Car sales-dealerships? Jobs/Relo help! (Houston, Arlington: crime, buying, college)

[Christie.]

I'm originally from Houston (lived there until age 13) and I currently reside in Seattle with my husband. We LOVE Seattle, but we are researching potential places to relocate to as the cost of living is quite high here in Seattle. Additionally, my husband works as an auto-finance manager, and the business has really gone downhill in the past year.

I know the cost of living is significantly less in Texas, but how is the economy? Specifically, car sales? I've always know Texas to be truck country, and on my trip to Houston last year I was blown away by the size and number of dealerships there. I'm sure the high cost of gas had affected car sales to some extent, but does anyone know how the auto industry is doing down there?

If anyone works for a dealership or has any info to share, it would be much appreciated. Also, if anyone can suggest dealerships to look at for possible employment- it would be most helpful. Thanks!

PS. We are open to all areas of Texas J[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]

[Metro Matt]

Toyota's & Honda's are selling like hot cakes in Houston & across Texas. With the American automakers, trucks & SUV's are a lot harder to move even though its still Texas & we love our vehicle's big, people are having to size down with the high cost of gas weather they like it or not.

If you knew what part of Houston you wanted to move I could recommend specific dealerships.

[Christie.]

Actually I would prefer to move somewhere besides Houston as I find it too humid and the ever-spreading crime is a real problem. Ideally we could find a small to medium sized city, or a small city outside of a larger metropolitan area. I've just started looking, but Tyler seems appealing.

[Metro Matt]

If Tyler is an option then try Peltier or Classic Toyota.

The humidity can get pretty bad in Tyler too because its in the Piney Wood's region, but not near as humid as Houston or anywhere along the Gulf Coast.

[loves2read]

For what it's worth--this is our experience with car shopping in the DFW area over the past several years...

Lately We were shopping for a car for me--specifically a Honda Accord, Toyota Camry Hybrid (what I really wanted) or a Camry conventional or Chevy Malibu in May--
we went to several dealerships in the DFW Mid-cities area--Grapevine, Arlington (north and south) Hurst
3 of the 7 salesmen we talked to in different dealerships were young men just out of the Army or Marines--back from Iraq--two of them had done 2 tours--tried real hard to buy a car from one of them but just did not work out...

being a car salesman seems to be a stop-gap kind of job for them--they had no other business/trade skills--no college -- to fall back on--they had all relocated from out of state--one of them had a wife with family locally but THEY were not Texans--
I doubt if ANY of them would still be selling cars at the dealer if we went back this weekend...

My husband has bought his last three cars (SUVs) from Classic Chevy in Grapevine--
it is one of the largest/busiest dealships in the southwest--although he has TRIED to use the same salesperson each time--they are never there--
he bought a new Tahoe right after this past Christmas and dealt with a woman (new to car sales but he knew what he wanted--he did not have to be SOLD a car--he was just talking price)...by the time he went back for the car tags (like 2-3 wks later) she was not working there any more...

His sister from Victoria was in town in June and needed a new car--wanted him to help her shop--she wanted a Malibu 4 cyl w/tan leather--hard to find in this area at that time

they went to several dealerships in the area and went back to Classic to talk a deal--
the guy running the finance dept at Classis was a salesman that my husband had bought one of his past SUVs from at Classic--at the time HE was a returned military guy--no prior sales exp and no real business skills either

they remembered each other--the guy said he had been let go from Classic shortly after my husband bought that car and went to couple of dealerships in the area in Denton and Granbury over course of several years--wound up back at Classic running the finance dept instead of doing sales (more stability there)...

His sister did not get a manual for her Malibu--the sales guy was supposed to mail it to her but he didn't so fnally she called us to see if we could pick one up for her and just mail it--I called and finally got a hold of her salesman and he WAS still working there--
I was surprised kind of--but he has been there for more than a year according to what he told them when she bought the car...

There are plenty of people buying cars in this area--when we were looking in May around the Memorial Day holiday and when his sister was looking--
the dealerships were full of people looking/buying---
trucks were not doing as well as other years--people were shopping for 4 cyl economy cars and small SUVs--the used car market was taking a hit with being overstocked on the big truck/SUV trade-ins...but the guy who sold the Malibu said that Classic still did a big business in trucks--in this area there are still people who need them for work...

my SIL had a difficult time finding the type of Malibu she wanted--and did not want to order one--and they had sold so many Malibus that they had run out of extra manuals

think dealerships with long-time car salesmen can make it really tough for new ones to break in...lots of competition for the customer--and there is just not a lot of stable income I guess for some people--and it takes a special kind of person to be up for a job that does not always produce results...
don't know how they run their business as far as salary and benefits...
but some of the smaller towns outside DFW have BIG dealerships and people drive there to buy a car
James Wood in Denton carries several lines of cars/trucks
Durant Chevy in Granbury used to get lots of out of town people buying cars

lots of people are shopping via Internet now--trying to negotiate a flat price for car with what they want in options w/o doing any bargaining on the sales floor...
that is what we did for the car we bought--wasted too much time actually going to dealerships and NOT finding car with options we wanted...people trying to sell us what was one the floor/lot--but not what we wanted--they just did not listen...

[changeofpace]

Try delerships in Corpus Christi. "Lots of worker bees, no experienced management applicants in general". Sales are still strong in Corpus in auto sales.