Need advice about working at a car dealership

"GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo" (jackolson) 03/01/2015 at 20:42 • Filed to: HALP!

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I'll spare Oppo the BS about why I want to leave my current job, but now I'm looking to apply for several different positions at several different dealerships. So any advice or experiences about working at a dealership is appreciated!

Alex from Toronto > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/01/2015 at 20:50

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Sales or service?

GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo > Alex from Toronto 03/01/2015 at 20:56

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Both. I wouldn't be a tech or anything as I have about the same mechanical aptitude as Jeremy Clarkson.

Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/01/2015 at 21:09

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What manufacturers are you looking at?

I'm a service porter at a Ford dealership. I know Coty is a salesman at another Ford dealer

wunderwagen wants a longer roof > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/01/2015 at 21:09

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I've been looking for a chance to use this.

Can't offer any advice other than be aware of what you may be getting into.

GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo > Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey 03/01/2015 at 21:19

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Too many to list because a few are dealership groups with both regular and premium brands, but also DeMuro's favorite used car dealership and a specialty used car dealership ( Mercedes, Bentleys, etc.).

Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/01/2015 at 21:21

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Oh I see. Well if you have any questions, I'm willing to answer with my experience, albeit limited so far.

GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo > Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey 03/01/2015 at 21:26

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Literally anything, as I know nothing about the inner workings of a dealership.

Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/01/2015 at 21:34

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Well I can start with my job as a service porter. It's somewhat low on the totem pole. I was hired on as a lot attendent/Porter with hopes to move up into a tech position (with that in the works- I have started the STARS training program) Honestly in my position I do anything. I help out around the lot, especially now during winter. I drive parts around when I'm needed. I clean up around the garage, including scrubbing the floors once a week. I tag in vehicles for service, meaning I give cars a number placard, seat cover, and floor mat, and write down the mileage and VIN so the service advisors can then make repair orders. I do work in the garage, mostly basics so far like oil changes and batteries. I'm the everything man and I like that- it keeps things interesting because I never know what I'll be doing. Plus, I'm paid hourly which is definitely nice.

Alex from Toronto > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/01/2015 at 21:39

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In that case just pick a dealership that has a good atmosphere and go from there.

TVs Ron Banwart > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/01/2015 at 21:53

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I work in sales at a Mazda dealership if you have any questions about that.

Coty > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/01/2015 at 22:05

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So yeah basically what DIngers Ghost said, haha. If you had any sales questions.

Coty > Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey 03/01/2015 at 22:06

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WAIT YOU GET PAID?

Man, your dealership is way different than mine.

GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo > TVs Ron Banwart 03/01/2015 at 22:08

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My question is about the sales environment; How are goals established? What is a typical sale like? Do you make more sales from working the floor or from meeting people out and about and getting refferals?

GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo > Coty 03/01/2015 at 22:13

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How are goals established? What is a typical sale like? Do you make more sales from working the floor or from meeting people out and about and getting refferals?

TVs Ron Banwart > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/01/2015 at 22:27

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At my dealership for the most part we set our own goals, as long as they're reasonable, you really have to be able to push yourself to be successful, nobody holds your hand. I've only been in sales since August so I don't have a ton of experience to draw from. My particular store is very laid back, most of the salespeople don't ever go on test drives, I do about half of the time. Most of my sales are introduce myself, talk a little bit about what you're looking for, find a match, toss you the keys, and when you get back ask what you thought. I hate pushy salespeople and my store isn't really like that, but at the same time I am having to find a balance there, 95% once people leave they never come back and I'm forced to waste time calling them every few days for a month or two. I'm not at all outgoing by nature, so I haven't had much in the way of referrals yet, I mostly take walk ins although I was recently promoted to Internet sales so I'm just getting into learning that.

Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey > Coty 03/01/2015 at 22:51

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Shit. That was a secret. You weren't supposed to know.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/02/2015 at 02:13

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I don't know anything about how the sales side operates really, nor do I care to. But what I can tell you is that the atmosphere and work environment can vary greatly from one store to the next just because of management, even within the same conglomerate selling the same makes with the same franchise rules. It can be amazing or it can be a test of your integrity or it can be somewhere in the middle and just drag along. Some managers like to promise you the world during the interview and then only end up giving you a few grains of sand instead. A good bet is to talk to the staff and see what they think about where they work.

Sam > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/02/2015 at 03:19

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If you decide to do detailing, go to a more upmarket brand. I detail at a Jaguar/Land Rover/Volvo dealership. The average vehicle tends to be cleaner. Also, talk to your potential coworkers beforehand. Exotic brands attract dicks.

I would say, from observation, sales at an upscale dealership seem to be easier as the vehicles sell themselves, for the most part. When someone comes to our dealership, they typically know what they want before hand. Also, be prepared to work full days on Saturdays, if you actually want to sell a lot of vehicles. A large number of our sales happen on Saturday between 10-3.

Coty > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/02/2015 at 09:38

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I'm a newbie at a dealership that has a lot of employees that have been there 40+ years so it's sort of different. They don't give me any goals besides sell cars which, to be honest, I'm not great at. I get like two a week.

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Usually the sale process (if it's from the floor, obviously phone is a little different) is identify needs/ what they're looking for in a vehicle.

Come up with one or two suggestions from your inventory (if you're like Ford and have a dealer swap system, you could suggest something you don't have in inventory and swap it in from another dealer but that's a little trickier).

Show them the vehicle, making sure to open all the doors up, and the trunk/hatch so they can look around. This is where you want to kind of show them the features it has that they were looking for based off step one. If they need 4 wheel drive and seating for 7, show them how to engage the 4 wheel drive and show them the third row seat and the headroom and stuff. One of the problems I ran into was that very few people who are car shopping care about the same stuff we (Jalops) do. They won't care that the 2.3L gets to 60 faster than the 2.0L, most of the time. Sometimes they will and you can answer that question when they ask, but mostly you just want to point out the stuff they were looking for, for the time being, you'll have to show them some more stuff later.

At this point I ask the customer if they want to drive the vehicle. Your dealership might have different rules but here, we don't have to go with the customer. You'll need to make a photocopy of their license, and I always try to get their phone number here too. You'll get a lot of people at first that come in, test drive, and leave. At that point they're costing you money, so it's good to get a number so you can get ahold of them. Your bosses will also go nuts if you give away test drives a lot, haha. I always give them the option, and usually they just take it out themselves. I usually use that time when they're out to have my boss appraise their trade. Sometimes I have him put together payments and stuff for them too if I know how they're looking to finance the vehicle. Saturday I knew my customers didn't like the color of the Explorer they were driving so I had the color sheet for the Explorer in my hand when they got back. Sometimes if it's really busy I'll take a customer while they're out too. People usually understand that if there's a crowd of people.

At this point I usually wrangle them into my office (always bring them into your office. It seems easier to dump them in front of your sales manager, because it is, but you have a better chance of keeping your gross, i.e. your profit, if you can be the liaison between them and your boss). Pretty much always they're going to think their trade is worth more than it is, and they haven't bought a car in 15 years and an Explorer wasn't $40k back then. Anyway, once you figure out a price, you write up a purchase and sales agreement, do a credit application if they're not paying cash/ getting financing from outside the dealership, and you bring this all in to your finance manager along with the copy of their license from the test drive. He'll start entering stuff into the computer, while you go back to your office. I offer them something to drink, and try to outline what the next steps are. The finance manager is going to be a minute or two, so just talk to your customers. I usually joke around with them, talk about their families, whatever. I like people so it's fun to talk to them for a minute.

Your finance manager will come in when he's ready and take them to his office. At this point you take the keys to the vehicle they're purchasing, take it to the gas station, fill it, and bring it back. Once you get back it goes to your recon department, they wash it and you bring it back out to the front of the dealership. Take the stock number key tag off the keys and replace it with the dealer key tag and bring your customers out to see it.

You then begin what some companies refer to as the delivery, but more have shifted to calling it product orientation. The purpose of this is to make them more familiar with the features of their new car. For example, in that Explorer, it has the MyFordTouch audio system. If you read Jalopnik, you'll know all the writers enjoy bitching until they're blue in the face about how they can't work it. There's a video on YouTube that's an hour and ten minutes long that illustrates all the things you can do with that system. You have to teach them how to work the system without showing them every single thing and taking an hour and ten minutes on that one part of the car. I usually pair their phone, show them how to operate the phone controls in the steering wheel, and make a call to the front desk of the dealership to make sure they understand it. I then do a quick rundown of how to operate the radio, climate control, and the GPS if it's equipped. I then ask them if they had any more questions about the MyFordTouch system, and if not I move on to the manuals, and show them where to find the answers if they have questions later (basically I say to check the quick reference guide before the owner's manual). I show them how to turn on things like 4WD, and how to change the screen so they can see their MPGs instead of their trip odometer and little stuff like that. I then ask if there's anything else if they wanted to know, and remind them that if they need any help working anything with the vehicle they're always welcome to come back. I shake their hands and let them go.

You then want to call a few days (three or four) after and ask how they're liking their new car and if they had any questions since the last time we spoke. Thank them for their business. Usually car dealerships are all pretty close to each other, so they could've easily gone down the street and bought something else, so it's important to remember to thank them.

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Most sales come from the floor and from the phone. Luckily here, when someone calls in looking for a salesman, the receptionist says it over the intercom (sales line 6, sales, line 6 please) and I'm usually pretty fast with those. If I were you I'd shove some business cards into whatever pocket they won't get beat up in, and give some to your family to hand out at work or when they hear people talking about needing a new car. I also hop in conversations about people needing new cars a lot. I always make it clear that I'm a Ford, Lincoln, and Hyundai salesman, and I suggest Ford, Lincoln, and Hyundai products and a few that aren't. Usually when people see you put other makes on the list they tend to trust you a bit more.

Also, if your hours are set (I work the same hours every week but that's not always the case in sales) I always like to write my hours on the back of my card in front of the customers. That way they see you're taking the time to write them down so they'll remember the hours, and not just throwing a business card at them.

Also if you're a better salesman than me you won't spend 40 minutes writing a response to a guy on Oppo when you could be selling cars, haha. Best of luck to you in whatever route you decide to go. Let me know if you have any more questions about anything.

Coty > Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey 03/02/2015 at 09:39

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I make less than minimum wage most weeks. The glorious world of sales.

Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey > Coty 03/02/2015 at 16:48

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Owch. Another reason right now I'm glad I'm not a tech getting paid flat rate.

sellphones2493 > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/08/2015 at 19:04

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I'm an ex-Carmax Employee. Are you considering the 'max?

GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo > sellphones2493 03/08/2015 at 21:27

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Indeed I am. I feel like it would be a good place to learn the ropes of the dealership industry.

sellphones2493 > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 03/08/2015 at 22:43

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I'm pretty sure you can go from working at Carmax to a regular dealer, but not vice-versa. They rarely hire people who come from regular dealers.

Pros:
- Great Training Program
- They promote from within
- They're pretty flexible with scheduling
- You can sell anything, so you're not stuck to one brand
- It's a simple job

Cons:
- They micromanage the shit out of you (you are required to spend 3 hours a few times a week working the phone and computer - they record your calls and make you listen to them with your manager)
- The pay kinda sucks. I was working at a bigger location in MD selling at least a car a day and it wasn't that good of pay
- They want you to drink the koolaid
- Their financing system is screwed up and their cars are overpriced (how do they expect me to sell a 1 y/o Honda w/ 10k when it costs $500 less than a brand new one)
- They bitch when you show up to work 2 minutes late, yet don't realize you worked 3 more hours than you should have the day prior
- If you wanna make money, you need to work 60 hours a week+