Car sales that bad?

[Skrillah]

Hey guys,

Quick question/opinion poll...

Who here has any experience in vehicle sales? I'm fresh out of college and looking around for jobs at this point but I'm not sure yet what I'd like to do. All I know is I want to stay in my local area while I wait for my fiancee to graduate and then go from there.

I applied and had an interview today at my local Toyota dealership, for a sales professional position. Obviously, the obvious car salesman thing but what are your guy's impressions? Is it really that big of a money maker, it seems as though it might be pretty cut-throat...i don't know. I have a job now but damn it doesn't pay much and the benefits aren't much better. I can survive on it for a little while but its time to move on.

[Whitey]

My personal opinion: Worst job idea ever. Don't waste 4 years of college trying to hustle people. You don't need an education for that...Unless you enjoy working 80 hrs/week.

What's your degree in?

[oly884]

Well, two things come to mind when I think of car sales men.

-I don't like them

and

-I really don't like them, at least the toyota salesmen.



Anyways, I would imagine that it's a fairly competitive job. Not to mention with the economy the way it's starting to shape up, there isn't going to be a boom in the vehicle sales, so job security would be something to consider. People are going to be holding onto their vehicles longer or buying used to save money.

Toyota seems to be the worst in my experiences with salesmen. They are overly aggressive and think you're an idiot. Ford and Chevy salesmen seem to be a bit more relaxed.

If I were to get another Toyota, I'd go through a broker. If I were to get a Ford or Chevy, I'd probably go with a dealer.

That's my take on the matter.

[tulsa_sr5]

Not sure what most dealerships are like, but the 2 toyota dealership in town they barely have enough salespeople to keep up with the customers on a saturday. seems like they do pretty well and don't have to resort to the classic bs. I'm sure it varies a lot, have you shopped at this dealer before to know what kind of place they run?

[corax]

how about a job as service advisor? you can get all the tech advice you need for your rig, most techs will take on side jobs (and for employees it's much easier). TRD parts discounts? in my experience it's usually hourly with a commission on what you sell. get to drive all the new models (no offroading the customer cars . . .) attire is sometimes more casual than in sales. and as sales drop and customers hold onto their vehicles, they will need service and repairs made (the company I work for is currently stressing this to the dealer body in an attempt to get them to promote the service dept harder). might be another slant to consider if you want to try for a dealership.

[Skrillah]

Thanks for the input guys, after talking with them a little more today I turned it down. Did not seem like the job for me...they put you on a base salary for 2 months then its total commission sales after that. Bum deal in my opinion...

I have a degree in Telecommunications with a minor in Business. I would just like to stay in this area but because I'm in a college town...there are a lot of professional people around here so finding a solid job is hard. I just need to wait it out and see what comes along.

The dealership is usally decently busy but I've had bad experience in the past. I mean I drove a Tacoma there about 6 months ago. It was a 2001 Ext Cab 4x4 with diff lock, 5spd, and loaded but it had 102k miles and they wanted $16k for it! I was like hell I can buy a new one for a few thousand more...when they asked what I thought it was worth I said at best 13k. They looked it up with me there on KBB and it showed 17k....I said wow...surprise...then I noticed the cock-block had 10k miles typed in instead of 100k...I pointed it out and he typed it in and it came back for 12500 in excellant shape. Hell...I told them more about the truck than they knew...morons.

Basically, I need to wait my turn...something will come. Only thing it has going for it is that I get to work with new cars and trucks all day but there are other ways to do that I suppose. Like I said guys, I appreciate the advise and opinions. I think I wasted my time with even looking into it.

[fustercluck]

There's a reason why folks cringe when you tell 'em you're a car salesman.

[CJM]

Dont even go any further than thinking about, worst job ever. I honestly have more respect for a burger flipper than a car jockey.