[Rich Sandor]

I did car sales for over 5 years. Both at Toyota (few months) and Ford (5 years!) and I am familiar with the pay structure at about 10-12 stores due to the fact that I have many friends working at different dealers from Mazda to BMW to used-cars only lots.

Commission structure varies slightly at every store, some stores even have two different commission structures to choose from. In general though, most car dealers are very similar.

You get a base "safety net" every month, even if you don't sell anything that month. At my store, it was $1500 before taxes and MSP/CPP and other deductions.

At the dealership I worked for, if you sold a car (new or used), you'd get 25% of the first $1000 gross, and 40% of any gross over $1000. The minimum commission is $150. (So if the dealer's gross on a car is anywhere below $600, you make $150 on it, even if they are losing money on it) If it's a split deal with another salesperson, you split the commission in half. The % and min comm varies from dealer to dealer. Some dealers have different pay for new vs. used.

Some cars may have a spiff commission on them from managers to motive the salespeople to sell them, usually because the sale price has been dropped to the point where there's no gross and therefore no commission left. I've had spiffs as small as $250 and as large as $2000.

Most dealers also have unit bonuses. For example, if you sell 5 cars in a month, you get an extra $200. If you sell 7 cars, you get a $500 bonus instead of just $200. If you sell 9 cars, you get a $700 bonus instead of just $500. Because manufacturers give dealers bonuses for hitting targets, dealers encourage salespeople to sell volume over gross profit. This can be very draining because the more cars you sell, the more time you have to spend at the dealership delivering that car. Selling a car is rarely a 2 hours ordeal. Showing it, test driving it, delivering it, and following up with issues afterwards can take up entire days. Usually the ones that take the longest are the ones you make the least money on.

Sometimes, if we sold a new car, like a Focus or Ranger, Ford would give us a direct commission in addition to whatever our dealership paid us. (usually $150-$250) So a $16,000 Focus or Fiesta with only $800 markup ($160 commission) would get bumped to a $300 commission with the additional spin and win.

F150's with $4000 markup would never have a spin a win, although because there are so many dealers and rookie salespeople willing to discount down to nothing for fear of losing to another dealer, quite often you'd sell an F150 and make the same commission as a Focus or Fiesta.

You'd also get bonuses for helping to sell warranties, maintenance plans, accessories, etc etc.

The KICKER is that if you sold, lets say, 4 cars, and made $300 on each one, that's $1200 - you haven't yet reached your minimum of $1500 - so you'd only get $1500 for that month, NOT $1500 + $1200.

Since every store varies in pay, management, working environment, business structure, some stores may suit certain salespeople, while other don't. Most of the mainstream dealers have managers who totally babysit their sales guys, and treat them like peons and pay them as such. More upscale dealers like Mercedes or MCL Porsche will allow the salespeople to do 99% of the work without a manager being involved until the final signature, however they don't usually hire rookies.

The most important factor, REGARDLESS of the store and pay structure, is how hard YOU are willing to work. Those who put in the hours and work hard and make phone calls can make $100,000 a year, but it's NOT easy and it's NOT the majority of salespeople that do that. At a Toyota/Ford/Mazda/Honda/GM store that would be 2 or 3 salespeople, the other 8-10 people making between $30,000-$60,000.

If you value weekends off, being home for dinner, or if you have a hobby that you like to spend a lot of time on, being a car salesman, especially at a mainstream dealership that is open till 9pm and always open on weekends, will crush those dreams. You will get phone calls on your cell when you are on your day off with a customer who wants to buy a car with a good commission on it, and he can only come in today, so you get changed, rush into work, and then the guy doesn't show up. If you're lucky, you can have a coworker take care of them and split the commission 50/50.

I couldn't take it anymore and quit 2 weeks ago. 5 years is enough. It takes a certain kind of person (no life outside the dealership) to do it successfully and I came to the realization that I am not that person.