000 Focus or Fiesta with only $800 markup ($160 commission) would get bumped to a $300 commission with the additional spin and win.

F150's with $4000 markup would never have a spin a win, although because there are so many dealers and rookie salespeople willing to discount down to nothing for fear of losing to another dealer, quite often you'd sell an F150 and make the same commission as a Focus or Fiesta.

You'd also get bonuses for helping to sell warranties, maintenance plans, accessories, etc etc.

The KICKER is that if you sold, lets say, 4 cars, and made $300 on each one, that's $1200 - you haven't yet reached your minimum of $1500 - so you'd only get $1500 for that month, NOT $1500 + $1200.

Since every store varies in pay, management, working environment, business structure, some stores may suit certain salespeople, while other don't. Most of the mainstream dealers have managers who totally babysit their sales guys, and treat them like peons and pay them as such. More upscale dealers like Mercedes or MCL Porsche will allow the salespeople to do 99% of the work without a manager being involved until the final signature, however they don't usually hire rookies.

The most important factor, REGARDLESS of the store and pay structure, is how hard YOU are willing to work. Those who put in the hours and work hard and make phone calls can make $100,000 a year, but it's NOT easy and it's NOT the majority of salespeople that do that. At a Toyota/Ford/Mazda/Honda/GM store that would be 2 or 3 salespeople, the other 8-10 people making between $30,000-$60,000.

If you value weekends off, being home for dinner, or if you have a hobby that you like to spend a lot of time on, being a car salesman, especially at a mainstream dealership that is open till 9pm and always open on weekends, will crush those dreams. You will get phone calls on your cell when you are on your day off with a customer who wants to buy a car with a good commission on it, and he can only come in today, so you get changed, rush into work, and then the guy doesn't show up. If you're lucky, you can have a coworker take care of them and split the commission 50/50.

I couldn't take it anymore and quit 2 weeks ago. 5 years is enough. It takes a certain kind of person (no life outside the dealership) to do it successfully and I came to the realization that I am not that person.

your post is very insightful and helpful

Just a question tho, how come u didnt leave ford after say 3 years and go to a more upscale dealership like BMW or Audi? Maybe working in a different enviroment can change your views of being a car salesman?

[blee123]

man...this thread is always dead.... Lets hear it guys

[highres604]

My dad has been a car salemen ever since he retired. afaik he has consistently made 6 figures for the last 4-5 years.
He says that selling new cars will get you very little money as its a flat rate /car. This goes up once you reach certain numbers. The real money is in used cars as that is where the most markup is and where you can hit huge "grosses".
As others have said, this job does take a toll on your personal life though. He has to work long hours and even have to come in on his days off if he has to deliver a car for a customer.
We have been in the middle of lunch on his day off and he has had to take off because a customer called before.
Also, the pay is like an extreme roller coaster. Some months he will be all depressed because he only managed to sell 2 cars, then other months he will be super stoked because he made $10,000+

[dinosaur]

What's the general feeling/attitude regarding female car salesmen?

[6793026]

my friend was a girl that worked at a very nice car dealership. she worked at service / and warranty whatever department you want to call it. She got paid a lot but just couldn't deal with it. what's the number 1 common trait working at service? it's that people want to bitch at you. A LOT. each time a car breaks down, you get the shit stick and then you also have to deal with the shit the tech gives you. result? she couldn't take it, she quit because she couldn't find the love and ended up crying at lunch time feeling like shit.

everyone wants a courtsey car, the tech say you suck shit cause yoiu don't know shit about cars and customers call you bitching they want their car back asap.

jut fyi

[Jgresch]

Originally Posted by dinosaur

What's the general feeling/attitude regarding female car salesmen?

A lot of people feel they can take advantage of female cars salesmen. I found that if a person knew a lot about the car already, they would prefer to deal with the female for negotiating. Where as if they wanted to find the best car for themselves or were looking for more information they would prefer males.

[hchang]

Originally Posted by dinosaur

What's the general feeling/attitude regarding female car salesmen?

Personally I think females are at an advantage when it comes to any type of sales.

You girls got Greater people skills by default + guys would prefer something to look at, therefore giving you a bigger clientbase.

Originally Posted by 6793026

my friend was a girl that worked at a very nice car dealership. she worked at service / and warranty whatever department you want to call it. She got paid a lot but just couldn't deal with it. what's the number 1 common trait working at service? it's that people want to bitch at you. A LOT. each time a car breaks down, you get the shit stick and then you also have to deal with the shit the tech gives you. result? she couldn't take it, she quit because she couldn't find the love and ended up crying at lunch time feeling like shit.

everyone wants a courtsey car, the tech say you suck shit cause yoiu don't know shit about cars and customers call you bitching they want their car back asap.

jut fyi

This, but like any sales job if you can tough it out and realize that its only a job and that when people are upset its not because of you personally, they just need to vent their anger somewhere.

Service advisors makes commission off amount of labour hours I believe, but it may vary dealer to dealer.

[dinosaur]

thanks for the feedback.

it is not a job/career i have ever considered, but it was something i had always wondered about (advantages/disadvantages). I very rarely see females working in sales at dealerships and have never seen one at a used lot.

[blee123]

does anyone know which dealership is constantly hiring sales or easiest to get into?

[6793026]

^ even after all the talk above you still want to be in the business?

[blee123]

Originally Posted by 6793026

^ even after all the talk above you still want to be in the business?

Yupp, its after all this talk that makes me want to do it. I am up for any challenges.

I am not a guy that likes to work on hourly or salary pay.

[blee123]

Bump !!

So i have been in the business for a while now and can shed some light on this business.

This job is really not that easy. Even if you put in the work, time and effort, it is hard to make a sale. The car business is really competitive because people only buy a few cars over their life time so they take a long time before they decide to buy that car you showed them.

I work at a very main stream dealership in Burnaby and I prefer not to say which one (not land Rover also) and we only sell about 5 cars on the week day and 10 cars on a Saturday. If you consider we are open 12 hours a day on a weekday and we only sell 5 cars, it is pretty damn slow...take into consideration we have many salesman and usually those customers are through referals and repeat customers of older veteran salesman so us newbies have no luck if there are no walk-ins.

Most customers who walk through the door have already have their own salesman they use from before and walk-ins are usually people who are comparing 5 other brands also. Those customers who walk-in might sometimes want to test drive 3 cars with the intention of test driving 3 cars at everyday different brand (information gatherers)

So you go to work dressed nicely but you will always be dissapointed because business is slow and you cannot make a sale for 2 weeks straight and you will start to feel it is a waste of time. People would always be planning to do a test drive now but purchase the car in 3 months time and so on. It is rarely that they crashed their car or new immigrants that will need a car asap.

Sales managers would always be giving you pressure if you dont sell anything and want you to sell warranties and all sorts of things.

They would always give you shit if your customer surveys comes back with a 90% because they want a 95% and will get bonuses as management if they get a high average.

Selling a car takes 2 hours and delivering that car takes another 2 hours

Commisions are as low as $150 per car to about $1000 on a new car and sometimes even if you sell a used car, it is $150 also depending on how much the car came in for.....

On topic of sales per day, for example you have 15 guys on the floor and 5 sales that day, 4 out of 5 are repeat customers or through referals that means there is only 1 customer who is a walk-in divided by 15 salesman so it all depends on who is lucky to get that customer......

I can go on forever about this business so i'll just leave it at this

[Jas29]

I'm not a car salesman but it seems like a lot of time is wasted when you are negotiating the price of the car.

When me and my brother went to buy his accord the salesman had to go ask the manager for everything we wanted. He probably left 4 times to talk to the manager.Its a waste of time if the person buying the car has already told you what he is willing to pay and what he wants thrown in.We spent an hour trying to set a price since he kept leaving to talk to the manager it would be a lot easier if the salesman could make these decisions himself.

At the end we got what we asked for to start with except our free oil change which the manager was being an asshole about after they agree'd to it.

also does anyone work at a Honda dealership my brother is trying to figure out where to take his car for servicing

[quasi]

I bought my wife's car over the phone, took about an hour and 3-4 phone calls back and fourth but wasn't a big deal, showed up the next day to sign the papers.

If you don't like the process you could have just offered a firm price, left your number and said call me if you can make this work if you can't no worries thanks for your time but don't call me. Left the dealership and if he called great, if not find something else. This way neither of you are wasting each others time.

I'll be buying a new motorcycle in the next 2 months, I know what they go for and what I'm willing to pay I plan on doing exactly that.

[Jas29]

That would probably work better first time for me or my brother negotiating prices on a car all of our other cars have been bought from relatives or family friends.

[ken/carlab]

This is a pretty interesting thread considering I recently opened my own car dealer. I have a full time government job so the dealer I have is more like a side hobby where I broker cars for friends and family. Judging from the comments in this thread, I am definitely glad I do the car stuff as a side business rather than count on it as my main income. It would just be too stressful.