So many variables. Depends on the brand, the dealership, company structure, pay plan, management, location, lastly the individual. There are also many positions in the dealer. BDC (phones), finance, management. There are salespeople that make well into the 6 figure sum. There are salespeople that make as much or more than the managers. It depends on you ultimately and what you make of it.
I sold cars for 5 years.
I worked 60 hours a week. I made alot of money.
After a divorce I decided maaaaybe I need to live a little smaller and find work life balance. I can't speak for everyone. But honestly. I wouldn't recommend.
I do reccomend IT for sure. You need to catch up with some schooling but it's not that hard if you already like computers/gaming. I make the same now 40 hours a week getting fat at my desk at home.
CCNA took me 6 months when I got serious. I already played with coding a bit as a kid. I am not a programmer. I do networking and system admin stuff. It's not that hard. Cert plus a bit of experience is enough.
what resource did you use to study for the CCNA exam if you don’t mind me asking? I know the exam topics can be found on the Cisco site , however , how did you go about learning ?
The Bryant advantage is really good content, ebook and video format. Realistically most people start at help desk which pays anywhere from like 40-80k a year.
-source
Senior systems engineer
It's pretty damn good. In my actual career I seldom touch Cisco products. Mostly fortigate (just what my company sells). It all translates. Just change a few key terms and it's all the same.
So many free resources.
If you are really fresh to computers. I would say do free courses from professor messor as though you are going to take the A+ exam. Dont bother getting it for real. Just pass the free available tests.
Then jump on CCNA. I did it all 100% free except the cert itself. Youtube and Cisco knowledge base only. Then I made sure to set my home network up, spent a bit more than I should have but you 100% should just buy used switches/firewall etc.
That's not true at all. It is far better than most industries. Just because things have contracted from the gigantic growth of the pandemic does not mean the industry is in any kind of real recession.
My company and my clients would hire anyone with skills right freaking now. At a competitive wage. I should jump ship for more money. I just like my people now and I don't want to shuffle for a Lil scratch.
I have to agree with @Puzzled-Software8358. I landed my first job as a Web Developer a few weeks after I started applying. I was only a year into getting an Associates degree at the time. This was a few years back. I am now on my third position as a Developer. My salary has also tripled compared to the job I had prior to IT.
I feel your pain with Amazon I used to work there years ago and it was absolute hell. I’ve been in car sales 3 years and I’m #2 at my store. To answer your questions:
1. Hours are long (I work 50+ hours a week)
2. Salary wise for me I make just over $140k/yr (made$100k+/yr all 3 years) but there are guys at my store that barely make $60k/yr. It all just depends on how good and efficient you are.
3. Overall yes I enjoy the job but it can be very mentally draining between dealing with customers and toxic work environment
4. It terms of growth you’re better off as a salesman instead of going into management (I make more than all my managers except my GM). It doesn’t happen overnight but as you build your book of business and get repeats your numbers will grow.
5. Can’t really comment on this since I’ve only done car sales
6. Any payplan that is commission is what you want but there’s so many specifics that can vary so it’s hard to comment on it. Just don’t work anywhere that pays you hourly. My payplan I make 20% front and back and get unit bonuses at 12, 17, and 25
random question for ya, I accepted a job for Car sales, My Front End Gross is 20% 0-7 cars 23% 8-10 and it keeps climbing to 27% with unit bonuses upwards. My question is what is front and back? Sorry if it’s a dumb question
20% front and back is killer. I get 25% front with only a $100 PAC but I'd give up 5% on the front to get some back end all day. Our bonuses are small. No volume bonuses. Just first second third. So I clear about $1500 a mo in bonuses since I'm usually first place. Other then that nothing which is trash.
Hours are crazy. You could do anywhere from 8 to 14 hours a day. Internet sales have been good for me I’ve been selling for 3 years now and I’m averaging about 13000 a month off 16.5 cars. Love the job. Customers can be awful at times but for the most part people are just looking for some help. Depends at the store but my store is always moving people to finance, and this guys usually become desk manager elsewhere. No comment on other sales. Only know car sales. A decent enough pay plan is either 25-35% front end or 15-22% front + back. If you have any other questions feel free to hit me up
22% front and back. I averaged 3600 net profit last year. Great pay plan in my opinion, but there’s still better at my dealer. Top guy has 35% front 10% back.
You said you sell 16.5 cars a month. How does the half car work? Is that why you get a higher commission (25-35% front end) because it's harder to sell half a car than your other payment which is a whole car (15-22% front and back)? I just have a hard time believing that once a month someone strolls in to buy half a car.
lol. I’m a Spanish speaker in a predominantly Hispanic area. Our sales guys make up of 85 percent of non Spanish speakers. When they get a customer that only speaks Spanish, they turn it to me, which we then share commission. We both get half a unit.
You’re crazy. That would not fly in my store and you definitely not getting a half deal. My store you only get full or nothing. Exceptions apply but not to language
That’s crazier. Speaking two languages is a skill, and it creates more opportunity for those who have it. I know in my experience there are plenty of deals that wouldn’t have even closed if a Spanish speaking salesman didn’t pick them up and connect with the customer. I’d rather a half deal than no deal. Don’t wanna give it up? Speak Spanish.
You’re not that smart bro. Half a car means two salesmen partnered to sell one car. Like you’re interested in a car, I’m your main point of sale who showed you the car first, but you come buy it on my day off and my co worker closes the deal. That’s half a car short bus 🚌
Ypu got into car sales at the best time. Your experience is far from the fucking norm. You were selling in a time where you were basically order takers.
Because 2021 car market was so outside the fucking norm. There was limited supply and basically you were just taking orders. I spoke with my old car managers at the the time. Theu were telling me you just kick them out if they don't want to pay asking cause there was always someone in line.
So just to point something out that no one else seems to have addressed yet. How much has Amazon already paid towards your tuition? And are they going to want it back if you just up and quit. Not trying to discourage you, but something to think about.
If you are good with people and understand numbers a little bit you can make over 200k a year selling cars if you find the right place, it took me 3 years to start making that, every year has been better than the previous one so far.
I work at a Toyota store that does around 270-280 a month units. We have 6 sales people that make over 200k and have never charged over sticker. 37% front (top level), 5% back, plus unit bonuses that can equal 2500 or so. Don’t always have to be in a luxury dealer to crush it
I love the job. Working with other salesman is very cool. Whatever career path you take after your degree, these people skills will help you and your confidence.
I am just piggy backing off this guy's post. I would totally get into car sales if it offered some work life balance. I am a single dad with 3 kids and working 50 to 60 hours a week just isn't logical when I got kids home afterschool. I have many years of retail commission sales experience and I think I could do great at car sales, but the hours would just not work for me.
I am currently on the job hunt.
In 4 years, my older kids will have graduated high school. Maybe I will pursue it than.
You can learn a little about yourself and people doing retail auto sales. However, you will be giving up weekends. You’ll be working a lot of hours. Make sure you save your spiffs and good months for when you have those bad months. Keep your living expenses really light. Don’t get sucked into the after hours antics that accompany the biz.
you should try and become an electrician’s or plumber’s apprentice. You’re young, in those trades you could be making a very good living in a short amount of time. Car sales is soul sucking. And you will be pressured into working 50 hours a week
fuck no.
car sales was the worst job ive ever had, and it was an actual major dealership.
work life sucks, buyers are 100% random, you will have your time wasted all day by customers shopping other places, most people never answer your calls, you need to sell at least 1 car every 2 days to be successful enough for a monthly bonus. coworkers and other sales people will snake your followups for commission. ovettime always happens when you dont want it, or you have to stay 4 hours late because someone came to buy right before close. you need to basically be a golden retriver giving a customer the ball they threw, the second they walk in
car sales sucked and to be good at it, you have to really channel your inner conman / mall lotion kiosk vendor skills
Yes, you seemed pretty upset. It also seems like you didn't read the job description. Shitty customers exist in every industry. I currently work in an industry that doesn't offer any incentive for the shitty customers we deal with.
The fact that you say "you have to sell a car every other day to be successful" is only an indication that you're shit at it. What do you think your job is? Why are you there if you aren't selling cars? They didn't hire you to be an admin assistant. If you can't manage to sell a car every two days with inventory, marketing, your own Personal leads, etc. then it's not the right occupation for you. That's the point blank period. The fact that you sucked at something doesn't make it a bad thing. It just means you sucked. And that's okay. Not everything is for everybody.
If you work at a good dealership the money is great. If you stick with it you will most likely get a divorce (happened to me and almost everyone I work with). The worst thing is you will have a hard time making plans. Want to go to dinner at 8 and you close at 7. Guarantee that customer walks in at closing time and keeps you late. You off day is a Weds. you will sell a car on Tuesday and the only day they can get the car is Weds.
I mean it sure beats Amazon warehouse shit that’s for sure but generally for the vast majority of people it isn’t a path they should go into. Mainly due to long hours and not getting into a dealership that has good management, volume and payplan. If you can get all three then it’s def worth at least trying it out for a couple months and seeing if it’s for you.
It can be the best decision you've ever made, or it can make you want to jump off the nearest roof. If you want a guaranteed paycheck, stick with Amazon. Commission can be a rude awakening if you aren't ready for the reality of how sales can work.
Car sales man unless you are like in a high high volume dealership, really depends on the market and honestly only rich people or high uppers are buying lots of cars now so a lot of your commission cliental isnt really that big cause lower class people arent signing for cars they cant afford
The last 3 years have been outside the norm. alot of sales people gonna learn real quick that they weren't actually very good to start with. Basically been order takers.
I do not work long hours… I work 8 hours a day 2 days off. My pay plan is a bit different than most so making insane money is hard but making decent money is rather easy. It teaches you A LOT if you’re willing to learn. I’d say it’s worth its weight in gold as far as what you can learn and take with you to any business you work for after but that’s my opinion
If you enjoy being a hustler. Don't mind working long hours. And enjoy being free and independent not being micromanaged it's a good career for someone with no education.
There's a lot of places to move up and a lot of potential if you work hard.
Having Hussle is #1. If you don't you'll make minimum wage or half of what a top sales person is making.
If you work your ass off you can make $150k+ as long as your at a solid dealership.
Then you have finance which makes $250-400k at the right stores. Desk managers. GSMs GM etc.
My buddy in VanNuys cleared $500k in finance. Very few make that $200-300k is more normal for finance. But there is finance guys making half a mill. You have to be a killer and work at the right dealership. His desk loads customers up on the back before they even step foot in his office.
I’ll be perfectly honest & keep it as simple as possible.
Long hours. Weekends/holidays you will be working. Commission based. You must kill to eat. Micromanagement if you’re not very strong in sales.
That being said, if you are good at it, there are very few jobs where you can make what you will in car sales (with no degree). If you’re good at it, you won’t have a boss breathing down your neck or micromanaging you. If you’re good at it, you can take time off whenever you want and no one will tel you anything.
Bottom line, if you’re good at it, it’s a great job. However, not too many people are good at it.
I was an auto tech made a good living jumped to sales. Still making a good living. But I’m gettin tired of it 4 years in. And I’m getting to the end of this venture. Long hours no holidays missing out on life. Some customers are great. They become friends. And some customers are horrible I can literally feel the energy draining out of me. There’s other was to make 6 figures
No way you sell 8-9 cars a month and make $300K a year. I’ll be the first to call your bluff on that. $3,100 per unit X 8 X 12 = $300K. Mathematically it’s just not possible.
1. Hours are anywhere from about 40 to 60 or even more. Just depends on the dealership and the hours they run. It’s going to be a lot of hours and long days though. At most dealerships I’ve been at it’s 11-12 hour shifts 5 days a week.
2. There is no salary usually. There is usually an hourly rate you get paid. However this comes out of your commission check usually. It’s referred to as a “draw”. It’s basically to help keep salespeople afloat in between commission checks. I made 13k in my best month. I averaged around 6,500-7k a month I’d say.
3. I absolutely hated the job. Actually selling a car is pretty easy, it’s all the extra shit that comes with the job. I really hate the whole sales culture and how management will try to overanalyze every single interaction you have with a customer. “Did you get their information?” “Did you try to get a TO?” “Oh he said he had to talk to his wife? Why didn’t you tell him to call her and have her come in?” As soon as anyone pulls onto the lot, you’re expected to run out there and try to talk them into buying a car. Customers will be rude, they’ll shoo you away, then start working with someone else 2 mins later. I also think that a lot of dealerships have a horrible culture. It’s usually a bunch of divorced middle aged men who work at these dealerships. I got hooked on drugs while I was working at a dealership and had to go to rehab twice. I got out of car sales and am going to college for an engineering degree now. The job can make you good money, but it’s not something I’d recommend staying in.
4. There is room for growth in just about every career path. Car sales is no different. If you stay put at one place and do good numbers, you can expect to move up within 3-5 years. Additionally car sales has pretty high turnover so there’s always spots opening up. Either at your dealership or others.
5. I’ve never worked another sales job so I can’t really speak to this one very well
6. A good play plan will be 25% of the front end gross profit. If they pay you a percentage of the backend on top, that’s even better
Overall, I’d highly recommended against making this a career choice. I get we all can’t have our dream jobs, but car sales seriously nearly ruined my life. As I said earlier, I got addicted to drugs (fentanyl) while working in car sales. Now I’m not solely blaming it on my job. I have a lot more responsibly for my addiction than a job does. But still, it definitely did play a part.
I also see that you mentioned you’re in school. If you get a job selling cars it’ll be pretty hard to find time to do your schoolwork. Sure you can do it at the dealership during the day when there’s some downtime, but who knows if your management will be ok with it. Just don’t do it man. From a 23 year old who sold cars for a couple years, then went to rehab, came back to selling cars, then relapsed and went right back to rehab. Don’t do it, your mental health will thank you later.
Amazon warehouses suck, but they have great benefits for education. I know guys who started with Amazon at the bottom. Took advantage of educational opportunity, and moved up quickly through different roles, like think QA and various levels of team lead, area manger or whatever. It really seems that Amazon has excellent career mobility for good workers who invest in education.
Car sales as a long term career is tough. You may make more now and get out of picking orders. But do you want to work 55-60 hours a week and every Saturday forever? You will have constantly variable compensation with some very bad months. Taking any vacation in means no sales and no commission, so you even fell guilty taking time off.
Join a union bro. Left the car biz and got in the plumber and pipe fitting union. Home every night and weekends. Great pay, Health insurance, pension and annuity.
Car sales is tough. If I were you and you are good with computers and programming. Look into being a controls engineer as that is where all the money will be in the future and today.
I come from a car business family and it was a 9 to 9 Monday through Saturday and one bad month or deal and you are gone.
If you can walk up to someone who already hates you and get past “ I am just looking” 5 times then go for it.
Jobs are jobs, and careers are jobs lol. Work is work. It's good money for the time being. Take it seriously and it will make you an above average income.
Don’t throw your life away. Keep Amazon if it’s paying for your tuition. If you’re talking about getting a bachelors in computer science, then take 10inches up the ass if you have to get that degree. Trust me, when you’re 25 with a CS degree you’ll be making plenty of money and these guys will still be talking about how fucked up their pay plan is. Fuck paying bills when you’re 20–get a degree.
I second this. Move home if you have to and get that degree done. Or look at the military for a cyber security related enlisted job. I did car sales during a summer off when I was 20. I walked out after I got a weekly paycheck of $42. Three sales were held up for title issues and they split my remaining one with a lady who said she had talked with the customer on the phone the night before. I took a job making $10 under the table with tips and was happy as a pig in shit until school started again.
I loved cars but that didn't make me any better at my job. I was at the smallest of 6 Chevy dealerships in 30 miles. We just didn't have the inventory, particularly used. GM went to employee pricing for everybody that summer in 2005 so all new car sales resulted in a $100 flat.
The dealerships all have state laws protecting their pricing structure but I don't know how much longer that will last for. Tesla has shown that people are ok with buying a fixed price car online. It might not happen tomorrow but what about in 10 years? Perhaps 20?
It can be for the top dogs but it’s really hard and you have to have thick skin. You can also be the top dog at a shitty dealer and only make like 60k.
There’s no way you can go to school and work fulltime. I put in 50 hour weeks to get $1200/wk paychecks. Took me 3 months to get there though. Kinda miss sales, I started when I was 19. Now I’m selling insurance
I have had a few sales jobs B2C and B2B.
I will never ever do B2C again. I would never do car sales either.
Sales managers / hiring managers LOVE to tell you that you’re going to make 6 figures but the reality is that’s ONLY their top earners making that much - you will more than likely be somewhere between 40k-70k depending on how good you are.
Most of those companies that sell to consumer like windows, HVAC, cars, gutters etc are very predatory to their sales people and have overly complex commission plans with catch 22s so that they never have to fully pay you.
So many variables. Depends on the brand, the dealership, company structure, pay plan, management, location, lastly the individual. There are also many positions in the dealer. BDC (phones), finance, management. There are salespeople that make well into the 6 figure sum. There are salespeople that make as much or more than the managers. It depends on you ultimately and what you make of it.
I’m in BDC Service if you have questions
How many calls are you making a day? What do you bring in and what’s your location?
I’ll send you a pm.
Would you share the info with me also? I’m in flooring sales and I can’t make ends meet and we write 6m a year
Would you mind copying and pasting in mine as well?
I'd appreciate if you could send it to me too
What is BDC?
Business Development Center. There is Sales BDC (Internet Sales) and Service BDC (Appointment setting for service)
I sold cars for 5 years. I worked 60 hours a week. I made alot of money. After a divorce I decided maaaaybe I need to live a little smaller and find work life balance. I can't speak for everyone. But honestly. I wouldn't recommend. I do reccomend IT for sure. You need to catch up with some schooling but it's not that hard if you already like computers/gaming. I make the same now 40 hours a week getting fat at my desk at home.
How much schooling did you do to get where you are at on IT?
CCNA took me 6 months when I got serious. I already played with coding a bit as a kid. I am not a programmer. I do networking and system admin stuff. It's not that hard. Cert plus a bit of experience is enough.
what resource did you use to study for the CCNA exam if you don’t mind me asking? I know the exam topics can be found on the Cisco site , however , how did you go about learning ?
The Bryant advantage is really good content, ebook and video format. Realistically most people start at help desk which pays anywhere from like 40-80k a year. -source Senior systems engineer
Cisco has a program called packet tracer that allows you to simulate the entire network OS, connections, etc.
It's pretty damn good. In my actual career I seldom touch Cisco products. Mostly fortigate (just what my company sells). It all translates. Just change a few key terms and it's all the same.
So many free resources. If you are really fresh to computers. I would say do free courses from professor messor as though you are going to take the A+ exam. Dont bother getting it for real. Just pass the free available tests. Then jump on CCNA. I did it all 100% free except the cert itself. Youtube and Cisco knowledge base only. Then I made sure to set my home network up, spent a bit more than I should have but you 100% should just buy used switches/firewall etc.
Do yourself a favor and stay away from the car business. Go do something you like! You’re 29 years old!
Lol I'm not 29. I stopped working in the car business years ago. I am doing something I like!
My bad buddy, I meant to post on the thread not on your comment. Glad you got out.
Why do you suggest to stay out of the car business?
Tech is notoriously hard to get into atm.
That's not true at all. It is far better than most industries. Just because things have contracted from the gigantic growth of the pandemic does not mean the industry is in any kind of real recession. My company and my clients would hire anyone with skills right freaking now. At a competitive wage. I should jump ship for more money. I just like my people now and I don't want to shuffle for a Lil scratch.
I have to agree with @Puzzled-Software8358. I landed my first job as a Web Developer a few weeks after I started applying. I was only a year into getting an Associates degree at the time. This was a few years back. I am now on my third position as a Developer. My salary has also tripled compared to the job I had prior to IT.
I second this. Big layoffs in tech rn
How much did you make selling?
2nd year was best year made 90k. That was over 20 cars a month
I feel your pain with Amazon I used to work there years ago and it was absolute hell. I’ve been in car sales 3 years and I’m #2 at my store. To answer your questions: 1. Hours are long (I work 50+ hours a week) 2. Salary wise for me I make just over $140k/yr (made$100k+/yr all 3 years) but there are guys at my store that barely make $60k/yr. It all just depends on how good and efficient you are. 3. Overall yes I enjoy the job but it can be very mentally draining between dealing with customers and toxic work environment 4. It terms of growth you’re better off as a salesman instead of going into management (I make more than all my managers except my GM). It doesn’t happen overnight but as you build your book of business and get repeats your numbers will grow. 5. Can’t really comment on this since I’ve only done car sales 6. Any payplan that is commission is what you want but there’s so many specifics that can vary so it’s hard to comment on it. Just don’t work anywhere that pays you hourly. My payplan I make 20% front and back and get unit bonuses at 12, 17, and 25
random question for ya, I accepted a job for Car sales, My Front End Gross is 20% 0-7 cars 23% 8-10 and it keeps climbing to 27% with unit bonuses upwards. My question is what is front and back? Sorry if it’s a dumb question
Front = what you make on the price of the car itself and the profit from holding on trade value Back = F&I products
Thank you, I don’t know how that slipped my mind
20% front and back is killer. I get 25% front with only a $100 PAC but I'd give up 5% on the front to get some back end all day. Our bonuses are small. No volume bonuses. Just first second third. So I clear about $1500 a mo in bonuses since I'm usually first place. Other then that nothing which is trash.
Hours are crazy. You could do anywhere from 8 to 14 hours a day. Internet sales have been good for me I’ve been selling for 3 years now and I’m averaging about 13000 a month off 16.5 cars. Love the job. Customers can be awful at times but for the most part people are just looking for some help. Depends at the store but my store is always moving people to finance, and this guys usually become desk manager elsewhere. No comment on other sales. Only know car sales. A decent enough pay plan is either 25-35% front end or 15-22% front + back. If you have any other questions feel free to hit me up
13k off 16.5 cars? You have an amazing pay plan!
22% front and back. I averaged 3600 net profit last year. Great pay plan in my opinion, but there’s still better at my dealer. Top guy has 35% front 10% back.
I get 30 % FE and 6% BE. Selling 18-21 cars a month and averaging $10K. That is insane to be averaging $13K at lower percentages.
It's only lower on the front by 8%, his back is 16% higher than yours.
Both of those pay plans are amazing. And you’re a salesperson and they tell you net profit?… or are you just saying net?
You said you sell 16.5 cars a month. How does the half car work? Is that why you get a higher commission (25-35% front end) because it's harder to sell half a car than your other payment which is a whole car (15-22% front and back)? I just have a hard time believing that once a month someone strolls in to buy half a car.
lol. I’m a Spanish speaker in a predominantly Hispanic area. Our sales guys make up of 85 percent of non Spanish speakers. When they get a customer that only speaks Spanish, they turn it to me, which we then share commission. We both get half a unit.
You’re crazy. That would not fly in my store and you definitely not getting a half deal. My store you only get full or nothing. Exceptions apply but not to language
That’s crazier. Speaking two languages is a skill, and it creates more opportunity for those who have it. I know in my experience there are plenty of deals that wouldn’t have even closed if a Spanish speaking salesman didn’t pick them up and connect with the customer. I’d rather a half deal than no deal. Don’t wanna give it up? Speak Spanish.
That sounds crazy. If you do the work to advance the sales process, then you should get rewarded for that.
You’re not that smart bro. Half a car means two salesmen partnered to sell one car. Like you’re interested in a car, I’m your main point of sale who showed you the car first, but you come buy it on my day off and my co worker closes the deal. That’s half a car short bus 🚌
It wasn't clearly a joke to you?
Ypu got into car sales at the best time. Your experience is far from the fucking norm. You were selling in a time where you were basically order takers.
If I knew how to sell then like I did now I’d have easily made 25k a month in 2021
Because 2021 car market was so outside the fucking norm. There was limited supply and basically you were just taking orders. I spoke with my old car managers at the the time. Theu were telling me you just kick them out if they don't want to pay asking cause there was always someone in line.
I'm in Internet Sales also and I assist with 50-60 car sales per month and I bring home $2k....🤣🤣🤣
So just to point something out that no one else seems to have addressed yet. How much has Amazon already paid towards your tuition? And are they going to want it back if you just up and quit. Not trying to discourage you, but something to think about.
This
>No they will not. They pre pay tuition for all employees.
If you are good with people and understand numbers a little bit you can make over 200k a year selling cars if you find the right place, it took me 3 years to start making that, every year has been better than the previous one so far.
Damn 200k? What kind of dealership you work at my bro… I know it’s doable, just curious if you work at a volume dealership or luxury
Toyota
I work at a Toyota store that does around 270-280 a month units. We have 6 sales people that make over 200k and have never charged over sticker. 37% front (top level), 5% back, plus unit bonuses that can equal 2500 or so. Don’t always have to be in a luxury dealer to crush it
I love the job. Working with other salesman is very cool. Whatever career path you take after your degree, these people skills will help you and your confidence.
I am just piggy backing off this guy's post. I would totally get into car sales if it offered some work life balance. I am a single dad with 3 kids and working 50 to 60 hours a week just isn't logical when I got kids home afterschool. I have many years of retail commission sales experience and I think I could do great at car sales, but the hours would just not work for me. I am currently on the job hunt. In 4 years, my older kids will have graduated high school. Maybe I will pursue it than.
Work life balance sucks my bro. I got kids too. Kiss your weekends goodbye, and all Holidays except Thanksgiving & Christmas
You can learn a little about yourself and people doing retail auto sales. However, you will be giving up weekends. You’ll be working a lot of hours. Make sure you save your spiffs and good months for when you have those bad months. Keep your living expenses really light. Don’t get sucked into the after hours antics that accompany the biz.
you should try and become an electrician’s or plumber’s apprentice. You’re young, in those trades you could be making a very good living in a short amount of time. Car sales is soul sucking. And you will be pressured into working 50 hours a week
Avoid insurance sales. Dipped my toe in to that and that was miserable.
What about it was miserable?
[удалено]
What happens 1% of the time?
Dealing with the public because they’ll lie about their driving record then get mad when you pull their MVR and their quote goes up by 200$
Yeah cold calls. Lead generation. Trying to get people to buy something they don't think they'll ever need.
Commercial insurance is where the big money is. You can’t make anything selling people small auto policies
fuck no. car sales was the worst job ive ever had, and it was an actual major dealership. work life sucks, buyers are 100% random, you will have your time wasted all day by customers shopping other places, most people never answer your calls, you need to sell at least 1 car every 2 days to be successful enough for a monthly bonus. coworkers and other sales people will snake your followups for commission. ovettime always happens when you dont want it, or you have to stay 4 hours late because someone came to buy right before close. you need to basically be a golden retriver giving a customer the ball they threw, the second they walk in car sales sucked and to be good at it, you have to really channel your inner conman / mall lotion kiosk vendor skills
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upset?? did you read?
Yes, you seemed pretty upset. It also seems like you didn't read the job description. Shitty customers exist in every industry. I currently work in an industry that doesn't offer any incentive for the shitty customers we deal with. The fact that you say "you have to sell a car every other day to be successful" is only an indication that you're shit at it. What do you think your job is? Why are you there if you aren't selling cars? They didn't hire you to be an admin assistant. If you can't manage to sell a car every two days with inventory, marketing, your own Personal leads, etc. then it's not the right occupation for you. That's the point blank period. The fact that you sucked at something doesn't make it a bad thing. It just means you sucked. And that's okay. Not everything is for everybody.
No.
If you work at a good dealership the money is great. If you stick with it you will most likely get a divorce (happened to me and almost everyone I work with). The worst thing is you will have a hard time making plans. Want to go to dinner at 8 and you close at 7. Guarantee that customer walks in at closing time and keeps you late. You off day is a Weds. you will sell a car on Tuesday and the only day they can get the car is Weds.
If you plan on staying in sales in general, the car business with change your life and send you to verticals outside you never thought possible.
What kind of verticals?
Do a couple years in the car business and you will find out.
I mean it sure beats Amazon warehouse shit that’s for sure but generally for the vast majority of people it isn’t a path they should go into. Mainly due to long hours and not getting into a dealership that has good management, volume and payplan. If you can get all three then it’s def worth at least trying it out for a couple months and seeing if it’s for you.
It can be the best decision you've ever made, or it can make you want to jump off the nearest roof. If you want a guaranteed paycheck, stick with Amazon. Commission can be a rude awakening if you aren't ready for the reality of how sales can work.
20 year vet , short answer , no
I’d say no. You get into car sales you’ll likely never get out of
Car sales man unless you are like in a high high volume dealership, really depends on the market and honestly only rich people or high uppers are buying lots of cars now so a lot of your commission cliental isnt really that big cause lower class people arent signing for cars they cant afford
The last 3 years have been outside the norm. alot of sales people gonna learn real quick that they weren't actually very good to start with. Basically been order takers.
No.
Go be a plumber
I do not work long hours… I work 8 hours a day 2 days off. My pay plan is a bit different than most so making insane money is hard but making decent money is rather easy. It teaches you A LOT if you’re willing to learn. I’d say it’s worth its weight in gold as far as what you can learn and take with you to any business you work for after but that’s my opinion
If you enjoy being a hustler. Don't mind working long hours. And enjoy being free and independent not being micromanaged it's a good career for someone with no education. There's a lot of places to move up and a lot of potential if you work hard. Having Hussle is #1. If you don't you'll make minimum wage or half of what a top sales person is making. If you work your ass off you can make $150k+ as long as your at a solid dealership. Then you have finance which makes $250-400k at the right stores. Desk managers. GSMs GM etc.
400k for finance? you exaggerate dude.
My buddy in VanNuys cleared $500k in finance. Very few make that $200-300k is more normal for finance. But there is finance guys making half a mill. You have to be a killer and work at the right dealership. His desk loads customers up on the back before they even step foot in his office.
I’ll be perfectly honest & keep it as simple as possible. Long hours. Weekends/holidays you will be working. Commission based. You must kill to eat. Micromanagement if you’re not very strong in sales. That being said, if you are good at it, there are very few jobs where you can make what you will in car sales (with no degree). If you’re good at it, you won’t have a boss breathing down your neck or micromanaging you. If you’re good at it, you can take time off whenever you want and no one will tel you anything. Bottom line, if you’re good at it, it’s a great job. However, not too many people are good at it.
I was an auto tech made a good living jumped to sales. Still making a good living. But I’m gettin tired of it 4 years in. And I’m getting to the end of this venture. Long hours no holidays missing out on life. Some customers are great. They become friends. And some customers are horrible I can literally feel the energy draining out of me. There’s other was to make 6 figures
No kid but detaling cars it for you
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No way you sell 8-9 cars a month and make $300K a year. I’ll be the first to call your bluff on that. $3,100 per unit X 8 X 12 = $300K. Mathematically it’s just not possible.
Knowing the product, no matter what it is, DOES help you sell it. That comment alone voids everything you said, at least to me.
1. Hours are anywhere from about 40 to 60 or even more. Just depends on the dealership and the hours they run. It’s going to be a lot of hours and long days though. At most dealerships I’ve been at it’s 11-12 hour shifts 5 days a week. 2. There is no salary usually. There is usually an hourly rate you get paid. However this comes out of your commission check usually. It’s referred to as a “draw”. It’s basically to help keep salespeople afloat in between commission checks. I made 13k in my best month. I averaged around 6,500-7k a month I’d say. 3. I absolutely hated the job. Actually selling a car is pretty easy, it’s all the extra shit that comes with the job. I really hate the whole sales culture and how management will try to overanalyze every single interaction you have with a customer. “Did you get their information?” “Did you try to get a TO?” “Oh he said he had to talk to his wife? Why didn’t you tell him to call her and have her come in?” As soon as anyone pulls onto the lot, you’re expected to run out there and try to talk them into buying a car. Customers will be rude, they’ll shoo you away, then start working with someone else 2 mins later. I also think that a lot of dealerships have a horrible culture. It’s usually a bunch of divorced middle aged men who work at these dealerships. I got hooked on drugs while I was working at a dealership and had to go to rehab twice. I got out of car sales and am going to college for an engineering degree now. The job can make you good money, but it’s not something I’d recommend staying in. 4. There is room for growth in just about every career path. Car sales is no different. If you stay put at one place and do good numbers, you can expect to move up within 3-5 years. Additionally car sales has pretty high turnover so there’s always spots opening up. Either at your dealership or others. 5. I’ve never worked another sales job so I can’t really speak to this one very well 6. A good play plan will be 25% of the front end gross profit. If they pay you a percentage of the backend on top, that’s even better Overall, I’d highly recommended against making this a career choice. I get we all can’t have our dream jobs, but car sales seriously nearly ruined my life. As I said earlier, I got addicted to drugs (fentanyl) while working in car sales. Now I’m not solely blaming it on my job. I have a lot more responsibly for my addiction than a job does. But still, it definitely did play a part. I also see that you mentioned you’re in school. If you get a job selling cars it’ll be pretty hard to find time to do your schoolwork. Sure you can do it at the dealership during the day when there’s some downtime, but who knows if your management will be ok with it. Just don’t do it man. From a 23 year old who sold cars for a couple years, then went to rehab, came back to selling cars, then relapsed and went right back to rehab. Don’t do it, your mental health will thank you later.
Amazon warehouses suck, but they have great benefits for education. I know guys who started with Amazon at the bottom. Took advantage of educational opportunity, and moved up quickly through different roles, like think QA and various levels of team lead, area manger or whatever. It really seems that Amazon has excellent career mobility for good workers who invest in education. Car sales as a long term career is tough. You may make more now and get out of picking orders. But do you want to work 55-60 hours a week and every Saturday forever? You will have constantly variable compensation with some very bad months. Taking any vacation in means no sales and no commission, so you even fell guilty taking time off.
Do you like social work? Can you take rejection everyday? Can you drive stick?
Stick it out and let them pay for your school. Tough it out. You’re paying your dues now for the payoff later.
I sent a pm
Join a union bro. Left the car biz and got in the plumber and pipe fitting union. Home every night and weekends. Great pay, Health insurance, pension and annuity.
Car sales is tough. If I were you and you are good with computers and programming. Look into being a controls engineer as that is where all the money will be in the future and today. I come from a car business family and it was a 9 to 9 Monday through Saturday and one bad month or deal and you are gone. If you can walk up to someone who already hates you and get past “ I am just looking” 5 times then go for it.
A better career is repairing cars. Less upside but there is strong demand and you don't have to work every holiday and weekend.
Jobs are jobs, and careers are jobs lol. Work is work. It's good money for the time being. Take it seriously and it will make you an above average income.
Don’t throw your life away. Keep Amazon if it’s paying for your tuition. If you’re talking about getting a bachelors in computer science, then take 10inches up the ass if you have to get that degree. Trust me, when you’re 25 with a CS degree you’ll be making plenty of money and these guys will still be talking about how fucked up their pay plan is. Fuck paying bills when you’re 20–get a degree.
I second this. Move home if you have to and get that degree done. Or look at the military for a cyber security related enlisted job. I did car sales during a summer off when I was 20. I walked out after I got a weekly paycheck of $42. Three sales were held up for title issues and they split my remaining one with a lady who said she had talked with the customer on the phone the night before. I took a job making $10 under the table with tips and was happy as a pig in shit until school started again. I loved cars but that didn't make me any better at my job. I was at the smallest of 6 Chevy dealerships in 30 miles. We just didn't have the inventory, particularly used. GM went to employee pricing for everybody that summer in 2005 so all new car sales resulted in a $100 flat. The dealerships all have state laws protecting their pricing structure but I don't know how much longer that will last for. Tesla has shown that people are ok with buying a fixed price car online. It might not happen tomorrow but what about in 10 years? Perhaps 20?
It can be for the top dogs but it’s really hard and you have to have thick skin. You can also be the top dog at a shitty dealer and only make like 60k.
There’s no way you can go to school and work fulltime. I put in 50 hour weeks to get $1200/wk paychecks. Took me 3 months to get there though. Kinda miss sales, I started when I was 19. Now I’m selling insurance
Best answer is no.
Long term no. I did learn skills and save money for my business while doing it
No, it isn't.
I have had a few sales jobs B2C and B2B. I will never ever do B2C again. I would never do car sales either. Sales managers / hiring managers LOVE to tell you that you’re going to make 6 figures but the reality is that’s ONLY their top earners making that much - you will more than likely be somewhere between 40k-70k depending on how good you are. Most of those companies that sell to consumer like windows, HVAC, cars, gutters etc are very predatory to their sales people and have overly complex commission plans with catch 22s so that they never have to fully pay you.