Help me talk a friend out of selling cars

Garyhw48 said:
I have two good friends that worked as new car salesman for at least 10 years. One now owns a convenience store and is making $100,000 plus a year, the other had a nervous breakdown. It takes a special kind of person to cope with the stress, and infighting of a new car dealership.

On the other hand I also have a close friend who started selling used cars and trucks about 1 year ago and he's making more money than he has ever made in his life. He's 70 years old. He told me that he wishes he had done this 50 years ago. I've thought about doing it myself. One at a time. He makes a minimum of $1000 each, and some $2500, in the last two weeks he has sold 5. That's good money for a man on social security.

If any of you want to know how it's done just ask me I'll be glad to give you the good and bad points. A lot of it depends on where you live if your able to do it or not. It's a lot easier in a state like Tennessee than other places.
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You just outed your buddy, when your drawing social security your only allowed to make so much money per month or you have to give up ss. Hope their are no IRS guys on the forum, they'll be knocking on your door. LOL!
 
custmsprty said:
You just outed your buddy, when your drawing social security your only allowed to make so much money per month or you have to give up ss. Hope their are no IRS guys on the forum, they'll be knocking on your door. LOL!
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The guy is 70....he was born before 1955....he can collect full SS and make as much $ as he wants
 
Here’s a quote from the IRS website.

"If you were born January 2, 1943,
through January 1, 1955, then your full
retirement age for retirement insurance
benefits is 66. If you work and are full
retirement age or older, you may keep
all of your benefits, no matter how
much you earn. If you are younger than
full retirement age, there is a limit to
how much you can earn and still receive
full Social Security benefits. If you are
younger than full retirement age during
all of 2014, we must deduct $1 from
your benefits for each $2 you earn above
$15,480."

In this case the salesman does not have a reduction in his Social Security since he’s reached full retirement age. I retired at age 59 (born in 1947) and I would have been under the above ruling and would have been limited to $15,480.00 in income until age 66. The 1943 to 1955 figure is only used to determine your retirement age at 66 (plus so many months). If the salesman was currently age 59 to 65 and made in excess of $15,480.00 he would have his Social Security benefits reduced.
 
"Personally i think detailing is a better field then sales or mechanic (gas or diesel)"
Surprised you included mechanic--my niece's son started at 60K per year straight out of 2 years Auto Tech school. Techs today are no longer "grease monkeys" Requires a high level of computer diagnostic skills and dealerships pay well for someone who is good.
 
ski2 said:
"Personally i think detailing is a better field then sales or mechanic (gas or diesel)"

Surprised you included mechanic--my niece's son started at 60K per year straight out of 2 years Auto Tech school. Techs today are no longer "grease monkeys" Requires a high level of computer diagnostic skills and dealerships pay well for someone who is good.
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Ive toyed doing that myself
 
My dad is the head of accounting at a huge BMW dealership down here, and one of his best friends is the GM of sales. Dude makes at LEAST half a million per year, but didn't get to see his kids grow up before they left for college last year.

Priorities.

Edit: also, pay rates vary from dealer to detailer. At my dads the detailer make a flat rate/hr as do the mechanics (highest paid is like 18/hr and he's been there for a decade)
 
It's a job. Work at it and it will pay your bills.
Enough said.
 
I read a pretty long article on Edmunds some time back about this guy that sold cars then wrote the article about it and people were saying it's pretty accurate. Maybe refer your friend to that, and see if it's up his alley.
 
Personally I dont think you should ever try talking some one out of doing something you have no experience in. I have a friend who tried talking me out of opening up my own detailing company and now I make more money then him and love what I do vs his 9-5...
 
I used to sell cars at one time, but I wasn't very good at it. I was selling, but not as many as the dealership wanted me to. The monthly goal where I worked was a minimum of 12 cars a month. Any less than that came out of my pay which meant I didn't have much of a paycheck. The dealership would start you off at a certain amount of money and it was up to you make up that much with your minimum sales goal. Anything above and beyond that was extra money that you made. After about three months of not hitting my goals, the manager suggested I might try my efforts elsewhere. The ironic thing was the customers I had dealt with were starting to come in and ask for me after I had left the dealership.

Even after he gets a customer signed up for the car, the customer will have to deal with the finance person. While all that's going on, your friend will have to coordinate with the detailers getting the car prepped and ready while he would have to personally go over the car to make sure everything is perfect for delivery. It's a lot of logistical work keeping it all together. If it's a busy day, that becomes a big challenge.

The commission on the new cars was fixed (about $200 to $500 per car depending on model) while used cars were much higher.

Bottom line: If your friend is good at selling, he'll do well. Yes, you do have to dedicate yourself to the extra hours of staying in touch with customers and following-up with them, but that's where you begin to build up your customer base. It will take a while, but if he has the talent and dedication he can make a good living. Everything that I've shared here is from a number of years ago and commissions and policies may have changed a lot since then. Your friend can only give it a try. Even I was able to do a hat trick at one time (sold 3 cars in one day) although that was more dumb luck than anything :hungry:
 
The dealer I work at .. I hear of sales making anywhere from 15,000 to 100,000 per year.. I think its like anything .. learn the game, play the game and you make $$$ .. Some of the guys need to take loans out in the winter to pay their bills .. but may gross 20 - 30,000 per month in the summer....
 
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