Car Sales

blindside88

Hi Guys,

Just wondering if anyone has any info on jobs in car sales. I've worked in the insurance sales/financial services industry for the past 4 years and am growing tired of it. I don't know what I want to do but have been looking at jobs in car sales as one possible avenue to explore. I know a large part of the income would be commission based and this can be seasonal. I'm just wondering if anyone here would have a rough idea of the basic wage offered in thes kind of jobs. Any ads I've seen have no mention of this. Thanks in advance

Blindside

swanvill

Hi,

For a person with no motor sales experience expect basic pay to €18k+. TBH that is there to keep you alive, like all sales jobs you will need (& expect) to earn commission. In the depth of the recession it would not be unusual for annual commissions to be in €20k - €40K on top of salary and generally after a year you will get a car worth another €10K a year to you.

If going for an interview make sure you understand the difference between 'Long wash out' & 'Short wash out' and ensure that sales commissions are paid on short wash out system.

The motor trade is seasonal but not as skewed as four years ago. The new July registrations allow for another strong month of new car sales after (Jan - Mar) period. In the other months you should be selling used cars and will make commissions there. Nov & Dec will be quite months for sales (& your only bad commission months) but that is when you are building up your orders for Jan/Feb new cars.
Another thing to remember there will be six days a week Jan - Mar and long hours but when you get €10k commission in one month you soon forget the hours :-)

blindside88

Thanks very much for the reply. That basic is pretty much what i was thinking and seems low compared to other sales jobs but as you have pointed out the commission can be very strong. Do you mind me asking is there much turn over in staff in general in these roles or do people tend to stick at it?

Thanks again

swanvill

No very little staff turnover, if you have good products, processes & decent sales manager people tend to stay long term in the roles especially as they build up a customer database of people returning every two to three years to you.

As an exercise why don't you have a browse in a main dealer and see the average of the sales people there?

blindside88

I know a couple of guys that are in car sales in main dealers (friends of friends) and they seem to be at it quite a while and seem to enjoy it. I don't know them well enough to ask what the money is like etc without sounding nosey. Thanks for the insight