Car Sales Person

Employers usually require at least a high school diploma and strong work history. There is no educational program, certification or licensure required to sell cars, although some dealerships and employers may have training programs - sometimes extensive and oftentimes continuing - of their own they ask new hires to take.

The job is straightforward - sell cars. This requires a fair amount of technique, however, not all of which can be learned. The process appears to be simple - to work with a customer to find the right car model for them, and if money needs to be borrowed, work with the customer and lending agencies (whether a division of the car company or with an external service provider, like a bank) to make sure the customer can actually purchase the vehicle. Car salespersons then assist their customers with other related paperwork involved in the sale of a vehicle. Sometimes salespersons must work in teams, but often, salespeople work independently from each other and with certain customers.

Car Salespersons work in a variety of environments, to the local used car lot that only has 10 vehicles to offer to the highest quality, most expensive luxury vehicle dealership. The job often requires a lot of intense person-to-person interaction, sometimes involves a fair amount of pressure to "make the numbers", as many car salespeople often (almost always) work for commission, and a lot of time on one's feet. The physical environment can also vary, as car lots are usually located outside and the weather can vary season by season, geography by geography.

Not all car salespeople work for vehicle manufacturers of personal transportation - some work for manufacturer of large transport vehicles, like semi trucks or vans and buses, recreational vehicles, etc. Thus boat sales, truck sales, tractor sales and the like are related fields.

You must be able to read people well - this is highly important. If one doesn't have a good feel for people and buyer/seller tendencies, then one probably will not be a very successful salesperson. Another trait that seems to be important is a focus on results and completing sales. Some car sales people are bold, others are more laid back - but each does have a certain style of communicating with customers. Knowing what works effectively for oneself, however, is the key to unlocking one's own technique. For some people, the bolder approach is completely in line with their personality - and it achieves results.

For others, the bold approach is not natural, and it shows. No matter what one's style is, leveraging it for results is important. Also, car sales tends to be easier and hard with the ebb and flow of the economy. Car salespeople not only need to understand buyer/seller tendencies, but also the greater economic and cultural circumstances that surround those tendencies and how they might change or be impacted. Thus, an ability to keep on top of economic factors is important as is a thorough knowledge of one's product. It is not necessary, but is highly impactful if a car salesperson is also aware of what competing products are out on the market and how their vehicles compare in terms of performance, safety, value, fuel economy, etc.

Most car salespeople work off of commission, and as all dealerships are privately owned, there is not much hard data on how much a car salesperson "typically" makes. Commission is king, and the ability to sell cars much depends on what types of cars one is selling and whether they are in demand or a harder sell to the public, the type of buyers one is working for (higher end or more economic car companies), how skillful a salesperson one is, etc. It is our estimate that Car Sales people average $40,000-$60,000 per year and again, depending on the commission structure set by the dealership and the price and turnover of the vehicles you sell this number could be low.

Chopper Towbin of Towbin Dodge in Las Vegas has glamorized and put car dealerships on the map. Chopper hosted a TV program called King of Cars and has revolutionized vehicle marketing.

Of course without the car manufacturers there would not be car dealerships or car sales people. The larger dealerships usually concentrate on selling one or more major brands such as Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, GMC, VW, Volvo, BMW, Mercedes,Dodge, Acura, Cadillac, Honda, Pontiac and a handful of other manufacturers.

Car dealerships exist in almost every city in the US, so there does not seem to be any one city that is particularly good for car sales opportunities. However, a quick investigation does show that there are many numbers of opportunities in many cities, which is the good news.