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Are they actually paying you a salary? Or is it a draw?
Most places around me will pay you minimum wage draw which they will subtract from your commissions by the end of the month. But if it is real salary then that's good.
It's impossible to say an average because it varies so much by dealer. I know one dealer around here that has a $1200 pack on all used cars (a $1200 addition to the bottom line of the car as pure profit to the dealer), so his guys don't make a whole lot.
Also depends on if it's luxury cars (probably not, since you don't have experience) or domestic / foreign cars, how big the dealer is, etc.
When talking about commission you also need to look into how they manage sales traffic and splits. Is there a rotation that handles walkins and calls or is it a free-for-all? Are new salesman basically banished to walking the lot and not allowed to generate phone and internet leads? If someone makes contact online with the internet sales manager and then gets handed off to a salesman to complete the transaction do you get a reduced commission? If one of your customers comes in for a followup and you aren't there, do you still get a share of the commission or is it "winner take all"?
All questions very much worth asking and having outlined, preferably on paper.
When I was a naive 18 year old car salesman, just about every single deal the ownership/management found a way to screw me over on in regards to commissions. One example, a lady I had built up a relationship with, finally decided to buy, had a bank draft ready and I sold her a new totally optioned truck at full sticker price. While doing the paperwork, the sales manager swept in, told me he'd handle the rest of it and to go run and play.
I was shocked when I got a $50 commission and was given some BS litany of excuses. It was my deal, I had worked it and basically my commission was stolen. One day I innocently asked the paperwork guy if I could see that invoice and the truth was I had earned nearly a $1000 in commission IRC.
I think if I was looking to get into that work, I'd find a dealership with an excellent reputation with a good attitude, otherwise if desperate for a job, find something else to do. I'd rather clean crap off walls like I did as a janitor than work for a sleazy dealership again.
Now in some of the work I do, I've been on tours of dealerships on behalf of manufacturers or trained salesman at racetracks at new car launches. It's interesting to me as each dealership has a "culture" usually based off the attitude of the owner and his managers. Some dealerships are very professional, some play grab ass all day. Some are easy going, some are high pressure. Some are sleazy, some are not. Some train their staff well, some could care less about product knowledge.
My main occupation is that of a car buyer. I buy a large volume of cars. New car dealers buy most of their used cars through major auctions. No, those shiny one owner specials aren't usually dealer trade ins. Somebody like me buys them at high end auctions.
I know salesmen who make well over 100K and have for many years. You can expect to spend 6 long days a week working "ups" if you want to make serious money. You get a day off in the middle of the week (plus Sunday) but you come to work anyway.
The stragglers make 30-40K a year and don't normally last very long or go to work for second tier dealers. New dealers want high powered salespeople.
The answer is sorta like asking just "how much bbq will Buba eat if there is a big free bbq hog laying on his table. He will eat as much as he can.. Car saleman will make off you as much as he can.
I hate the atmosphere in a car dealership. Usually what I will do is research the car I want and then go looking on Sunday for the car in a lot. I'll call on Monday and give them an offer and then tell them to call me when they get to that price or close to it. I will only set foot in the dealership to do the paperwork, then they find out that I will not be using their financing, I will not want the extended warranty, I do not want their maint plan nor their truecoat. They are usually pissed off when I walk out with the keys to the new car.
[quote=PullMyFinger;22126939]I hate the atmosphere in a car dealership. Usually what I will do is research the car I want and then go looking on Sunday for the car in a lot. I'll call on Monday and give them an offer and then tell them to call me when they get to that price or close to it. I will only set foot in the dealership to do the paperwork, then they find out that I will not be using their financing, I will not want the extended warranty, I do not want their maint plan nor their truecoat. They are usually pissed off when I walk out with the keys to the new car.[/QUOTE]
I doubt it, although it's dandy if you leave there thinking that you've pulled one over on a dealership.
Absent a distress situation on a given new car ... a very slow mover in an undesirable color or option combination ....
No new car dealership sells cars at a loss. Whatever you think you're getting for a deal, they still have margins and programs built into the deal that yield them a profit. They may not get all the fluff stuff added into your deal, but they will have made the profit they need to justify selling you the car. Dealerships have their goals of a combination of low-mid-and high margin deals to be made each sales period, and even the low margin deals are profitable.
As far as the OP's concern about income potential for a car salesman, it's like asking "how high is up?". So many variables present in the range of the dealership practices, sales skills of the salesman, and so forth that it's an impossible question to answer. Averages are meaningless when it's your individual situation and check each month. I see a range of dealerships that burn through wanna-be easy money car salespeople to some that only hire and retain sales pro's that can consistently produce sales. Some folk will make next to nothing in the biz and leave quickly, some will make next to nothing and stay there for various reasons, and some folk make a lot of money ... well into six figures. There's no basis for generalizations to say that a newbie will make a given amount of money for their time and effort ... other than to say that there's a potential opportunity to make some money.
I've seen six-figure income earners at small "pot lots" as well as at major large dealerships. So many variables in pay plans, price points of merchandise, culture of the dealership .... I've been on the short end of a few sales where I know that the acquisition cost of the car, recon costs, marketing costs, floor plan expense, and all the other legitimate hard costs yielded a profit of almost 50% of the sales price of the car, only to see a couple hundred bucks in commission to me. In a couple of those, I did the deal where the car was taken in trade and had a buyer lined up for it at a fairly firm sell price in advance ... so the car spent less than a couple of hours on the lot before being sold; yet still was paid next to nothing for the deal. My time working for a car dealership was pretty short; I did a lot better buying and selling on my own behalf out of my repair shop.
It's impossible to say an average because it varies so much by dealer. I know one dealer around here that has a $1200 pack on all used cars (a $1200 addition to the bottom line of the car as pure profit to the dealer), so his guys don't make a whole lot.
Also depends on if it's luxury cars (probably not, since you don't have experience) or domestic / foreign cars, how big the dealer is, etc.
Volvo is not a luxury car. Think Audi, Lexus, Merc, BMW.
Volvo is a weird in-between sort of brand.
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