Car Sales - Job Change - Advice needed

[sonick]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

Every year you gotta sell an extra car per month to match inflation haha

Car prices themselves have gone up with inflation (or more). More than enough covers general inflation even without selling the extra cars.

[dark0821]

Originally Posted by bcuzracecarz

With car sales, would there be “raises”? Better commission percentages over time? I’ve never really asked or thought about it just curious since I’ve never sold them.

Just got a decrease this year 2023 compared to 2022, reasoning is invenroty looks to be better than last year, there are now more cars to sell.

More cars with the same amount of sales on the floor = more cars being sold by everyone, hence you should still make the same if not more than last year.

[KayC]

Originally Posted by dark0821

Just got a decrease this year 2023 compared to 2022, reasoning is invenroty looks to be better than last year, there are now more cars to sell.

More cars with the same amount of sales on the floor = more cars being sold by everyone, hence you should still make the same if not more than last year.

How do you feel about this? I am not in car sales so I have no idea what I am talking about, but it feels like you are doing more for the same pay. Increase in inventory doesn't automatically mean increase in potential buyers. In the end, you are doing more work, selling more cars, to make the same as before. Feels like corporate/ dealership owner's greed to me looking from the outside.

[mb_]

Originally Posted by dark0821

Just got a decrease this year 2023 compared to 2022, reasoning is invenroty looks to be better than last year, there are now more cars to sell.

More cars with the same amount of sales on the floor = more cars being sold by everyone, hence you should still make the same if not more than last year.

Spoiler!

I worked for OpenRoad before and I'm not one bit surprised about this. Sorry to hear, hope it works out

[entrax]

Originally Posted by mb_

Spoiler!

I worked for OpenRoad before and I'm not one bit surprised about this. Sorry to hear, hope it works out

Spoiler!

+1

[BaoTurbo]

Originally Posted by bcuzracecarz

With car sales, would there be “raises”? Better commission percentages over time? I’ve never really asked or thought about it just curious since I’ve never sold them.

There are no raises and will only be cuts spun off and sold to sales team.

The expectation will always be selling more and making the same amount to keep things level.

[dark0821]

Hard to say how I feel about it tbh, but all in all, making quite a bit more than my last gig... so no complains there....

[GIZZ]

Say for the past 15 years your sales increase 10% per year. You get about a 10% cut in your pan plan each year to keep you making about the same. So you have to hustle, basically run non stop all day. No breaks, non stop. It was good pay 15 years ago, no reason to look for another job. Now it's hard not to look at all these better paying job for far less work. If you have a trades ticket, public sector is the place to be with annual raises and some union shops have additional inflation raises. The dealership kick in the teeth is that they talk about how inflation is high and people can't afford to spend but good job with increasing sales, here's a pay cut. That's the car industry for you. Nobody gives a shit about you anymore.

[ilovebacon]

so when is the best time to get a new car with all these inflated sale prices?

[Traum]

Originally Posted by ilovebacon

so when is the best time to get a new car with all these inflated sale prices?

That is more like a crystal ball question.

IMO, much of the reasons for the continual dealership-level premiums are due to manufacturers' ongoing inability to produce enough cars for the demand. And that in turn is due to supply chain and semiconductor issues that have been plaguing us since the pandemic.

Honda has indicated that foresee the semiconductor issue easing (for them) in the 2nd half of 2023. I think they are either too optimistic, or have signed some sort of semiconductor supply contract to ensure a smoother operation. But overall, I don't really see the semiconductor situation easing until more of the new US semiconductor plans come online, and that is still a good 2 - 3 years away. And even then, the problem may not get resolved because I think China is involved in the early steps in the raw material to silicon wafer production, and the Western World isn't exactly on friendly terms with China right now.

IMO, for things to get back to normal, the World needs to get itself into a state where manufacturing wouldn't be so dependent on China. Things are moving in that direction, but we are far from being there.

If the world heads into a recession though, prices will soften a bit, but that is only due to lower demand and not any improvements on the supply side, and the supply side is where the real problem is right now.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Traum

Honda has indicated that foresee the semiconductor issue easing (for them) in the 2nd half of 2023. I think they are either too optimistic, or have signed some sort of semiconductor supply contract to ensure a smoother operation. But overall, I don't really see the semiconductor situation easing until more of the new US semiconductor plans come online, and that is still a good 2 - 3 years away. And even then, the problem may not get resolved because I think China is involved in the early steps in the raw material to silicon wafer production, and the Western World isn't exactly on friendly terms with China right now.

IMO, for things to get back to normal, the World needs to get itself into a state where manufacturing wouldn't be so dependent on China. Things are moving in that direction, but we are far from being there.

Honda seems to have caved a bit in that they are now selling trims without features where they lack chips - like they have the new CR-V without blind spot monitoring available next to versions that do have it (CR-V LX-B vs LX).

If I remember correctly the European makers are hamstrung by the war in Ukraine as they get a lot of chips from that region - a number of Porsches were shipping without certain headlights and power steering wheel adjustments etc due to a lack of supply. As long as Putin is a warlord things on that front won't get better.

[donk.]

Originally Posted by Traum

IMO, for things to get back to normal, the World needs to get itself into a state where manufacturing wouldn't be so dependent on China. Things are moving in that direction, but we are far from being there.

Nah, not possible. China's minimum wage is 2.50$ an hour, not to mention the factories that employ children.
If they employ children, then you can assume what the cost is to produce goods for our built in touchscreens, ass cooling, and door handles.

The whole "we need these jobs in USA and Canada!!!" argument is great, until the cost to manufacture locally is 500-800% higher.

If anything, I'm assuming you mean being dependent on other third world countries, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, etc

[meme405]

Originally Posted by BaoTurbo

There are no raises and will only be cuts spun off and sold to sales team.

The expectation will always be selling more and making the same amount to keep things level.

The thing is you are always doing the same thing, and the price of the cars will rise to match inflation, so with that you've got an automatic "raise" function built in.

I hate to say this, but a car salesman is a car salesman, the difference between a good one or a bad one, or an experienced one is their ability to move more units, or more expensive units. If you do that your wage goes up/down correspondingly.

So I can see why it isn't a job where you get "raises", why would you.

As a similar example, as a tradesperson, if you stay as a regular Level 3 Apprentice, then you will not get raises beyond some crap for inflation as wages rise. The raises come with getting your journeyman ticket, becoming a foreman, or a super. Similarly for car salesman, you need to become sales manager, and then GM of the dealership or something like this.

The other difference between a tradesman and a car-salesman, is a tradesman with 30 years of experience is going to be handedly better than some guy with 4 years fresh out of school. So there is an expectation to pay these craftsmen more for their experience.

Translate that back to car sales, and the only thing experience counts for is selling more units, or more expensive units. So you either gotta move from Toyota to Ferrari, or you gotta be slanging camry's like your Walter White.

[trollface]

I heard Kia poached one of Honda's top sales guy in Richmond just before covid. Dude was making 250+ selling civics with all the undercoating and tint.

[Traum]

Actually, under Emperor Xi, min wage has risen quite a bit in China, as had the supposedly employer-paid work/medical insurance. So while China's labour costs are still significantly lower than what N.America / Japan / Western Europe pays, compared to many places in SE Asia -- think India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, etc. -- China's labour costs are actually nowhere nearly as attractive as they once were.

And then there is the risk factor -- the US-China trade wars (started during the Trump era, and has since been significantly ramped up by Biden) as well as the pandemic has made manufacturers of all kinds come to the realization that the geopolitical risks of operating a business in China has become far too great. Many are either relocating their supply chain business elsewhere in SE Asia, or are just shutting down altogether. Apple/Foxconn, for example, is relocating a sizable portion of its factories from China to India. SK Hynix (memory chip manufacturer) will no longer produce higher tech products from their China plants (due to the US semiconductor ban to China). Toshiba closed its Dalian plant of 30 years.

There was a time when China was the World's biggest and best factory, but that is no longer the case now. Once enough of the supply chain have moved out of China, things will see a bit of improvement.

Originally Posted by donk.

Nah, not possible. China's minimum wage is 2.50$ an hour, not to mention the factories that employ children.
If they employ children, then you can assume what the cost is to produce goods for our built in touchscreens, ass cooling, and door handles.

The whole "we need these jobs in USA and Canada!!!" argument is great, until the cost to manufacture locally is 500-800% higher.

If anything, I'm assuming you mean being dependent on other third world countries, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, etc

[jcmaz]

Good luck becoming SM or GM of a store; it's very difficult to get into management positions without having some sort of insider connection and a lot of time spent selling. But if you were successful in selling, why would you get into management? The real gravy sales jobs are the finance managers

Those who are able to sell high volume of cars most likely have good social connections, ability to generate additional leads (or pay for it), and are charismatic with high closing ratios.

Couple years ago, Product Advisors were given flat commission on low gross profit cars like the Corolla. The only way they were able to make a decent amount of money was on the bonuses and lowballing trade ins.

There are no raises in sales jobs. Sell more and that's your raise.

More cars with the same amount of sales on the floor = more cars being sold by everyone, hence you should still make the same if not more than last year.

But at the same time, every other manufacturer should have more stock to sell so consumers have more choices to shop around for the right vehicle.

[dark0821]

One of our PAs was a Sales Manager at a diff dealer, and has since moved back to sales, when asked, he just said he makes way more as sales and way less stressed... so lol...

[GIZZ]

local dealership pay is not the same as 15 years ago. It was unheard of before but this is what's been happening. Base pays are being cut, commissions are reduced all over the board. You're going to have targets that 1% of the sales can hit. So even if you sell more year over year you likely still make less and less every year. Then consider inflation and you're doing worse than you thought. That's why I'll never recommend this line of work.

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by jcmaz

Good luck becoming SM or GM of a store; it's very difficult to get into management positions without having some sort of insider connection and a lot of time spent selling. But if you were successful in selling, why would you get into management? The real gravy sales jobs are the finance managers

My SM friend said the last 3 years was his peak earnings at close to $300K after bonuses. Apparently finance managers are clearing $150 - 250 all day at the moment and don't really need to fight for sales as there's a constant waitlist. But they do work all day + weekends. Heard him talking to the GSM on making $400 - 800k lol.

[Badhobz]

well every dealership only needs 1-2 of these guys/gals so thats like what? less than 50-80 people making that kinda scratch in vancouver? its not like these positions come up very often for the average joe to just jump in. Im pretty sure its all based on who you know

Seems like if you got a huge social network and you are good at sales, being a realtor would make better scratch with the same amount of effort. At least it was a few years ago. If these ching chong ling long ah mo's (old ladies) can do it, then a lot of you guys doing car sales should be able to do it.

[supafamous]

Apparently being a Sleep Country sales person is a nice gig - can make $100k pretty easily as the markups on mattresses are obscene.

[donk.]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Apparently being a Sleep Country sales person is a nice gig - can make $100k pretty easily as the markups on mattresses are obscene.

must be top 5% making over 100k

Those people are so sleazy its also obscene

[Bender Unit]

dark0821, please check PM

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by Bender Unit

dark0821, please check PM

You might be better off calling OpenRoad Hyundai and asking for him. He's been busy and doesn't hop on here as much now.

[sonick]

Hi may I please speak with mister zero eight two one?