Which car salesman make more money?

[AKADriver]

Quote, originally posted by pagermancarlover »

hahah..thats why they make you walk thru the office to get to the lot to look at cars..they'll spot you coming before you unbuckel your seatbelt..then they try to shake your hand and all this other crap..i cant stand carmax..

Whenever I've been there I just walked right into the lot. Never dealt with a salesperson until I needed one.

[Harv]

Quote, originally posted by AKADriver »

Whenever I've been there I just walked right into the lot. Never dealt with a salesperson until I needed one.

all the ones ive been to they have all the cars in a high fence..looks like an impound lot. they only to get to the lot is to go thur the office and all the sales people run at you..horrible experience

[Michael Blue]

Usual CL banter. I wonder how many of us have worked at both kinds of dealerships?
I've been at a few low-end dealers (Ford, GM, Dodge) and one high-end dealership (Porsche, Benz, Audi).

Used cars will always pay better than new.
High end cars almost always pay better than low end cars.
You do sell fewer high end cars, so you have fewer salespeople working them.
You will find 1% of all car salespeople make more than $80K a year.
1%...Now ask yourself if you believe you've met that person selling VWs, a car that pays $1,500 total profit to the dealer at sticker. Not enough to even bonus on, in most dealerships. And that's before any discount.

At any rate, there's always one person who gets shafted in a vehicle sale, and it's more often than not the salesperson.
The buyer gets a vehicle they believe was worth what they spent, the dealership makes good money on the vast majority of sales, but the salesperson may not have even made enough gross profit (above invoice) to even get paid.

Just another post in a sea of posts, let's see who listened.

[aging_fleet]

Quote, originally posted by Four Speed Fox »

The old-timers at MAG - Charlie Cox for example - do pretty well.

Charlie is the first salesperson I thought of when this conversation started, that guy does very well selling high volume, low margin.

[aquabat911sc]

When I was selling Bimmers, the average sales person was making a little over 80K a year, the real hardcare guys were making about 150K, there were several guys that came from lower end car sales and they were making about twice as much with Bimmer. With the lower end cars people shop you alot more. The dealersips are generaly willing to sell cars at greater discounts because they want to move volume and there is a lot more competition. Our draw at the Bimmer dealer was 2k a month. Our minis were 500. A mini is the minimum you can make on a car no matter what the dealer makes. So you sell 4 cars even at the minimum and you have covered your draw. The most I made on a Bimmer was about 3500 and no I'm not proud of that. For comparrison, I was offered a job a VW store were the mini was 180 and the draw was only 1800. The good sales people there were lucky to be breaking 40K a year. So for the most part, higher end cars equals more money.

[Eric Didier]

Way more money in used cars if the lot has good quality well priced used cars.

I sold VW's, mini's were $125 commision was 25%... I had the record for the highest gross in a used car, $8500! That was the tota profit made by the dealer, and it was on a 98 Mustang GT.
On average I sold 25 cars a month most of those being new VW's. Where I made money was on the "bonus" cars and by hitting the tier that the dealership set.
Our GM had cars on a "bonus" list that would pay anywhere from $300 to $1200. On the tier the bonus would increase dependant on the quantity of new VW's you sold. 8-10 would pay $500, 11-15, = $800,16 and up $1000.
I left a job paying $40k to sell cars, and I told myself that after a year selling cars, if I didn't at least match my previous salary I would leave... well after a year and a half I quit. Too many hours for basically the same pay. Weekends are worth more than $$$.

Bottom line, a good store, a good sales person = $$$ no matter what you sell. Just prepare to sacrifice your life for the cause.

Hats off to those who can survive in the business!

[Merc-MarkO]

Quote, originally posted by TRiAD »

.......... At any rate, there's always one person who gets shafted in a vehicle sale, and it's more often than not the salesperson. The buyer gets a vehicle they believe was worth what they spent, the dealership makes good money on the vast majority of sales, but the salesperson may not have even made enough gross profit (above invoice) to even get paid. Just another post in a sea of posts, let's see who listened.

I read it and as I pointed out to someone in another thread, I couldn't care less about the dealer or the salesperson. Dealers and their employees made the bed they sleep in with the tactics they employ. No one is forcing you to work for the dealer and no one is forcing you to sell a car at $100 over invoice. Don't like it ? TOUGH.

[shftat6]

Quote, originally posted by Merc-MarkO »

Need an option for Gateway's salesman.

Now that's funny!!

[impact]

Quote, originally posted by shftat6 »

Now that's funny!!

It's actually kinda sad.

[Luchak]

Used car sales is where the $ is at

[THE KILLER RABBIT]

i think i feel all warm and fuzzy inside for carsales people

[turbo_nine]

Quote, originally posted by my merc 4 »

i think i feel all warm and fuzzy inside for carsales people

Don't worry, it'll probably go away soon.

[XDrewX]

Funny this thread pops up today.
My wife is really interested in selling cars, but neither her nor I know a thing about it.
She hasn't mentioned a brand, knowing her she probably wants to sell dodge trucks.

Anyway, what's all this "mini" talk, could anyone elaborate?

[Turbio!]

Quote, originally posted by Merc-MarkO »

Need an option for Gateway's salesman.

x10

[Michael Blue]

Quote, originally posted by Merc-MarkO »

...Dealers and their employees made the bed they sleep in with the tactics they employ....

Yeah, there's a sweeping generalization for you.
That's like saying VW owners all deserve to die because Hitler had a big hand in the founding of their company.
It's stupid comments like these that contribute to some dealerships and their employees feeling exactly the same way about YOU.

Myself, I could never operate that way. That's why I have been to a few different dealerships. Some are good, some are bad, like anything else in life.

[Merc-MarkO]

Quote, originally posted by TRiAD »

Yeah, there's a sweeping generalization for you. That's like saying VW owners all deserve to die because Hitler had a big hand in the founding of their company. It's stupid comments like these that contribute to some dealerships and their employees feeling exactly the same way about YOU. Myself, I could never operate that way. That's why I have been to a few different dealerships. Some are good, some are bad, like anything else in life.

That's like saying VW owners all deserve to die because Hitler had a big hand in the founding of their company. BS and you know it, idiot.

Ask the rest of the vortex population what they think of dealerships. See who agrees with who ...... I know you won't though. IB4TL.

[aquabat911sc]

Quote, originally posted by XDrewX »

Anyway, what's all this "mini" talk, could anyone elaborate?

a mini is the minimum a salesperson makes no matter what the car sells for. So if the dealerships mini is 200, even if you sell a car at a loss for the dealership the sales person still gets 200.

[n00bpwnr]

I saw the most recent post in this thread was from 2005, and it's something I've been thinking about recently. In fact that's how I came across this thread. I currently sell new Ford, Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep products as well as used and the occasional new Toyota. We are a volume dealer and as such, I was told I could make 60 grand my first year there. Well I'm definitely not making that money. As these old posts suggest there is one guy making over 100,000 a year but he's the only one. There's a couple people who make a decent living probably around 70,000 a year. And then there's a lot of us that would be happy with 40,000. It's sickening the amount of money the dealership makes without paying the employees barely. I like my job but I need to earn a reasonable wage and was considering switching to go sell BMW or Mercedes products. Anyone else in the business right now any suggestions?

p s: if you go to buy a car and want to negotiate with anyone, negotiate your interest rate down. Get it approved through private bank do anything to get your interest rate is low as possible from the dealership. That and warranties and other similar crap is where dealerships really make their money. Even used cars don't bring the same gross that they used to.

[Aguilar]

I saw the most recent post in this thread was from 2005, and it's something I've been thinking about recently.

Holy 7 year resurrect! I actually read through the whole thread, lol.

[97audia4]

a buddy of mine is car salesman at a big ass dealership that sells all sorts of brands, they have like 600 to 700 cars on the lot mostly brand new. He gets 28% of the dealers profit from the sale, not to bad if you ask me. He sells mostly new trucks so the profits are larger

[n00bpwnr]

a buddy of mine is car salesman at a big ass dealership that sells all sorts of brands, they have like 600 to 700 cars on the lot mostly brand new. He gets 28% of the dealers profit from the sale, not to bad if you ask me. He sells mostly new trucks so the profits are larger

We're a pretty prominent truck dealership. We sell more trucks than cars each month, but we also have a commercial fleet department as well as a department that deals just with government fleets. A lot of those juicy truck sales are sucked up by those departments.

And as a volume dealer, we essentially give away all the pick-up trucks just above cost, so there is not any gross to speak of to get paid on.

[Hostile]

I've got Banker's hours (9am-6pm M-F, 9am-5pm Sat)

Banker's hours are generally considered 10-3.

EDIT: Gah, freaking thread necro.

[n00bpwnr]

a buddy of mine is car salesman at a big ass dealership that sells all sorts of brands, they have like 600 to 700 cars on the lot mostly brand new. He gets 28% of the dealers profit from the sale, not to bad if you ask me. He sells mostly new trucks so the profits are larger

We're a pretty prominent truck dealership. We sell more trucks than cars each month, but we also have a commercial fleet department as well as a department that deals just with government fleets. A lot of those juicy truck sales are sucked up by those departments.

And as a volume dealer, we essentially give away all the pick-up trucks just above cost, so there is not any gross to speak of to get paid on.

[MAC]

The salespeople making the most money right now are the ones that work at hyundai and kia dealerships that add a 10k "market adjustment" to every car and then run tv and radio ads that say "Big sale NOW ! Up to 10k off the dealer posted price !" The same idiots that respond to those ads are also likely to take a 12% interest rate, gap and extended warranty.

[Live-Wire]

why don't manufacturers sell direct to the customers and eliminate the dealers?

Because they would have to set up the highly expensive distribution and sales network and manage it etc. They'd rather have independent businesses take the risk on failure in a particular market, and hold their inventory (it's paid for at this point IIRC). A dealership is essentially a local warehouse. If they lost all of them they would still need local warehouses... Car are huge items in size... and they are difficult to stack, and you can't load them any other way but on their wheels (safely).

Cars also cost on average $30k. Most people would want to test them out and look at them first before buying online. Also, people who waste time testing anything then just going out and buying it online after someone wastes 2 hours with them are scum.

[seroki]

I saw the most recent post in this thread was from 2005, and it's something I've been thinking about recently. In fact that's how I came across this thread. I currently sell new Ford, Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep products as well as used and the occasional new Toyota. We are a volume dealer and as such, I was told I could make 60 grand my first year there. Well I'm definitely not making that money. As these old posts suggest there is one guy making over 100,000 a year but he's the only one. There's a couple people who make a decent living probably around 70,000 a year. And then there's a lot of us that would be happy with 40,000. It's sickening the amount of money the dealership makes without paying the employees barely. I like my job but I need to earn a reasonable wage and was considering switching to go sell BMW or Mercedes products. Anyone else in the business right now any suggestions?

p s: if you go to buy a car and want to negotiate with anyone, negotiate your interest rate down. Get it approved through private bank do anything to get your interest rate is low as possible from the dealership. That and warranties and other similar crap is where dealerships really make their money. Even used cars don't bring the same gross that they used to.

FYI if you think the dealers are making too much money, why don't you start your own car dealer... You will see that anywhere from 40-45% of their profits are taken out for taxes, combine that with overhead of the space, interest on inventory. Most owners of dealerships pull close to 15-18% of profit on each car sold... aka you get paid more per car than the dealer does. One of my friends who runs the books at a local dealer around me showed me the books when I had to write a financial report in my finance and accounting class.

[IgorRGTI]

The salespeople making the most money right now are the ones that work at hyundai and kia dealerships that add a 10k "market adjustment" to every car and then run tv and radio ads that say "Big sale NOW ! Up to 10k off the dealer posted price !" The same idiots that respond to those ads are also likely to take a 12% interest rate, gap and extended warranty.

I agree with everything else you said, but what's wrong with Gap insurance? It's a smart thing to have.

[MAGICGTI]

I agree with everything else you said, but what's wrong with Gap insurance? It's a smart thing to have.

Cost would be in the $150 range and F&I will sell for $795, that's all.

[IgorRGTI]

Cost would be in the $150 range and F&I will sell for $795, that's all.

I've never seen Gap insurance that expensive. Last couple of cars I've leased Gap was built into the lease by the manufacturer's fi co for free.

[Mr Roo]

Never sold cars, but I have been told several times that the money is in used cars not new cars. Much more mark up and commission in used cars. When I worked out at local gym, we used to have a bunch of car salesman that came in late to workout. Now this was several years back, but the guys that were killing it were selling middle of the road cars like Honda and Infiniti. The real high end guy didnt do as well which was a blew me away because naturally I thought they were selling Benz and BMW brands so they made the money. I also remember the Honda and Infinity guys having much more car salesman friendly hours than their boys. They were off on Sunday, and had shorter Saturday hours campared to their boys. I could car less that they were making 100k, some of those guys were working 6 and 7 days a week and damn near 10 hour shifts every day. I dont care what you make if you can never leave work to spend it.

[MAGICGTI]

I've never seen Gap insurance that expensive. Last couple of cars I've leased Gap was built into the lease by the manufacturer's fi co for free.

It's not supposed to be that expensive. I work for a MINI dealer...

Some insurance policies have GAP as well.

[MAGICGTI]

Never sold cars, but I have been told several times that the money is in used cars not new cars. Much more mark up and commission in used cars. When I worked out at local gym, we used to have a bunch of car salesman that came in late to workout. Now this was several years back, but the guys that were killing it were selling middle of the road cars like Honda and Infiniti. The real high end guy didnt do as well which was a blew me away because naturally I thought they were selling Benz and BMW brands so they made the money. I also remember the Honda and Infinity guys having much more car salesman friendly hours than their boys. They were off on Sunday, and had shorter Saturday hours campared to their boys. I could car less that they were making 100k, some of those guys were working 6 and 7 days a week and damn near 10 hour shifts every day. I dont care what you make if you can never leave work to spend it.

The used car market is all sorts of screwed up, but can be true. I've had five-pounders with no trade on a MINI Executive demo.

[ATL_Av8r]

Holy 7 year resurrect! I actually read through the whole thread, lol.

I was suspicious when someone said Gateway's car dealer made money. Not when they're being threatened by the local "have you been injured" ambulance chasers to give their client free Audi TT-RSes!!

[zaYG]

We're a pretty prominent truck dealership. We sell more trucks than cars each month, but we also have a commercial fleet department as well as a department that deals just with government fleets. A lot of those juicy truck sales are sucked up by those departments.

And as a volume dealer, we essentially give away all the pick-up trucks just above cost, so there is not any gross to speak of to get paid on.

Being on the topic of trucks leads me to say, used truck centers are essentially a money farm.

[absoluteczech]

holy thread revival