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I sold cars for right around 3 years at a large dealership network in northern Virginia, from Aug 2008 - Mar 2012. Keep in mind, I never sold cars on the floor. I was strictly internet sales, so I didn't have to deal with ups or anything like that. Long story short, I hated it. Things started out fine, where I had a rookie salary of either my commission or 2.5k / month, whichever was better. My dealership did this so that since you are new, you probably won't be selling many cars, and if you don't make any money in the first month, why stick around? It was basically a little insurance policy. This lasted for 3 months, which was basically how long my honeymoon period with the dealership lasted. My hours were abysmal. We had alternating shifts, either from 9a-5p, or 1p-9p. This would alternate each week, so one week I'd work MWF 9a-5p, TTh 1p-9p. Saturdays were 8:30a-7p, no exceptions. Each team worked every other Sunday, 11a-5p -- unless it was a holiday weekend, the last weekend of the month, or you were having a bad month and were expected to come in to help your sales. The "A" team had Tuesdays off, "B" team had Wednesdays off. This was your only day off, and you couldn't trade it or anything like that. If a holiday fell sometime during the week, everyone was expected to work 9a-9p the day before, of, and after the holiday, and then that entire weekend as well. Since I worked in internet sales, I didn't get paid on commission, unless it was a used car. My commission structure was $175 / car from 0-8 units. 8.5-12 was $225, 12.5+ $275. This did apply retroactively, so that was nice. On used cars, we got 20/25/30% of front end commission, again, based on sales for the month. We also got bonuses for hitting a certain number of cars sold, something like $200 for 8 cars, $350 for 12, and $500 for 15+. HOWEVER, if your CSI rating fell below a 9, you lost ALL bonuses. This could easily be a thousand dollar hit to your paycheck, sometimes for no fault of your own. We also got a "draw" every month, which was 800 dollars, paid twice a week. At the end of the month, they took this money back out of your commission check. It was basically so you had money for bills / food / etc throughout the month instead of all at once at your commission check. Our CSI survey asked you to rate the salesperson, the dealership, the inventory, finance, and the service department if you had any interaction with them. Dealership messy and I get an 8 out of 10, that drops my score. Finance try to pull some shady poo poo and include a huge warranty and not tell the customer, but the customer finds out and calls them out on it, and then gives the finance department a 1 out of 10, that really hurts my score. In addition to losing bonuses for the month when you drop below a 9, for every survey that WASN'T a perfect 10 across the board, my pay got docked 50 bucks. It doesn't matter if I got 15 10s out of 16, if that 16th one was a 9 not a 10, boom, there's 50 bucks out of my pocket. Management always treated us like children -- there was never any respect anywhere in the dealership. Not salesman to salesman, manager to salesman, salesman to manager, no where. Save for the one good friend you'll make there, everyone is out to get everyone it seems like -- which I feel is true because everyone there is your competition. Honestly, I'm surprised I made it 3 years in the business. The business didn't suit my personality, nor did my ethics really agree with what I was doing. But I had just moved to Washington DC, needed a job, and they hired me on the spot. One thing I did take away from my time at the dealership was on my very first day, my manager told me "Once you've had a job selling cars, you'll never have to be unemployed again. Car salesmen are a dime a dozen, and if you are ever out of work, you can go to any dealership, tell them you have car sales experience, and they'll probably hire you on the spot." Finally, I'll leave you with one of my worst experiences selling cars. It was the Friday before President's Day in 2009. Since it was a holiday weekend, everyone was expected to work 9a-9p that Friday. Anyways, I had been working with a customer for a few days now, and they were going to make the drive from Aberdeen, MD down to Springfield VA to pick up their new (to them) used car. Before they leave, they call and ask if their credit had been approved on this truck. I told them I didn't know since I don't handle that, but I'd speak to my manager and let them know. Talk to manager, who without looking up says "Yes, they're approved. Get them here." I call the customer back, tell them they are approved, and they say "Really?!" That sent red flags off in my head, so I went back to my manager, asked him again, this time explaining that they sounded very surprised that they were approved. He looks up, slams his hand into his desk and says "Don't ever loving second guess me again" "Ok, I won't" Fast forward two hours (so it is 11am now) and the customer gets there. I show them the car, they test drive it, they love it, we work the numbers on it, good to go. Except, when I take the deal to my manager, the same one who told me their credit was approved, he says that they have lovely credit, and there is no way they can get financed for this car. Well, gently caress. So I have to go break the bad news, and naturally, they are livid. They drove two hours to be told they can't get financed on this car. I keep talking to them, and my manager, and my manager thinks that they might be able to get approved on this second truck, which is located in Richmond VA at one of our sister stores. So, after talking to them some more, "virtually" showing them the vehicle online, working some more numbers, they agree. Except they need the car today, and it is now 5pm. So, my manager tells the customer no problem, and sends ME to go to Richmond at 5pm on a holiday weekend. Normally, this is a 4 hour drive round-trip from Springfield to Richmond. This time, it took me 4 hours just to get to Richmond. So it is now 9pm, I'm 2 hours from the dealership, and I call the customer telling them I have it, and I'll be back around 11pm. They tell me that they've already left the dealership, and are back at home. I say great, no problem, they can pick it up tomorrow. "Oh, no, that won't work, we need the vehicle tomorrow. Your manager said you could bring it to us tonight, here in Aberdeen." As you can imagine, I was beyond furious with my manager. That meant that I had AT LEAST 6 more hours of driving to do, starting at 9pm. I tried to call my manager over and over, but he kept sending me to voicemail. Anyways, I call a buddy of mine who worked at the same dealership, asked him to follow me to Aberdeen since I'd need a ride back to Springfield, and luckily he agrees. We get to Aberdeen around 1am, I call the customer, they come out, ask if they can test drive it, I tell them "Nope. I just drove it for 4 hours, she's fine. Take care." I get back to the dealership around 3am, and home to my house at 3:30am. I have to be at work the next morning at 8:30. I get there around 8:35am, with barely no sleep, and my manager had the nerve to yell at me for being late to the sales meeting. A month and a half later, I see the same truck that this whole fiasco was about back on our lot. I asked my manager about it, he says that the financing never went through, so the deal never happened. What does that mean? It means I worked an entire day, 17 hours, for no pay. No sale = no commission. That was when I knew I really had to get out. e: If you have any specific questions about selling cars, shoot them my way and I'll be happy to answer them.
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Oct 27, 2015 20:10
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| # ¿ May 19, 2024 16:09 |
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Blackchamber posted:I think in this case, having a large supply of salesmen is the management 'ideal'. Since they don't get paid unless they make a sale it doesn't hurt to hire on another guy, and thats another guy out there pushing a car and adding to the competitive environment. Yes, this is basically it. And since you have experience, you are already more qualified than probably 70% of applicants in the car business, meaning you stand out from the crowd a bit more than normal.
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Oct 28, 2015 16:48
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