tell me what you think about car sales
 

okay, as most of you know, my husband got stuck out at sea on a fishing boat in the middle of a storm two weeks ago, and we have decided he needs a new career. soo, he just got hired at a car dealership, and it looks like they are going to pay him a salary of 200 bucks a week plus commission. this is for 11 hours a day, 6 days a week. this seems like some pretty cheap labor. does it really pay off? does anyone here sell cars or know someone who does? is it a waste of time or a good way to make a living?

Calling LumberJim, calling LumberJim.:)

The answer that I heard was that it really depends on the dealership commissions, the popularity of the dealership, and your ability to sell the car.

The salespeople I knew in the past earned completely different ammounts so it's really hard to say.

LumberJim would definetly know more exact info.

once he gets used to the fluidity of the income, and as long as he has the discipline to save when he hits a big one, it's very hard to go back to hourly compensation.

i've made as much as $900 before lunch, and as little as $0 for 3 days in a row.

the average income is between 40K and 65k annually, but it IS performance based. It takes about 6 months to really know what you're doing, but once you do, it is really easy. The hours are long, but it's not as if you were strapped to your desk all day....

A lot of it depends on the brand you sell, and the store you work in.....6 days a week 11 hrs a day is too much...he shouldn;t have to work more than 50-55 hrs per week....

it is vital that the store he starts in has a REAL training program, and not just a mentoring policy....they don't work, as the salesman that would be training him has a natural conflict of interest.

my best salesman made $95k last year, the worst got fired.

all that said, if the store is busy, and the product is good.....support him, it will pay off.

all you have to do to sell a car is not fuck it up...the people come there to buy a car....let them!


edit:

and all YOU have to worry about is his taking test drives, ...no stranded at sea scenarios.

Yeah I always wondered about that... I see so many clueless morons driving around on the road, I'd think sending them out for a test drive in a new car would be kind of dicey. What's the rate of fender-benders during test drives?

Also, you said the salesman will make sales as long as they don't screw up--what's the most common mistake the new ones make?

Lie...I think thats the worst mistake a salesman can make.

When I was shopping for a car this summer I had countless people try to lie to me over the phone and ended up walking out of 3 dealerships when I caugt them in a lie.

I personaly think that the most important thing in being able to convince a customer to buy the car is to earn their trust. The guy I ended up buying the car from gave the appearance of being totaly honest with me. Others lied about origins of the car, misfiring cylinders, flood damage, rust issues, serious collision damage. In the 3 months that I was shopping for a used car I think I've seen just about everything that can go wrong with a car. Oh and if you ever spill a carton of milk in your car...clean it up. You can't immagine the kind of mold that grows from it and how odd it smells.

I've never personally been involved in one, but it has happened here. i remember when I first started at a ford dealer, a little old lady drove a crown vic with me, and i was scared to death. she would drift in to the other lane, then quickly correct when an oncomng car appeared. brake for oncoming traffic......you've been behind her, I'm sure.


usually, dealerships have a couple of test drive routes that utilize less trafficked roads and involve all right hand turns.


best advice for mr stacyvV....sit in the back and buckle up.....and keep quiet. let them concentrate on the car.

absolutely crucial

you'll never remember all the lies you tell once you start, so it is inevitable that you will get caught, and then you're done....all your time wasted.

and it's just wrong. people spend a lot of their money on cars, and you owe it to them to give honest advice. when people trust you, you will not only sell them, but also their freinds and families. people expect you to lie, so you have to be extra careful to be honest.

on that note, there is a syaing in this business: " buyers are liars"

when someone expects YOU to lie, they are much more likely to lie themselves.....so being a good judge of character, and a little psychology are relevant skills to have in your arsenal. body language can tell you a lot also.

if someone rubs their nose or face with their left hand when they talk to you, they're usually lying.

more important to know people than cars...although good product knowledge build confidence.

thank you for the info. i have one more question. okay, he is very sociable and people like him and he's intelligent, but he has a russian accent (even though his english is great) but the guy i work with said that people are mistrusting of foreigners...do you think this would have an impact on the number of cars he sells?

Umm...I have a really odd accent...(Russian/Australian) but I don't think I ever had any trust issues.

Although I have heard people say that they do not trust "italian" salesmen...why I do not know.

i have an english mun, a jamaican, and a kenyan here at my dealership. as long as he is polite and listens more than he talks, he'll do fine. the kenyan i have can be very abrupt at itmes, and i think that hurts him, but the other two are well spoken, and polite. In fact, it may actually work to his advantage.

this is a common situation: " yeah, i was here a few weeks ago, but i don;t remember who i talked to. "

he'll get:" i was here talking to a guy with a russian accent" and everyone will know who's customer they are.

one more tidbit......tell him to plan on being there for 6 months, and when he's comfortable, move to a new store.

sounds strange, but he's going in as a rookie, and will not get respected. he'll be running for lunch a lot.
when he goes to a new store and is hired as an experienced salesman, he'll get more respect......but make sure it is a move to a better store, and then he should stay put. then he can start working on his book of business, and can reap the benefits of repeat and referral business.

that's cuz more than half of all car salesmen are italian, and people don't trust salesmen. if you can't quote "the godfather" line by line where i work, you're outside the circle of trust!

i've never seen it. don't want to, either.

guess i'm a rebel.

I dunno...during those 3 months I only met one Italian salesman and he proceeded to bullshit me:

1) Tried to tell me that a Lincoln Continental shaking in neutral was "nothing abnormal" when I suspected an ill-tuned engine.

2) Told me that they had NO idea that the car had a misfiring cylinder after I had a mechanic take a look at it.

3) Told me that they scheduled the car to get the "minor" cylinder thing fixed 2 weeks ago - I was only looking at the car for 1 week. Oops. Lies: a) Didn't know about it. b) Vibrations normal. c) Already discounted from the price.

It really pissed me off. When I buy a car I search all over for anything no matter how minor and anyone with half a brain would have figured that I'd not ignore the vibrations.

It's not so much that I expect everyone to be honest, just not take me for a total retard. It's just insulting.

Dumbest lie ever:
Did you buy this car at an auction?
No.
Then why is the CarFax report you gave me dated 1 month ago and the recent one that I have shows the car being at an auction this month?

Most Obvious lie:
Was this car ever in a flood?
No.
The why are the seat rails and the support wires on the seats rusted?

Most tricky sob....private seller, gave me a VIN over the phone for a car with almost the same millage, same year etc...just not one that was a fleet vehicle and auctioned off 3 times and invovled in a crash. Nice try though...

Yeah I'm a dealers nightmare...

Life at sea on a fishing boat is an endless stream of dull repetitive labor. Do anything you can to get out while you can. Blow glass, drive a hack, whatever. I got out of lobstering off the coast of Maine and tried selling Kirby Vacuum cleaners. The man simply can't get lower than that.

Shut yer pie hole pussy!

Oh yeah?

Get yer spinach smokin, forearm tatooin, sailorboy cap wearing, lobster murderin ass outa here!

My forearms make your skinny, left wing, 3 balled, shaved assed, tree humpin', boy lovin' legs look like a needle on a bed of ass.

I hope yer wearin yer yella slicker Morton boy cuz I'm gonna swab the deck with that mop you call a head.

Don't make me pull this car over, because I will do it. I swear I will. Yo mamma said it was OK to whip yo punk ass.

Yo mama said it was better'n ok.

That is an awful thing to say. I categorically deny that my mother may have ever had a physical relationship with you. Furthermore, I think that you are a doo-doo head.

Smoo!

now he wants to know if now is a good time of year to start...i'm going to either get him to start his own account or look for a car salesman forum! last question, promise...

YES...ITS SLOW..GOOD TIME TO TRAIN...

Uh..did I miss something?:confused: I didn't see the provocation AND it's out of character, so I must have.

It would seem that Griff and Claytoris know each other...though God only knows why anyone would want to KNOW Griff, but that's neither here nor there.

I also surmise that G & C have a prior adversarial relationship ... perhaps the same person peed in their respective gene pools at some time in the distant past?

10:1 odds that the shut yer pie hole post was the last post Bruce saw before he posted. Just a wild guess.

sound like friends to me...might work together...


and claytoris is a part OF a pussy, maybe griff was just referring to his name?

I think the worst thing a car salesman (allright, person, although I have only once dealt with a female seller of vehicles, and she pretty much gave up and I was handled by the male sales manager, although she did put a very nice xmas bow on the rear view mirror of my first car) can do is be patronizing and make assumptions about their customer.

I had already decided that I was going to buy an Eagle Talon in '94. I had driven my best friend's on his recommendation, fell in love with the look and the handling. Went to his dealer, got his salesperson, and what turned out to be a great price. Of course, being a good shopper, I had to do some comparison shopping, so went to another dealer which shall remain nameless, but is Sport Chrysler of Norristown.

Doofus (very young salesman) should have had a clue when I sat down and explained that I wanted a 1994 Eagle Talon DL with the 21M options package.

Online searches of car information were not big in those days, and my specificity regarding the model and options package was unusual, to say the least.

On the way out to the lot to look for a vehicle to test drive, the young man said, "you want an automatic, right?"

I carefully stated "I won't drive an automatic."

He cheerily responded, "It's really easy. I can show you how!"

I should have walked out right then and there. But I had something better in mind.

I suggested he might want to put on his seatbelt. I believe in fair warnings. He did, but only because the seat belt alarm sounding distracts one during a test drive.

He was one of those chatty little bastards too. Didn't get the training advice of let the test drive sell the car.

I revved it up a little bit to "get the feel of things" and sprayed gravel leaving the parking lot ... ran the car down to 202 and had it wound up to about 80 by the time I hit the jughandle/light for the turnaround just past the Bridgeport exit.

He did stop talking.

It's not often you get the chance to make a salesman wet himself.

And no, he didn't get the sale. When it came time to "run the numbers" he was still $10/month over the payment calculation I already had in hand from the other dealer.

And when he tried to "make me a better deal" on a used Talon that he had on the lot, he couldn't find the keys, but had figured out that I knew "just a little bit" about motor vehicles, and popped the hood on the used car.

I had a chance to feel around on the inside of the hood, and found evidence of some major bodywork ... then did a walkaround of the car and saw that there were still scrapes that hadn't been tended to on the driver's side rear quarterpanel.

Doofus returns with the keys (brave lad) and says, "you ready?"

"nope. How bad was the accident?"

"Accident, what accident?"

"The one this car was in."

"I have no knowledge of this car ever having been in an accident."

"Oh, really? So what's this ... and this ... and this ... and see here?"

"oh ... ummmm .... I can see what I can do about getting you a better deal on that other one ..."

sigh

we're not ALL like that you know.

I have a core of 5 guys that are as far from that as you can get, but those transient types don't care what they tell you, because chances are that they won't be there when you come back with a problem.

ask your salesman how long he/she's been there. It matters.

Early Nov of '03 I wanted a PT Cruiser, GT, Electric Blue, Chrome wheels, etc, etc. Went on the Chrysler web site and picked everything out. Hit the button to see what dealers had what. Hit the button to solicit offers. Videon emailed they didn't have what I wanted but would order it. Brandywine had it and came back with a firm deal. Every other dealer emailed me bullshit that sounded like the quintessential "car dealer".
On the way to Brandywine I stopped at an unamed dealer near 202 and 1. They had one but with a lot less equipment. I asked the price and was told msrp because "nobodies got these". I told him Brandywine had one with more equiptment and gave him the quoted price. He said he needed to talk to the manager. Came back in 2 minutes and demanded my name, address and phone number. I said never mind I'll just go to Brandywine. He said "go ahead, if you want to deal with a discount dealer". I did.

yeah, we don't give discount prices unless you come inside for the dog and pony show. had you asked to see me, it would have gone differently.

So, did you get your cruiser?

Must have, because I believe he drove it to UT's Birthday party.

It's sweet.

Bruce's story reminded me of something else that ticks me off about many (not you) car salesmen ... badmouthing another dealer or another product line.

My last salesman was great, didn't pressure me, didn't hassle me, really did let the car do the selling, was very casual about things.

And, what I really liked ... He was working for a Lincoln-Mercury dealership, and he drove a CORVETTE. Always has, since he started making money anyway.

And he had some 'Vette doodads in his little sales cubical.

I waiting patiently for the inevitable "I drove that piece of shit thru the showroom window" story....

Heh. My Saturn's lease runs out in three months, and I'm debating whether I just want to finance the remaining balance or start over with a new car (whether bought or leased).

The more I think about it, I'm tempted to continue with the car I've got JUST to avoid the car-salesman shuffle...

When my mother bought a white Miata, she went to a dealership that had two substantially similar cars, one outside on the lot and one in showroom. After the test drive of the one on the lot, etc, she started to deal and the guy wouldn't budge, and to emphasize his point he threw a pencil at her!

Later she went to another dealership which didn't have the right car but which had a decent salesperson. He ended up getting a car for her dealer to dealer --- from pencil-throwing dealer #1. And it was the one which had been sitting in the showroom, not the one being test-driven all over the place. Ha!

(yes, that's the same white Miata a few people have seen me with. I've sold it since, for a little under 1/3rd of the original price; not bad for a car which was 9 years old when I sold it.)

The best experience of all the new cars I've bought, was a Pontiac way back in the winter of '66. You know, prehistoric. They had a wall in the dealership with a bulletin board about 4x12 feet than listed ALL the models and ALL the options including All the packages and prerequisites. The list prices were listed along side each.
Now this is when you could buy a Chevy pickup for $1700 or a Mustang for$2200 but I was only making $6k a year. Anyway, you could get a heavy duty cooling system for $20 or HD shocks for $9. There were lots of desirable options that most people didn't even know existed unless they were on a car on the lot. Most on the lot didn't have this stuff, to keep the prices as low as possible.
I spent 2 evenings making a wish list and rewriting it a hundred times until I knew exactly what I wanted to order. Hey, fun for the feeble minded.:D

Nah ... I just play with people's heads, hoping they will by reflex remember not to do the bad thing ever again.

All of these horror stories makes me glad I still live in a small town! Of course it probably helps that my father worked at the Ford Dealership as a bodyman for 30 years, so it's hard for the sales people to be rude to my family.

I helped my mom and my sister when they purchased their new vehicles recently and jokingly told the owner (which is a personal friend) if they had the buy two get one free offer going on. He just laughed and said no, but he would make me a helluva deal on one if I wanted, I said as soon as you get a jeep on the lot let me know. Not two weeks later he had two jeeps sitting on the lot and yes I got a call. Wanted me to come down and check them out if I was interested. :D Too much money for me, but the price quoted was below book. I just decided to put the money into my older jeep and save the payments.

Hell even when I bought my 91 jeep it was a pleasurable deal. It was sitting on the dodge dealerships lot and was being sold as a favor for a friend of one of the mechanics. I only paid $4000 for it, but the salesman bent over backwards to help me anyway he could. He even called once a month for about the first year to make sure the vehicle was doing ok and to let me know he appreciated my business. I know just drumming up new business, but it still showed he cared.

I think I'll stick with the local boys for a while longer and leave the pencil throwing high pressure sales people to you nuts! :P

I have not yet bought a car from a dealer...only from family or family friends. Well...there was my '80 Monte Carlo that I bought from a guy in the paper, but that was a good car and a good deal.

The last time I went to a dealer was in '97...was this close to buying a car from them, but fortunately the financing wouldn't go through. Good thing, b/c the car was horribly overpriced and I probably would have went in the poorhouse to pay for it.

The experience as a whole wasn't overly pleasant, and admittedly, I don't care much for car salesmen. I know I shouldn't be like that, but I have never had a good experience with one. When I do finally purchase a new/almost new car (which will probably be later this year or next year to replace Putt-putt...Rho will get my car), I just have to make sure that I am as knowledgeable as possible and ready "to do battle." I know not all salesmen are bad...they're just trying to make money like the rest of us. But I'll be damned if I'm going to be taken for a ride.

SYC,

you know you'll buy it here, and i'll bury you. its your destiny. resistance is futile. don't make me throw a pencil at you.

ps, i don't like most car salesmen either.

I found Consumer Reports to be a good bet. They can be kind of persnickety on the ratings but once you've decided what you want, for $15 or so they'll give you all the info on that car. The options and packages, the list and dealer cost with the current kickbacks and incentives. You can update the info as many times as you like for a month. I think most people would be surprised, the dealer isn't making as much as they think.

GOD BLESS YOU, BRUCE

average gross profit on a new car is between $200-$500 bucks.....however, at Saturn, who touts their no pressure, haggle free customer service oriented sales practices, the average gross approaches $800 per copy. You get what you pay for.....

used cars is another story, though..... as there is no "invoice" and no identical car to comparison shop against. your best bet is to know someone. like on sienfield....you gotta get the"inside" deal.

kbb.com and edmunds.com have accurate pricing on new cars for free. you must allow, however, for the local advertising group charges that dealers have to pay......(they are itemized on the invoice)

i could give yards of advice about how to get a god deal, but it's a tired subject for me, and people seldom follow the "car" advice that their friends/relatives try to force on them.

what i find interesting is the amount of peer pressure that we put on each other when we buy a car.

" hey, is that a new car? did you get a good deal?"

Hahaha...you foolish little man! I don't like Jeeps, and the only Chrysler I really like (the Sebring) is out of my price range.

Now if you went to a Ford, Chevy, Saturn or Toyota dealership, then it might be a different story.