IAMA Car Salesman. Ask me anything you wanna know about what goes on behind the scenes

What 'fees' are complete crap, and what do I need to do to get the dealer to remove them?

Also, how can I cut to the chase with the salesman without him having to go back and forth to his manager 12 times?

Thanks!

Well taxes cant be removed, some fees are ridiculous, lic the doc fee, paying 600$ for the paperwork to be signed... but what you can do is say, "if you waive these doc fees somewhere in the price, ill buy the car now" what the desk managers are looking for is a commitment, thats where you will get your deals.

Thanks for answering! Im looking at purchasing something soon, and it just torques me off that people pay so much in extra fees.

Follow up: What the heck is the delivery fee? I mean, really? Also, how can dealerships pull off the line 'below inventory pricing, and include documentation about what their price was, and what they are now charging you? Falsified documents?

Well they are charging you for the girls in finance that go through and make sure all the stipulations are in the deal (which is grueling work for those girls) thereis a lot of paper work and a lot of time is put into making sure nothing gets fucked up because a little fuck up could costs thousands. the delivery fees are what they charge for the car to be transported to the dealership (they are over priced too but car dealerships are business) i mean think about it, the government makes 7% of every car deal and they aren't even in the car business, the dealer and manufacturer do have a right to charge what they want and try and run a business, which i believe is fair, but some of the stuff like letting your trade get under allowed or setteling for a high interest rate is where you get fucked. Also with American dealerships like ford and dodge, they mark their cars up like 15-20% thats why you see adds for like 10k off a dodge ram... Toyota marks up their cars about 3% and they count on volume sales to stay in business, they are the biggest manufacturer in the world. Also a American brand cars like ford and chevy and GMC and you name it, they may be american based companies but they dont manufacture the cars and employ as many americans as Toyota does which is a japanese brand, so sticking to the "i only buy american cars thing" is bullshit since detroit went to shit and everything is outsourced now.

How can I fuck the dealer instead of the dealer fucking me? Hire can I avoid the dealer all together?

Depends on the dealer, the way you lose the most money is in your trade, the offer they give you for your trade is bullshit, you may trade in a car for 5k into the deal and the dealership will sell it for 15k within 3 days. For example i had a customer who has a trade that was worth 12k, the desk manager put 2000 UA (under allow)[and they they and justify this in reconditioning costs] on it so it showed 10k (thats 2000 straight profit right there) i told the desk manager to take another 2k off so it bumped up the profit to 4k, i went out with the proposal and went over everthing, they were looking at the trade and didnt agree (they wanted to think about it) so i said what if i can get you 500$ more for your trade? can we make a deal and they signed, so yeah. Thats what we call a pounder. a good 1k+ commission check right there, plus they bought at full msrp and bought accessories.

Any advise if no trades are involved?

new car, ask for the incentive, always ask for this months incentive. Check to see if the dealership has costco programs or other programs, and if they do, go buy a 50$ membership and it could save you a coupe grand.

Very awesome. Thanks for the advise.

No problem, i'm here to help, if this hits front page though, i feel like i will be hunted down haha, this information is supposed to be secret, if you dug you could find it out but seriously, most people are getting so fucked at the dealership, and that is because they go in uneducated.

Do you notice that women get scammed more often?

woman take longer to buy cars but guys actually get ripped off just as much because they get way too excited about the car and forget to think. I wouldnt say Scam, we present numbers and you(the customer has to agree to them and sign the paperwork) if you dont understand something, ask. People are not physically forced or lied in to buying a car at my dealership anyway, but they get so distracted on one part of the deal, they lose money on another part, that isnt our fault that is how and car dealership makes money and they have every right to make money, you dont go to macy's and ask for their suits for invoice.

Sounds like the ole' four square... FORGET PAYMENT people. It will take care of itself. Focus on the bottom line and interest rate.

4 square died out of our dealership 5 months ago, we use a matric proposal (pencil) now. it is a lot clearerfor the customer

But we can buy the suit online and not deal with the shady salesman at Macy's. I know this isn't your fault and you're just making a living, but we're basically getting scammed so that you can get a commission check. I don't understand why we can't just buy things for the price advertised.

I wish people did buy the car for what its advertised! STICKER IS QUICKER! but seriously its because each person is different, its a big loan and the banks have to approve you on it, they take a risk, you need someone there to facilitate what the monthly payment will be, what the interest rate it, what the car will be and other varrying factors, no 2 car deals are the same but buying a suit online is the same because you arn't applying for a huge ass loan.

I wish people did buy the car for what its advertised!

I had a very different experience when I bought my first car in the US. I went to the dealership trying to buy a car they had advertised for exactly the price they had printed in the ad. They didn't want to sell it because the ad was only there to get people into the dealership so they could be talked into buying a more expensive car. That's what the rather annoyed dealer explained to me. Seems like me believing what they wrote was somehow offensive.

At another dealer I inquired about the price via email, got told it was $x + tax. After the test drive he claimed the $x was really $y minus a $2000 discount (ok, whatever) and then proceeded to calculate the sales price as $y + sales tax - discount. He then insisted that was the same resulting price (which obviously it isn't as you end up paying sales tax on the alleged discount amount). I even told him I was an engineer before, so really there was no reason to assume I wouldn't be able to do the math.

I didn't need a loan or anything, btw - I already had a loan arranged with the credit union, and I was in the market for a new car, didn't have a car to trade-in. Should have been a rather simple transaction.

Oh and another funny one was the time when I asked what the price difference would be for the four door vs the two door version. Apparently that's a huge inconvenience to ask from a car dealer? I would figure if the price difference was not so huge it's a luxury I might afford myself, if it's big I won't, but for that I'd need to find out what the number are. I imagine if I could buy a car online I would be able to configure that and see what the configurations cost.

well yeah thats fucked up, but that doesnt happen at the dealership i work at, if you bring in a price, printe out, ad or internet, then thats the price you will get.

Popcorn at every dealership. Why always popcorn?

The is a kureg coffee machine at ours, no popcorn. no free food. free water and soda and coffee but if you stick up a conversation at the parts desk they might offer you a smoothie or bag of chips.

Do you delay people to try to make them invest time in you, so that they do a sunk cost fallacy?

Delay as in why does it take so long once you get to the numbers? honestly, car deals could be done in minutes, but you may wait an hour while your sales guy is at the desk. The purpose behind this isnt for the customer to invest time in you but they want to make the salesman feel like his customers are waiting and they might just get up and walk. So what they (the desk managers) do is create urgency so when you finally get a proposal you are like "finally!" and you run over to your customers and dont question the numbers, even if they are ridiculous, they want you to carry the proposal out with confidence and delaying the proposal and having you sit and wait while you dont know what your customers are doing or thinking is a tactic so when you do get that proposal, you are'nt even thinking about the numbers any more you just wanna go show them and try and make a deal.

I was getting a quote on trading my car in, the guy took a few pictures of it and "sent it out to some people" managers or other dealers, some shit, he'd give me a price after a while, and whenever I'd try to haggle, he would "check in" on some sort of apparent bidding war that was going on to see if he could give me more for my car, Bullshit or is this a thing?

only a thing on luxury cars, he was bullshitting you to get you back in the door.

I heard that one of the best tactics is to talk the dealer down as low as they will go, then surprise them with a "I have a trade in". Is this more successful?

yea dont mention the trade till the last minute, so they dont have time to think of how they will fuck you on it.

Being a car salesman myself for over 5 years, this AMA isn't really truthful or OP still works at a dealership where things are done in an old fashioned way, and that is the problems right there. I do appreciate the honesty about some of the things OP is discussing but honestly here's a simple break down.

Car buying is not difficult at all , all the information you need is available only and can be found in mere minutes. Most people still coming with the stereotype that car salesman are car salesman and yes it still holds true at most dealerships, management is to blame for that. And yes to everyone out there who has ever bought or plans on buying a car, it is a business like anything else you buy and yes it is our lively hood of how we feed our families and live our life so yes we are in it to make money if anyone else tells you otherwise they are liars, but if you're an honest salesman you will be more successful and have a bigger clientele , can truly say this from experience.

At my current luxury brand dealership, we don't pressure, we don't badger, we will give you and show you all the information that a customer requests including dealer invoices if they already haven't looked it up online. And we sell cars ranging from $40k-100k and our customers are happy , we are happy, and we are one of the top dealers in our territory.

Just to make a point someone mentioned something about buying suits at macys, yes those guys are the thieves, the markup on such things as clothes and furniture and what not is ridiculous and it's frustrating that people think we are the crooks, nowadays an average vehicle has about 3-4% markup and if a manufacturer is offering thousands in rebates that means they had their product priced wrong to begin with and they will make money of the few that buy it at full price or before rebates.

i agree with you, the environment at lexus is a lot more realistic than what is dealt with at toyota, you cant compare a luxury car dealership to a huge ass dealership that has cars for 480 scores.

What are the main things I need to know about a car when deciding to purchase one? whether it be brand new or 2nd or 3rd hand.

Always ask for the carfax and always check the bluebook on the vehicle if it is preowned. if you are looking for a preowned vehicle try and buy it from the dealer that actually makes the car you are trying to get (that way you can get a certified preowned). LEASING IS A GREAT OPTION ON SOME MANUFACTURERS (TOYOTA, HONDA, SUBURU) because they hold their value. Toyota can hold it value in cars because they dont mass sell to rental companies and flood the market with a lot of pre-owned vehicles. But seriously those 3 brands, leasing (depending on your credit) is a great option, you aren't obligated to a 5 year contract where you may be upside down on your trade by the time you want a new car (meaning the car is worth less than what you still owe) also with those 3 brands, you will 90% of the time have positive equity in the vehicle to use as a down payment on your next vehicle after the 3 years, or you can switch to buy and keep the same low monthly payment leases offer. The only thing bad about a lease is if you drive over 12-15k miles a year.

LEASING IS A GREAT OPTION

Even now you can't get out of character.

it really is for some people and when all the managers and sales guys are leasing their cars, then obviously its not a bad idea, in first time buy situations where you need to build credit it can be gret, not being tied down to a 5 year+ contract.

If I have to stretch financing for five+ years I can't afford that car. I would either save up for a bigger down payment or get something more affordable.

depending on the car yeah,but if its something that is going to devalue ridiculously fast,leases might be an option in those situations. Im not trying to sell you guys a car, im just giving you the information ive picked up from being a car salesman, you can take it or leave it but leases exist for a reason and some people really need to be in them.

It is always a bad idea to lease a car.

You lease if you are rich and merely want to always be renting a new car.

If you are not rich, you buy and drive the car for 10 years, saving a ton of money.

there are multiple factors that go into that but the national average of the ownership of a vehicle is 30 months, less than a lease term.

That is is really the national average, that is pretty damn sad. No way can enough people afford perpetual car payments to make that a good statistics.

people like new things.

Unless you can write off a lease why would anyone do it? You pay the price of the car plus interest then if you want to buy it out it'll cost you like 50% of the value already paid to keep it. You're basically renting a car for a grossly inflated price. Financing makes sense but for the average person, leasing is terrible

yeah leasing is terrible if its anything but the honda, toyota, suburu manufacture umbrella, and thats simply because the residual will always maintain positive equity. They hold their value. Never lease an american brand car thats for sure.

I recently got screwed out of a deal by the local Volkswagon dealer. After committing to a deal over email and phone then going in to sign the paperwork they tried to raise the price by $3500 from the agreed upon price. I got up and left very agitated. I just emailed Volskwagon the long version of this story. Do you think that there will be any recourse? Sorry for grammar late for work.

Honestly dont knoqw how VW runs things :/ but good news is you havent signed for it yet right?

Have you heard of http://www.fightingchance.com/ ? if so, what are your thoughts? If not, you can basically buy a packet of info to best arm you against car salesmen. Packet includes dealer invoice prices for the car, including all accessories, average price the car sells for, etc. Sometimes they include dealer incentives currently running.

EDIT: Also, they recommend contacting a bunch of local dealers, tell them exactly what you are looking for and giving them the "opportunity" to give the best offer. Tell them you are contacting a few dealerships, and will go with the best price. Have you seen this tactic used, and if so, did it work ?

looks like an awesome tool!

Any thoughts on using a car buying service/concierge? Will they get me a better deal than something like AAA or Costco's buying service? I'm looking for a new car and wondering if I should go this route.

Costco programs on toyota's are the best you can get, seriously if there is a costco program use it, you literally cant get a better deal, the dealer ship loses thousands on costco pricing because you get the car for just 100s of$ over invoice, it will save you thousands.

What do I do if I catch someone blatantly lying about a car.

For example, I went to one dealership, and the car I was looking at had a front bumper that was obviously in an accident. There was an impact mark on the front, and on both sides the bumper was sticking out and the clips broken.

When I asked the guy what had happened, he said the 'snow' had made the clips fall out, but it was not in an accident.

Just for shits, I asked for the keys to take it for a spin, and the damn thing wouldn't even start.

I just shook my head, threw the dealer plate on his desk and told him I was done.

I'm just not sure if it's worth it to call them on blatant lies...is there anywhere to report something like this?

email the GM of the dealership, at ours, you will get fired on the spot for something you just described.

Employees jerkin it in the cars?

employees take nice cars out and peel them around the city for fun, also a few sales guys have gone home with their customer on delivery and had sex with them.

I work as a server at a restaurant and our management stresses up selling. I'm decent at a lot of the food up sells but they also want us to sell some corporate customer rewards program thin to them as well. I was wondering if you could offer any tips on salesmanship?

And I've seen The Wolf of Wall Street, so if you're going to say cocaine, I've already decided against it.

No coke needed. i gave advice about selling in this thread already, ill link it. http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/21sxsg/iama_car_salesman_ask_me_anything_you_wanna_know/cgg8432?context=3

and

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/21sxsg/iama_car_salesman_ask_me_anything_you_wanna_know/cgg92zm?context=3

Who gets the best deals and how?

Do your homework. there are amazing deals out there but, the key is to research. there is a wealth of information online about the specific car you are looking for and where you should go and what it should be priced at, always look at KBB, print it out, also if you see another dealership in a town over offering a better deal online, print it out and bring it over to the dealer, they will always match it. number one thing is, dont let them Under allow on trade ins. you can lose so much money.

Looking at websites that list a fair market price, like Edmunds, how fair is that price usually for vehicles? If a price is thrown out below that number do dealerships still make money off of the deal?

Edmunds and kellybluebook are simply guides, how pricing is done is the dealership will search for vehicles in a 150-250 mile radius and price them accordingly, to try and match what people in the area would be willing to drive to to go get a deal. Its supply and demand. We have people fly in from all over the US to buy a car.

How many people understand terms like money factor? What % of people think they're getting a good price, then are hosed on financing?

I have Lt colonels and math teachers that cant do simple math, its fucking scary how these leaders of our schools and military dont understand taxes or credit and think they are getting a bomb deal when they just got high grossed for thousands, but seriously the people you make the most money off of are the happiest customers.

what is the most a dealer will discount on the MSRP on a new vehicle.. and how do you get there ?

Always buy at the end of the month (because the dealership is trying to hit quotas so they get incentives from the manufacturer), all the deals they advertise on tv are complete bullshit, those deals and incentives are always there, they just call them something else every month. but buy at the end of the month and in the winter, thats when the dealership is willing to take the biggest loss. The biggest winner you can get is buying lasts years model new at the beginning of the year because the dealership wants to get rid of them so they can get allocated new inventory. Again this all depends on what brand and dealership you are looking at but thats the rule of thumb, you will get your best deals in febuary at the end of the month and last years model. Also they dont change the vehicles much from year to year, so getting a 2013 rav 4 right now for 6k under msrp is great because its pretty much the same car as the 2014 since they did the body style change in 2012.

But, don't dealers have a different fiscal month? I know in most other businesses I've worked in they do.

very very slightly different, there are always incentives except on new cars that just got released within the last 2 months, but even sometimes they have incentitives too.

Two quick questions (one has a little back story):

1. My Econ professor (who was once a car salesman) told me that when there was something wrong with a car, he was trained to make it seem like a selling point. His example was that there was a car with chips in the front bumper and he told the girl buying it that it meant the car had mainly highway miles from pieces of the road flying up and scratching the car. Is this a common technique, or was my prof just an asshole?

2. What is the easiest way to call out a salesman on his/her bullshit that lets them know you aren't going to fall for any of their scamming techniques?

Thanks for your time!

every sales man is different, im open and honest, i get people to trust me before we sit down and when we do i show them the numbers and they dont question it, some people are really pushy, but the nice guys are the silent killers you gotta watch for, they are really nice and dont seem sleezy but, they dont actually give 2 fucks about you and its just a strat to sales.

How much cocaine does the average salesman do to become numb to screwing the average buyer?

ive only know a few instances where coke was done at work, a lot of them do it off work, but its enerydrink central at the car dealership.

It's March 30 -- why aren't you trying to make your #?

What do you mean? elaborate on this?

monthly quota

well im past my personal quota of 8, then bonus goes up 1% off total gross in a bonus check on the 10th every car after 8, if you get to 14 and a half then you get 800$ gross added back into every deal, and if you hit 15, you get another 3% so the difference in your bonus check from 13, to 15 cars can be 2-4 thousand $, i'm trying to hit my huge bonus level at 15 cars, i need to sell 1 car tommorow.

What made you think im not trying to hit numbers?

Can you tell instinctively a persons opinion or sway in buying a car? How do you build upon it?

So notice my proof picture, i was delivering a prius to them today, they came in fresh, they hadn't bough a car in 10 years and were not looking to buy today at all, they just wanted to research and possibly look at pre-owned vehicles, i worked with them for about 4 hours before i asked them if they wanna just look at numbers on a brand new prius (a completely different and 10k$ more car than they came looking for) and sold it to them, they could have swore on a stack of bibles they were not buying a car today and they did. You can get people to do what ever you want if you have the word tract.

Word tract?

like things to say to persuade people to do things, like by scaring them into thinking they need to buy, create scenarios that are bad if they didnt buy what you want them to buy, scare them into buying. For example if someone has a 10 year old car and the come to trade it in but the number are just a little off then, talk about what would happen if they drove off the lot and their axel fell off, make up a story about how you saw a guy leave and he called in the next day wanting to make the deal because his car broke down and we no longer could do the deal because his car was now worth shit. Scare them in to buying things that they will "need" or else. Also if its a monthly payment issue, and they are going from an SUV to a sedan, do the math with them and show them how much in gas they will save so in reality, they will be paying way less a month, or if they want a few more $ off their monthly payment, ask them if they go to starbucks or something and be like would you rather, go to starbucks everyday and not have a brand new car or have a brand new car and just go every other day, show them what they can cut back on to make the payments work! its a brand new fucking cAr! they need to be excited but yeah relate small expenses in their life that add upover the month and ask if thats more important than a band new car.

Not OP, but used to work for an auto company. The biggest job in sales was to get the customer to envision himself/herself owning that car. That's why they always want you to take a test drive asap.

This. We want you to drive the car, get you meat claws on the vehicle because once you drive it, you start falling in love and taking mental possession.

What do dealers lie about most?

vehicle pricing by far, most dealers have a seperate adendum with their own added features, to bump up gross.

Where's the best place to go to get my first used car? New driver looking for anything to drive

craigslist, private party, but do your homework.

What used cars hold up the best in your opinion?

Tacoma by far. I have seen multiple Tacos come in on trade with over 300k miles and all thats been changed is the oil, the tires and the battery. those thing dont fucking die. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk

Here's my situation, I am sure you have heard it a thousand times. Just came out of a brutal divorce. My credit is utter dog shit at the moment, think it is around 600 or so. I am paying off every credit card in my name as we speak so may help a bit. I actually NEED a car but what I want I don't NEED Ie a large luxury sedan. Here's the bit of it all. I have 20k to put down, my target veh is 54k. What are my actual chances of getting financed, and or will I be slammed with a crack head interest rate? I have always been stable, good credit around 725 or so thill about a year ago. AM I doomed? Thanks in advance....

if its over 600 you should be fine, especially with 20k down, but like ive said always ask for the incentive and if they say there isnt one, then ask them to prove it. Also ak out costco or or club pricing.

Thanks for the prompt reply. I have actually been too embarrassed to walk in to the dealership due to my credit rating. Your reply will push me over the edge. Thanks again.

no problem, what are you looking at?

Are there really microphones in the salesmans office and when he exits the room, he's really listening to you discuss the car with your wife or whoever else is with you?

No. never heard of that and i think if a dealership was caught doing that they would be fined 10k

Ex car salesman here.

What was the best deal you ever had? For example. Mine was actually my first sale. This old guy came in with a stripper (I saw the car I had just sold to the extremely pretty ditzy lady parked at the strip club right up the road) Once I landed them in a car he was just like "Get me the price and get me out of here"

No haggling, no anything, I gave him the FIRST number and he was just like, cool, lets go.

It was amazing. Never got that lucky again.

Second question - Worst experience with a customer ever? (Mine was when I was test driving someone) They never told me the tank was on empty, which I should have checked but just had them hop in the drivers seat first. Well during the test drive we ran out of gas, on a busy highway. THEN once I had someone bring us a gallon of gas, the battery died. Man was she pissed.)

Third - What kind of games do you play with the rest of the salesman? We would normally make bets on how long the new manager would last.

got a 8,100$ front end gross last weekend.

worst experience is the muts that pull your chain around and can afford squat.

It seems like you ended this AMA a while ago, but I'll see if you're still checking in...

I'm looking at either a Camry or Rav4. I'd add a touchscreen nav system and maybe a couple basic add-ons if the price is right. I live 6 miles from where I work, and maybe only put on 700 miles a month driving. I don't mind driving though, so big trips could happen 1-2 times a year that would maybe add another couple hundred miles.

Any say on which car would be better? And, what would be an ideal honest price range for me to be in?

all new ravs have back up camera's and are AWD, camerys have bigger engines and can be more luxurious so it really comes down to the weather and what you like driving and can see yourself driving, im going to sleep PM me ill try and help you out.

would it be a good deal to pay the list price for a vehicle if that included title, taxes, and lease? so if 35k sticker, 35 OTD

thats almost impossible without incentives/rebates/membership cards. but yeah getting msrp out the door is a great deal.

Do you sell any Scion vehicles as well? Also, is their true price deal really fixed as they say?

Yes, i actually bought a scion from our dealership and i got the same deal any one of the street would have got, 200$ over invoice. And i am completely happy with it.

Is there a difference in quality of car you buy from a large dealership vs a smaller dealership? (for example in my area we have Bergstrom Automotive which is huge and a place like Jabobson dealership in oshkosh which has 2 locations. Each have a ford focus I am interested in buying)

yeah the larger dealerships tent to have better and more well experienced shops but it costs more but then you have less of a chance of a lemon.

I'm about to buy a new Forrester, but I'm going to have to order it to be able To get a base model with a manual transmission. Any advice on how to haggle on the price of a car that I am ordering. I'm sure the dealer feels like they have got me Over a barrel because I obviously want the car.

yeah, hard to hagle on an order, go for low apr. did you already order it? if so when it comes in tell them you need a lower interest and they will stillmake the deal because they had to order it for a reason, (not many people want that car) so they want you to take delivery

I haven't ordered it yet and I get a great deal on financing through my insurance company so I was probably going to use them.

Seems like if I want it then I'm going to have to pay for it. The sad thing is I think the price they are asking is fair. But I know I'd be a chump to pay retail price.

Thanks for doing this AMA.

no problem, see what the dealership can offer you also, people may be pre approved for shit but there is always someone willing to beat them.

Are you in CA? Can you please let Toyota know that many non-CA residents REALLY want to buy the RAV4 EV ;)

I know they won't change their mind based on their 'current' behavior, but maybe you can be another squeaky wheel ;)

im not in CA but we dont have RAV 4 EVs either but no one has ever asked for one.

I recently bought a 2010 2-door jeep wrangler (sahara) for $25,000.....

How badly did I get ripped off?

It has: 26,833 miles, special hard top (called a "freedom top"), tow package, electric windows & locks, leather seats, remote start, remote keyless entry, slightly oversized all terrain tires, aftermarket lift/wheels spacers, media center radio (6cd/dvd changer, , body-color fender flares, 3.8 v6 engine, 4-speed automatic transmission, rear window defrost, side airbags, sentry key theft deterrent, deep tint window tinting (all windows except windshield) cruise control, infinity 7 speaker system (including subwoofer and alpine amp).

I had no trade in.

I am not a person who likes dealing with car salesmen and have bought all my previous vehicles from individuals. But I wanted something nice this time. I had my bother in law help me find/buy this one from a ford dealership that also sold a LOT of used cars. They sell used cars a bit different that a lot of dealers. They are not commissioned and the prices on their vehicles are a set price that is supposedly very low.

My brother in law had his credit union find out what amount they would loan to buy the vehicle and the price the vehicle was at was $200 over that amount. I bought the vehicle outright (with a check)... so no financing/payments were needed).

i honestly culdnt say unless i saw the deal in front of me, it seems like you got a decent deal though based on what we would sell a sahara for at that milage.

Whats the shadiest thing you have witnessed a car salesmen do?

So we have "green tags" cars marked for blowout that are marked down to get them off the lot for new inventory, a coworker had a customer come in and told him he would pull the truck up, he pulled one of the trucks with the green tag and hid it, when the guy said he wasnt ready to spend that much money, the salesman pulled out the green tag and said "this is our presidents day sale price, i could possibly get you this price right here right now,even though presidents weekend was last week"" if i could do that would you buy it".... he bought the truck.

Holy shit! Does this kind of thing happen more times than not?

no, theres always that one salesman that pulls that shit though, there is always going to be that guy, and it works and he sells cars but its sleezy and dishonest.

How long have you been a car salesman? How old were you when you started? What qualifications do you need? How many hours per week do you tend to work and what is your average income?

Sorry for all the questions, Just a bit curious!

No problem, i started when i was 22, i went into a month training program but got out on the floor after 2 and a half weeks, i have just been doing it for a few months and i clocked 143.24 hours last payperiod (15 days) its long grueling frustrating but its really fun at times, you just fuck around all day until a customer shows up, the people that make the most are the ones that dont fuck around and hit the phones and stand on point and get in front of customers. My co-worker made 17k his first month. my good friend is on track to hit about 23k this month. Me personally am at around 10k. But most guys blow out or get burnt out in the first month or 2, its long hours, you dont get time with your family, and most people just cant sell anything, i was in training with a guy, he thought he was hot shit and he knows every car in side and out, i slept through training hah. so i thought i was fucked when i got out there, that guy sold 3 cars this month and was demoted to a delivery specialist and i still dont know anything about cars but im just good with people. im about top 15% in the dealership out of 30 sales guys, and right now am holding the highest average gross, but obviously i put in a lot of time and i respect my customers, but when it gets to numbers time ill turn my hat around. Also in the last 3 months, they have lost 14 people, the turnover in the car business is ridiculous. They want to flod the floor with sales guys (not to sell more cars) but to get cars dispersed amongst multiple people because they would rather pay 3 salesguys 1000 bucks then 1 sales guy 6,000 because he was able to hit bonus.

experience wise, anyone can sell cars, half the sales people never went to school and about 80% do drugs and many were addicted to heroin or cocaine. Car sales is the job where you can make money buy having a natural talent for working with people. You either have the personality or you dont.

Thanks so much for replying. Definitely seems like a cool job! How old would you say is the youngest person you've seen working on the sales floor? I'm 19 now, almost 20, and I've been looking for a good job for a while and really just wanna make some money.

18, what city are you in, ill see if there is a dealership you should apply at in your area and tell you what to say

also http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/confessions-of-a-car-salesman.html

read that whole thing.

Thank you! I live in Jacksonville, Florida. There are tons of dealerships near me, but I don't know where to begin. Would advise that I apply at bigger, new car dealerships or perhaps smaller, used car dealerships?

Apply at bigger dealership, if you want more money, but you will also take a beating your first month while the other sales guys try and blow you out mentally, just roll with the punches and do your job.

Have you ever "lost" a deal, as in have you ever sold a car for less than it was worth (or less than somebody else may have purchased it)? Are there guidelines or templates you follow, or is it up to you what to sell, how to sell, and what the price will be?

so its you and the customer vs the desk managers, they approve the deals, you sell them. You are trying to sell a car, the customer is trying to buy the car and the desk managers are trying ot hold a profit. thats the struggle.

How much off of a dealer price/msrp can you take off?

there isnt a magic number, you need to know the car, the incentives and other variables.

Say a Mercedes/Amg CLA45, do they do discounts/haggle over the price of those?

there is always hagling, but with luxury cars, you are asking the wrong guy.

How do you sleep at night?

Why would someone who knows anything about how automobiles function walk into a dealership and buy a new car?

edit: lol

You are joking right?