I applied at Acura but they werent hiring til spring too bad for them so I ended up getting hired at the local Dodge, yep im gonna be slinging domestic iron. I just cant wait till the SRT-4 hits the showrooms, hello huge dealer markups and big comissions. The place seemed really cool and all the guys I talked to were very down to earth. Hopefully now i can make some good money and get back to the drawing board with my turbo project. If i end up doing really well im definitely gonna get that A1 block sleeved for some big boost

 

You really make alot selling cars?

 

You CAN make a ton....if you have the right stuff, can sell your *** off, and are willing to work HARD. You need to be able to have a wide open schedule, work a lot of long hours, and have a ton of patience with people...its not easy, but if youre successful, you can bank.

I was offered a job at Metro Acura in Philly a while back...it definitely wasnt something I wanted to commit to.

 

well i told the guy i was willing to work open to close 7 days a week...i once worked 110hrs a week including travel time for 30 days straight with no days off in between and was no worse for the wear and my bank account soared...hmmm actually that was how i bought my teg cash

i know what the job entails and thats why i sought out car sales, i really dont have a desire to go out a lot and spend useless time spending money at bars and clubs so why not spend all my time working so i have no time to spend my money and can really go shitehouse on my turbo project...who knows i may have everything done by summer

 

This guy has a good head on his shoulders.

More power to you and your tEG

I have an uncle selling Toyota/Mazda's. He's been jumping around dealerships and areas. There are definite perks if you work hard .


[Modified by IntEGNYC, 2:50 PM 1/17/2003]

 

Wow is there any type of Base pay ( Salary ) ? I posted this in the Members Corner and never got an answer.

 

any place you physically work at has to pay you some kind of salary at the very minimum equivalent to min wage. however many dealerships do whatis called a draw let me explain this ok in my situation the dodge dealer is going to pay me $250/wk salary with no draw so lets say i make $500/comm in a week i made $750 for the week. now another dealer who works on a draw would work like this, the autofair i interviewed at i would have made a $400/wk or $1733/mo salary but it drew against my comm so lets say i sold $4000 worth of comm for the month i would have to pay back the 1733 so i would really only make $2367 for the month. also the dodge dealer paid on gross not on units whereas autofair paid on units so you get a base comm per unit regardless of what it is or wha the gross was

does that clear ***** up for you?

 

dang... i need a good job.... sucks being 19 and in college

 

This is only my view so here it goes.

I don't know if anyone here has sold cars, but I did it for about 10 years. This month until the spring will be very slow, buyers don't come out until the spring for the bigger sales until the end of the model year is cleared. Currently until about MAy this will be your starving months. If you working on draw be careful, you may make less than you think. On some cars you can make as less as $35.00. I"m not kidding. You will also have UPS, as I call them. Tire kickers, time wasters, be backs, smart *** other saleman that get half your deal when you did all the work. It really sucks. I sold Hondas & I did make really good money until the months slowed down. Sink or swim. I don't know about Dodge new cars sales, but I don't expect them to be as strong as import sales. Let me know when you start to burn out. I did.

 

i don't think my conscience could take it.... everyone i talked to who used to sell cars tell me that there is too much dishonesty involved.

 

whats your minimum deal?

 

minimum comm vehicle sold at cost or even below i make $75

they also have pretty low pack's $100 for a car $200 for a minivan $400 for a truck

i get 25% of gross profit which after all the take outs comes out to about 20%-21% which is still not bad
i may be getting ahead of myself but i am expecting to hopefully cash in on the new SRT-4, that has got to get some seriuous market attention

 

id get some new car experience and when you are good.. move to used cars. thats where the money is. they can hide so much cash in a used car and if you get in on secondary financing deals you are all set. i know of people who flip used cars for over 7-10k profits. youll never make that in new cars.


[Modified by BustaNutt-616, 10:37 PM 1/17/2003]

 

well to make 7-10K profit on a used car is pretty tough to do, the only way youre really gonna do it is maybe by lowballing someone big time on a trade in and then getting the next sucker to pay top dollar for it...but yes it can happen and i would love to be on the end of a 10k profit deal and youre right unless youre selling Lambo's and Ferrari's youll never see a 10K profit

yes there is a lot of corruption in the auto sales industry but the way i look at it is there are very numerous avenues one can take to educate oneself about how to get a good deal and if you dont take take advantage of the education then who is really wrong the guy selling a car tryin to make a living or the ignorant customer?

i saved my gf over 2k by going with her to buy her Integra, the salesman wanted 11700 for it and that was actually a tiny bit below book but i told him we didnt wanna pay that much so after two days of brow beating i got him down to 9600 and we drove it away, but what is even more bothering is that the ***** would have sold us the car at 11700 knowing full well he could have sold it for 9600 and many people including her would have gone along for the ride, needless to say i felt really good coming away from the deal knowing i saved her from getting anally raped no lube style

 

I was an inventory manager for Farrish in Manassa,va. And Sales man can do very well for themselves. But as everyone said you have to work very hard. Building repore (sp?) with the customer is what its all about. They always told me, you dont sell the car you sell yourself. lol People come in looking to be SOLD on a car. The hours can be very crucial, I remember my friends who sold cars would stay almost from open to close, most of the time doing nothing. But it was fun i enjoyed it, i was gonna sell cars but i didnt feel like driving out there everyday anymore.

 

its not that hard. you'd be surprised... i know of plenty of used car managers that wioll go to those country *** used car auctions. but some cars for like 3 or 4k. bring em back to the shop, have em detailed and the dent popped out and then sell em for about 9 or 10k. happens all the time. and then you get the people who will spend another 6k to get fiancing at like 29%, its wild.

 

so the salesmen at a used car only place can make money also on the expected interest to be paid on the car?

**** man i may just get my feet wet and then go straight into used only...if i can steadily make $50K after my first couple yrs ill hang around, i really dont like the idea of overly screwing people if i know i can save them money...i do understand tho that a business is there to make money and so am i

 

THanks For the info.. If I was younger and without a Son I think I would persue a career in Auto sales. If you count how many people walk in a Pay sticker for a car you would be amazed! I would love to be that salesman. Also income tax time is around and a lot of people buy cars now..... Good Luck Jeremy and post pics of the new ride once you get one!!!

 

nah wont be getting a new ride, gonna keep the teg for awhile, after i get done with the boost project im probably gonna do an H22 swap. i may have a demo but im sure that would be nothing special unless i get an SRT-4 which i doubt lol

and yes i will love to be that salesman that gets the customer to pay sticker with and extended warranty and all kinds of options

 

Auto sales is for some, but it is indeed hard work. I used to sell Dodges for a while, and I found it tough to stand behind my product. In order to sell, you have to have a product that you can stand behind 100% (that is if you have even somewhat of a conscience). I was in a stiuation where I could sell both new and used, and I sold many, many more used than new, and they were mainly the import that we got on the lot as well. Selling news car was cool though, because Daimler Chrysler would give us a spiff check for every new car sold. I used to call that my "mamma don't know money". However, just because you sell a car doesn't garantee that you will make any money. At the dealership that I worked, the salesman was basically just the middleman between the sales manager's office and the customer. My particular dealership was extremely high pressure as well. The other thing that I didn't like was the fact that we had no idea how much the dealership had in the car to begin with as well as how much we were going to make when it was all said and done. I found it very frustrating to spend 5 or 6 hours with a customer, bullshitting and making a great repore, all to get a $100 or sometimes even $50 mini. Of course, there are those deals that you run across that are great, and will basically make your month. I sold a new '02 Ram conversion truck, that had been hooked up by this company called Regency, to this guy who put down a $20,000 downpayment because he had totalled his Chrysler 300M that was paid for. The commission from that sale was $1,000 and Regency, the company that hooked up the truck gave me a spiff check for $200, and this was in addition to the spiff check for $75 that Chrysler gave to me. Also, don't get down because January and feb are slow months for any kind of sales, no matter what industry you are in.

At my Dodge dealership, we emphasized using what we called the "14 points for selling cars." The first is mindset. No matter what is going on at home or what is going on anywhere else, you have to have the mindset that "I am going to sell this car. This person is a buyer, not just dead wood." Remember ABC, Always Be Closing. You have to have this mind set, or you will fail from the start. The second step is the greeting. You have to get things off on the right foot with the customer. Don't seem too pushy. With these two steps, the main objective is to try to get the customer in the door. Believe it or not, the majority of the time that the customer spends at a dealership is not on the lot, but in the showroom or at your desk. The third step that we did was pretty much a part of the meet and greet stage. This was the mini sale. What ever the situation, lets say it s maybe Chrstmas or mothers day, or whatever. "Did you hear about the mothers day sale we're having??" would be the question to ask. I sometimes did this step, sometimes not. It is cheesy and the customer, 8 times out of 10 has become smart enough to know that you are bullshitting them. The 4th step is filling out what is called an up card. Sometimes you have to be smooth about this one because believe it or not, every customer that comes on the lot is hostile from the get go, whether he or she knows it or not. We fill out the up card for a couple of reasons. One is that we want to know some contact info so if they don't buy, we can follow up. The second is we want the customer to paint a picture for us as to what kind of car/truck/van suv they want. What their pricerange is, and what kind of trade they have is also an important step in this process. Also, remember that this is a battle of wills and you must control the sale without pissing the customer off. You do this by establishing a good repore; you use humor or whatever it takes to get inside the customer's mind and lower their natural defense mechanisms. After this process comes the 5th step, product selection and the 6th step, product presentation. This is a need/benefit awareness sort of thing. What you are doing in the product presentation is painting a mental picture for the customer. You want to establish a mental ownership of the car. Once mental ownership is established, you are home free so to speak. Basically, take them around the car and show them every feature. However, features don't benefit anybody. It's what the features do that is important. Things such as side impact beams, airbags, etc. etc. don't mean ****, but if you are a safety minded consumer you'll find that these are important in your decision. "How will this Durango protect your kids from a drunk driver's side impact??" These are the questions on a safety concious consumer's mind.

Now, if you did your homework during stpes 2-4, you'll know what kind of consumer this is. Does he or she care about status, safety, speed, utility, etc. etc? This will be the factor in what kind of presentation to do. For example, an old lady won't care about how fast a Neon is, she'll care about the gas mileage, reliability, and stupid things like easily visible gauges. Why should she buy this Neon instead of that Civic??

After the presentation, you want to take a test drive. All drivers need to go, and all need to drive. If you have a husband and a wife, and the husband wants to go but the wife wants to stay behind, that's usually a bad sign. You need to rethink your steps and get to the root of the problem. Maybe wifey thinks the car is only something her husband wants and doesn't see herself in it? You know what I mean here. Once you have all drivers in the car, be sure you have a specific route. This is also a big repore time, because you are preparing to ask for the order. Get the customer's defenses low, and make them feel at ease. Now is not the time for "hard core selling" and demonstrating features. This you should have done back at the lot. Now is the time to paint mental ownership. Ask some questions, but never make no an option. Notice how the customer is repsonding to the ride. They will talk. A trick that I used, worked well with customers who lived in the area. "Let's drop by your house and show so ans so.... or see how it looks in the driveway... etc. etc. " When they do this they will start to have mental ownership. They will see that nice, new shiny car in replcae of what they had. Maybe their friends will see it and come over and... you see what I'm getting at. The test drive is more than just, oh this rides well or look how fast, etc. etc.

Now, toward the end of the test drive comes commitment time. This is where the rubber meets the raod, and you'll find out if all your repore was worth anything. If you have done everything right, then this next part should be a breeze. You say, "So, Mr. and Mrs. Customer, you like the car right? It meets your needs and you can see yourself driving this car?? If I can get the figures acceptable for you, will you buy this one today? At that point, it's either yes or no, sometimes maybe. For me, I like honest people. Yes was good, No was ok to because I would like people to be straight up. Sometimes though, you get, well let me sleep it over, or whatever. People will give you all kinds of excuses. However, there has been a million books written on this subject. Zig Ziglar has written numerous books about this, such as "The Ultimate Selling Handbook" and the "Art of Closing the Sale".

Let's pretend though, that your customer says yes. The next steps we took were trade evaluation and self/dealership. I always made the customer park as close as I could to the trade, for comparisson's sake. Then, I would go around the trade, just taking little mental notes of every scratch, scuff, etc. that caused the car to look like crap. Maybe rub your hand along the bald tires, etc. etc. Never say anything negative about their trade, just rub your hand over the dent and kind of say, "Hmm" or something to that extent. i've found that without you even having to say anything, the customer will open up making excuses. He/she might say, "oh I had been meaning to replace those, or oh yeah, a shopping car did that", or whatever. The point of this step is to diminish the value of the trade in the customer's mind. This means more money in your pocket as well. Think about it. if a guy comes in thinking he's gonna get $3,000 for his beat up Hyundai that's only worth $500, this excercise will go ahead and diminish the value in his mind. You see what I mean. the less the dealership has to pay to take that car off his hands, the more money in your pocket when it's all said and done.

Next, I would tour the dealership before we sat down for paper work. I would explain the warranty department, show them where it is, etc. This was good in showing the customer that they would be taken care of, even after the sale. Plus, we had a nice dealership with sparkling clean facilities. Our service techs had A/C.

Then came the paperwork part.... I hated this part. The worst thing was credit. It's hard to sell a car to somebody with little to no credit. You won't really understand this until you've done it/ experienced it. It was really frustrating to lose a deal because a bank won't give a person less than 15% intrest, they don't have a down payment, etc.

Anyway, I hope this helps. I could write another book about the credit part, etc. But I'm at work and am kinda busy. If you have any questions just email me. Good luck with your endeavor.

 

well when i talked to the SM he said they practice low pressure sales and frowned very deeply upon any salesman trying to pressure a customer into anything, he said their CSI #'s were very high and he wants to keep them like that. time will tell if this actually holds true. as far as the work and time aspect of it i have no problem working 70hrs a week i once worked 7 days 100hrs/wk plus travel time for 30 days straight and wasnt even starting to burn out. so working the ours is not a problem especially if im making some good money. the min on any sale regardless of gross is $75 while thats notgreat money it helps to keep you from getting railed on a deal and i will defiintely try to push used more than new

i dont think id have a hard time standing behind the product i mean 20 yrs ago were chryslers reliable cars? Hell NO!! but i think even domestics of todays are pretty damn close to the japs in the reliability department. also youre selling yourself more so than youre actually selling a car so if people like you and feel comfy with you then your chances of making the sale skyrocket, i think being a young good looking kid will have its plusses as i wont look or talk like the typical used car salesman with a big fat gut from sitting behind a desk all day and the slicked back jet black hair. im probably gettig ahead of myself here since i havent even started yet and the preconceieved notions are running rampant so when monday rolls around ill have a better idea of how the place works. the best thing i did like was that the salary (albeit only $250/wk) is not a draw

 

Like I said, good luck man. There are some good dealerships out there, but most are bad. You'll get some good experience from this, though. Learn all you can on Monday, since I am assuming they will be training you. When I started, there were 4 others, so we spent about a week training and learning. I hope you are right about the quality of the cars. Personally, even though I do own a Jeep, which is a Chrysler product, I think that the reliability of Chryslers in general sucks. I've seen the warrantly claims at the dealership I worked at, as well as talked to many a pissed off customer about their new cars breaking.


As far as the SRT4 goes, I personally think that when you get past all the hype, they will be another Eclipse/Talon like scenario. The engineering looks like it's there on those cars, but I highly doubt that the reliability will be there to back it up. especially since the thing is turbocharged. All I can think of is Chrysler Conquest and Eclipse/Talon. Well see. I think they are way over hyped.

Like I said, good luck with the car selling endeavor

 

yeah they will be training me and i think i get like $500/wk until im on comission, they also said that Chrysler is making any dealership who wants to sell the SRT's all pass some kind of special training to be able to sell the SRT model line's

as far as the hype goes yeah they are prety hype'd up and ill do whatever i can to make them even more hyped, but hype is what generates market demand and that is what makes sales, if anyting even close to what happened with the Beetle and the S2000 can happen with this car it should make for some very good sales

 

Yeah. Sport Compact Car, in one of the twelve reviews they did for this car, said that the price should be around 18,000. However, I highly doubt they will be that cheap- unless they do turn out to be big pieces of **** and nobody wants them. They will sell at first though.

I think it's cool that they are going to make you all go through special training to sell them. It will make you more educated about the car, thus making you better able to sell it.

 

my dad and i have beenin th eindustry for a whuile, he's been the gm and finance manager of one store for over 15 years now, but it just tears him apart. i'd rather sell real estate. with a 6% standard commission rate you sell one house that is in excess of 300,000 and you make 18,000. much easiser work and still the same if not better loot to be had. especially these days since it is a buyer's market.