Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I would give anything to be an F&I guy. I finance cars for a bank right now, but those guys at the dealership make 2x-4x what I make. I've been trying to get a position for over a year now, but it seems like they're always hiring from within. Tough inroads. I know I'd be a better hire than most of these salesmen who jump from dealership to dealership every 6 months.
I have met a couple of people who tried to move from a bank directly into the F & I department of a car lot, it is not as easy as it appears, as you make most of your money on products like death & disability, Gap insurance, and other add ons, where at a bank it is mostly just getting the loan done. If you only get the loan signed and done you will not last long, and you have to know how to talk to the customers, the car inventory, and how to push the right product to the right people, usually bankers do not last.
This is a quote from a You Tube Poster...about selling cars...from a You Tube Video by Joe Girard.
"Well, I like Joe. I like his slow Detroit accent.Like an old school Mafia Godfather. I would buy a car of him. I'm sure he would make me an offer to good to refuse He is a story teller. I have been in the motor trade for over 20 years.I have sold everything from John Deere ride on lawn mowers to Western Star trucks. In between just about every brand and model of passenger vehicle you can imagine. Diahatsu's to Mercedes Benz and BMW. By the way I own a Porsche. My base pay is $17.00 Per hour Australian. I work in a small country truck Dealership in Gympie, Queensland. I have also done the hard yards on Parramatta road in Sydney.I would probably hold the Guinness Book of records for selling the most diverse motor vehicles. I have to say no one can sell 6 cars a day unless you have someone carrying out the delivery side of the sale.It's just impossible...today anyway. Because while your selling your not delivering. And when your delivering your not selling. Joe was the Cutty Sark of his time. ( Google Cutty Sark if your not into history) It was the fastest sailing ship of its era. But now times have changed.And it would no longer be considered a contender for todays modern ships. Good on you Joe. I have your cd's in my car and often listen to them for training. A salesman is a physiological athlete that must continue to train through out his Sales career. Sell Honestly. Sell with pride, Sell something you believe in. Most of all believe in your self. I would love to meet Joe in person and shake his hand."
Car Sales people...talking Car Sales. Can you Believe them?
LOL.
You are quoting someone from Australia while discussing the car business in the United States which is a different market. On my best day selling cars I sold 5 cars and honestly it was a grind and a ton of work, but I was not firmly established. There is still a guy I know that works at a dealership locally, he will sale 60 cars a month, at 75 years old, and he rarely leaves his desk. He does that working 4 days per week 8 hour days, and he has his appointments booked weeks in advance. He has been there for 50 years, and has such an established client base that he lets them come and talk to them, has the lot boy bring the car up to the showroom, shows the car, lets them go alone on the test drive, he already has the paperwork ready to go by the time they come back, and he spends about 20 minutes delivering the car. There are many days he will sale 6 cars, and it is easy to do for him. A couple of years ago I asked him if it was harder to sale a car today than 20 years ago, and he said it was for 2 reasons, he did not have to worry about establishing a relationship with clients as he already had that, and the internet allowed people to figure out exactly what they were looking for so he did not have to spend an hour on the lot showing 10 cars to most people.
I spent 5 years selling cars, and often still miss it. The money was good, but even better the customers were coming to you, and you did not have all the costs of chasing new customers. I got out when Autonation moved across the country and cut their sales commissions to that stupid salary and flat fee per car, while the dealerships were making a fortune, that encouraged other dealerships to cut their commissions as well, and I was not interested in selling cars for $50K a year after making $100K+ a year for 5 years. From talking to people still in the business it sounds like some of the pay problems have changed back around but I no longer have interest in spending all my days walking around on hot pavement and trying to reestablish my customer base.
I left car sales and stayed in sales for another 10 years or so, before the lending & real estate market collapsed and took my mortgage company and venture capital firms with it. For years I had heard similar things as the OP, you are smart, you are talented at so many things, you could do so well if you pursued this or that career, and after the collapse I listened to the naysayers, to my detriment.
Good sales people make more money than most other professions in the world, it is hard to go from something where you are making 6 figures into a straight job making $50K a year working 9-5 and waiting for the weekend for some enjoyment. It sucked the life out of me. Not only was I constantly miserable, I was frustrated and bored out of my mind, so I started a company, and am now considering selling that company. Hearing you need 3 promotions and 15-20 years to get to $100 K a year in income just sounds ridiculous when you have a successful sales background, but sometimes that steady paycheck can sound nice.
Do not listen to those telling you how you should be doing something else, there is nothing wrong with sales, and even if you leave car sales, having that history will help you get some very good sales jobs in the future, and you will find stuff that can pay better and have a more stable market and income. IF you enjoy sales than there is nothing wrong with it, never let someone that makes less than you and is less happy with their career talk you into leaving what you are good at and must enjoy at least a little bit.
I spent 5 years selling cars, and often still miss it. The money was good, but even better the customers were coming to you, and you did not have all the costs of chasing new customers. I got out when Autonation moved across the country and cut their sales commissions to that stupid salary and flat fee per car, while the dealerships were making a fortune, that encouraged other dealerships to cut their commissions as well, and I was not interested in selling cars for $50K a year after making $100K+ a year for 5 years. From talking to people still in the business it sounds like some of the pay problems have changed back around but I no longer have interest in spending all my days walking around on hot pavement and trying to reestablish my customer base.
I left car sales and stayed in sales for another 10 years or so, before the lending & real estate market collapsed and took my mortgage company and venture capital firms with it. For years I had heard similar things as the OP, you are smart, you are talented at so many things, you could do so well if you pursued this or that career, and after the collapse I listened to the naysayers, to my detriment.
Good sales people make more money than most other professions in the world, it is hard to go from something where you are making 6 figures into a straight job making $50K a year working 9-5 and waiting for the weekend for some enjoyment. It sucked the life out of me. Not only was I constantly miserable, I was frustrated and bored out of my mind, so I started a company, and am now considering selling that company. Hearing you need 3 promotions and 15-20 years to get to $100 K a year in income just sounds ridiculous when you have a successful sales background, but sometimes that steady paycheck can sound nice.
Do not listen to those telling you how you should be doing something else, there is nothing wrong with sales, and even if you leave car sales, having that history will help you get some very good sales jobs in the future, and you will find stuff that can pay better and have a more stable market and income. IF you enjoy sales than there is nothing wrong with it, never let someone that makes less than you and is less happy with their career talk you into leaving what you are good at and must enjoy at least a little bit.
Come on....you're making 175k a year selling Cars? ? ? Lets see, the average New Car Sale pays about $3-400 per car. The Math Says, --- you are selling on the avg. BETWEEN 30-40 cars per mth. That's bout 10 cars per week. That's about 1.5 cars per day, working 6 days per week. OK...what the Next Story your going to sell us on----Santa Klaus and Rodolph the Red-nose Rain-deer??? Oh yeah...that's working 52 wks a year too...no Breaks! LOL!
I make 400-550 a car, I'm very good at generating profit
but your numbers aren't far off, I average 20-25 cars a month and I don't work my days off. I usually average 1 car a day per working day
I spent 5 years selling cars, and often still miss it. The money was good, but even better the customers were coming to you, and you did not have all the costs of chasing new customers. I got out when Autonation moved across the country and cut their sales commissions to that stupid salary and flat fee per car, while the dealerships were making a fortune, that encouraged other dealerships to cut their commissions as well, and I was not interested in selling cars for $50K a year after making $100K+ a year for 5 years. From talking to people still in the business it sounds like some of the pay problems have changed back around but I no longer have interest in spending all my days walking around on hot pavement and trying to reestablish my customer base.
I left car sales and stayed in sales for another 10 years or so, before the lending & real estate market collapsed and took my mortgage company and venture capital firms with it. For years I had heard similar things as the OP, you are smart, you are talented at so many things, you could do so well if you pursued this or that career, and after the collapse I listened to the naysayers, to my detriment.
Good sales people make more money than most other professions in the world, it is hard to go from something where you are making 6 figures into a straight job making $50K a year working 9-5 and waiting for the weekend for some enjoyment. It sucked the life out of me. Not only was I constantly miserable, I was frustrated and bored out of my mind, so I started a company, and am now considering selling that company. Hearing you need 3 promotions and 15-20 years to get to $100 K a year in income just sounds ridiculous when you have a successful sales background, but sometimes that steady paycheck can sound nice.
Do not listen to those telling you how you should be doing something else, there is nothing wrong with sales, and even if you leave car sales, having that history will help you get some very good sales jobs in the future, and you will find stuff that can pay better and have a more stable market and income. IF you enjoy sales than there is nothing wrong with it, never let someone that makes less than you and is less happy with their career talk you into leaving what you are good at and must enjoy at least a little bit.
very good post
For me, the thought of going from 160K to a job making 50K with the hopes of advancing and making 100 maybe in 8 years is just horrifying. I might have a chance to hit 200K at my job in 3-5 years if I build up my clientele base
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
