First off, I'm pondering a career change and looking for
a little advice about this type of work. Anything you can
tell me about salaries, commissions, likes or dislikes would
be very helpful. Thanks in advance!

scott

 

I sold cars for a little bit. Actually GMC trucks and Oldsmobiles. To be honest I did it out of college just because I liked cars and figured what the hell.

The thing that I hated most was the fact that you really don't have set hours. I like having my nice 8:00-5:00 workday. What would happen selling cars is you would simply sit around and wait all day and then just as you are going home....blammo somebody you have to spend a few hours with, who probably won't buy anyway. I hated this.

As for the money, it can be very good. There is an immense amount of pressure although and you are constantly chided into selling this or that or get rid of this vehicle. The incentives are good but I won't sell something I don't believe in no matter the incentive.

I did very well because of one simple thing. I didn't listen to a damn thing they taught me and gave people the straight dope. If they should have been shopping for a Honda Civic I told them so. If they were looking at the lot dog, I told them so. I got more refererals, six packs, dinner invitations etc. then I care to count by doing business that way. No I certainly wasn't the top seller because of my sales style was pretty honest but at least I slept at night.

I didn't like it because of the working on commission and the pressure to always be there non-stop. It took the fun out of cars. Well sort of. There was this time a guy was checking out a Tahoe and I told him he couldn't buy a 4x4 without testing it off road. Off to the local construction site we went. Mgmt. didn't like it but I sold that Tahoe.

I suggest you get a part time job for a couple of months and see if you like it. If you do go for it, just don't let the system turn you into a "car salesman."

Another downside is you will be branded as one of the top 5 lowest lifeforms on earth only slightly more appealing then lawyers.

Good Luck

Chris

 

I would have the same problem as you. Honesty would
be my downfall. Every quad I've ever sold has been an
adventure. I took the person and showed him every
ding, potential problem, and quirk about the machine. I
am also very upfront with someone looking to buy something
from me. I'm not sure that type of attitude would serve me
well in a job like this.

I've got a question for you about salaries. Were you paid a
set salary? Did your commission come on top of that salary?
As a teacher, I'm not exactly burning up the pay scale here in
good ol' MS. Starting teachers in this state only make low-20s
salaries. A job would have to be pretty low on the pay scale
to be below what I make now.

A part-time postion would be ideal, but that's not available
right now. The job is for a full-timer.

 

Salaries vary from place to place. I pulled an initial $250.00 a week salary while I was in the brainwashin......I mean education stages of the job. After that I was paid strict salary and if I didn't pass $250.00 a week I got to pull up to that as a draw against future commissions.

To be honest it isn't too tought to pull down high 20s to mid 30s. We had guys pulling 50s and 60s pretty consistantly. But it is luck of the draw as with any commission type job. Feast or Famine.

If you are leaving behind a nice stable job, no matter how bad it sucks, I cannot in good faith recommend that you take a full commission job, especially in the car industry. I mean a guaranteed meager paycheck is better then a possible great check IMHO.

Hold out for a nice weekend part time position and go into it just to learn some tricks to the trade and have fun with it. It will change the way you buy cars forever.

If you do go for a car sales position try to find one of the flat pay jobs like Saturn, although I wouldn't recommend Saturn as a company right now. The flat pay places seem to be good work environments and I have know people to say they really enjoy working there.

You can get rich selling cars if you are willing to use your brains, talents and work non-stop. I had the brains, I had the unique talents, had the education but my downfall was the fact that I actually like spending time with my family and friends.....damn them. :0)

If you decide to go for it let me know and we can compare notes. My training was like a psyche class. Interesting to say the least.