Saw a billboard of a guy in Houston that sold 37 vehicles in 1 month.

Any of yall know someone thats a top guy at their dealership and know what kind of money do they make?

Just wondering.

About $60k or so

I would think it's higher than that

RIP Bill Paxton

Curious about this myself.

Dealership parameters probably matter, too. The top guy at Lamborghini Dallas is probably pulling in more than the top guy at Southwest Kia.

Plus the overhead of two packs a day and bulk hair products like dippity doo

tandy miller said:

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I would think it's higher than that

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It is. It's feast or famine most of the time. The top ones I know are pulling in over $200k a year.

That sounds more like it. But that's probably the top .5%

I knew a guy that was making $80k back in 1989 selling Mazdas in college station.

So I have no doubt a car guy in Dallas/Houston could make $200-300k. But most are probably lucky to make $30k

Corn Pop said:

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tandy miller said:

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I would think it's higher than that

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It is. It's feast or famine most of the time. The top ones I know are pulling in over $200k a year.

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So sad. How are they able to make ends meet with that pittance.

Im sure Im oversimplifying it, but it seems pretty easy to sell cars. Most people that walk into the dealership are probably ready to buy a car that day. Show them a few cars, dont be pushy, negotiate a bit, then sell it. Profit?

ea1060 said:

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Im sure Im oversimplifying it, but it seems pretty easy to sell cars. Most people that walk into the dealership are probably ready to buy a car that day. Show them a few cars, dont be pushy, negotiate a bit, then sell it. Profit?

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I feel like you're overly estimating the people skills and intelligence of your average car salesman.

ea1060 said:

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Im sure Im oversimplifying it, but it seems pretty easy to sell cars. Most people that walk into the dealership are probably ready to buy a car that day. Show them a few cars, dont be pushy, negotiate a bit, then sell it. Profit?

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Are we talking new car dealerships only, or used car lots?

ea1060 said:

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Im sure Im oversimplifying it, but it seems pretty easy to sell cars. Most people that walk into the dealership are probably ready to buy a car that day. Show them a few cars, dont be pushy, negotiate a bit, then sell it. Profit?

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My son used to work for Honda Financial, and there is no shortage of dumbasses out there who are willing to pay stupid money to get the car they're jonesing for. All they care about is the monthly payment, even if it's getting financed for a decade.

ea1060 said:

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Im sure Im oversimplifying it, but it seems pretty easy to sell cars. Most people that walk into the dealership are probably ready to buy a car that day. Show them a few cars, dont be pushy, negotiate a bit, then sell it. Profit?

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Sure, that's how you make $30k a year selling a car. If you want to make $200k, you have to squeeze every available dollar out of the mark. When someone comes in requesting a black car, you know that you can probably get about 10% more than if they don't care about color. If someone has a monthly payment in mind, you know you can charge them 17% interest or price above MSRP with an 8-year loan. Upselling the nitrogen in the tires, scotch guard, and overpriced window tinting, extended warranty and vehicle tracking also get you from $30k to $200k. Undervaluing the trade also makes you money. And you never give a good deal when a person doesn't currently have an alternative. If a friend drove them to the dealership because their uninsured car was totaled, you have all the power and start negotiating well above MSRP.

agnerd said:

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ea1060 said:

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Im sure Im oversimplifying it, but it seems pretty easy to sell cars. Most people that walk into the dealership are probably ready to buy a car that day. Show them a few cars, dont be pushy, negotiate a bit, then sell it. Profit?

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Sure, that's how you make $30k a year selling a car. If you want to make $200k, you have to squeeze every available dollar out of the mark. When someone comes in requesting a black car, you know that you can probably get about 10% more than if they don't care about color. If someone has a monthly payment in mind, you know you can charge them 17% interest or price above MSRP with an 8-year loan. Upselling the nitrogen in the tires, scotch guard, and overpriced window tinting, extended warranty and vehicle tracking also get you from $30k to $200k. Undervaluing the trade also makes you money. And you never give a good deal when a person doesn't currently have an alternative. If a friend drove them to the dealership because their uninsured car was totaled, you have all the power and start negotiating well above MSRP.

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Sounds like you have some experience with this

ea1060 said:

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agnerd said:

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ea1060 said:

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Im sure Im oversimplifying it, but it seems pretty easy to sell cars. Most people that walk into the dealership are probably ready to buy a car that day. Show them a few cars, dont be pushy, negotiate a bit, then sell it. Profit?

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Sure, that's how you make $30k a year selling a car. If you want to make $200k, you have to squeeze every available dollar out of the mark. When someone comes in requesting a black car, you know that you can probably get about 10% more than if they don't care about color. If someone has a monthly payment in mind, you know you can charge them 17% interest or price above MSRP with an 8-year loan. Upselling the nitrogen in the tires, scotch guard, and overpriced window tinting, extended warranty and vehicle tracking also get you from $30k to $200k. Undervaluing the trade also makes you money. And you never give a good deal when a person doesn't currently have an alternative. If a friend drove them to the dealership because their uninsured car was totaled, you have all the power and start negotiating well above MSRP.

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Sounds like you have some experience with this

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He's right, though. I made enough selling cars to buy my first house and then ditched the car business before my soul died. The top guy at our dealership probably made $150-200k in sales, plus a boatload more in bonuses from the manufacturer.

Gilligan said:

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RIP Bill Paxton

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Damn, forgot he passed for a split second.

depends on location and what kind of dealer, too.

Somebody slinging mitsubishis at a buy here pay here is probably making like 15 bucks an hour, vs someone who works at a boutique exotic dealer who has a waitlist to get a new Ferrari 488 Speciale could make substantially more.

Hell look at Ed Bolian, dude made a living out of being a "shrewd negotiator" in car deals and was the head of sales for Lamborghini Atlanta.

My understanding is the guys who make bank at any dealership are the finance guys.

ea1060 said:

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Im sure Im oversimplifying it, but it seems pretty easy to sell cars. Most people that walk into the dealership are probably ready to buy a car that day. Show them a few cars, dont be pushy, negotiate a bit, then sell it. Profit?

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I walked away from one dealership when I really needed a new car because the salesman was pushy.

The last time I went to look at a new vehicle, I didn't buy it, but the salesman (a former US Marine) was so pleasant to deal with that if I decided I need a new Ford vehicle, I'd prefer to buy it from him.

All I know is you get the best deals by emailing every dealership that may have a car you might be interested in, giving them ultimatums and having them bid against each other. If they attempt to negotiate, just tell them "you must not want to sell me a car today."

TecRecAg said:

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Curious about this myself.

Dealership parameters probably matter, too. The top guy at Lamborghini Dallas is probably pulling in more than the top guy at Southwest Kia.

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Have you seen what new Kias go for now? I'm guessing the top Kia guy is doing pretty well.

wbt5845 said:

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My understanding is the guys who make bank at any dealership are the finance guys.

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After market and F&I do much better than the sales team.

superunknown said:

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All I know is you get the best deals by emailing every dealership that may have a car you might be interested in, giving them ultimatums and having them bid against each other. If they attempt to negotiate, just tell them "you must not want to sell me a car today."

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At a company I worked at 30 years ago, the president of the company did something like that, but by fax. He faxed a description of what we wanted, a Chevy Blazer, to every Chevrolet dealer in the Houston area and picked the best price.

I have a friend who's one of the top salesmen at his dealership and he makes over 100K.

agnerd said:

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ea1060 said:

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Im sure Im oversimplifying it, but it seems pretty easy to sell cars. Most people that walk into the dealership are probably ready to buy a car that day. Show them a few cars, dont be pushy, negotiate a bit, then sell it. Profit?

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Sure, that's how you make $30k a year selling a car. If you want to make $200k, you have to squeeze every available dollar out of the mark. When someone comes in requesting a black car, you know that you can probably get about 10% more than if they don't care about color. If someone has a monthly payment in mind, you know you can charge them 17% interest or price above MSRP with an 8-year loan. Upselling the nitrogen in the tires, scotch guard, and overpriced window tinting, extended warranty and vehicle tracking also get you from $30k to $200k. Undervaluing the trade also makes you money. And you never give a good deal when a person doesn't currently have an alternative. If a friend drove them to the dealership because their uninsured car was totaled, you have all the power and start negotiating well above MSRP.

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I thought the thread was about salespeople. Nearly every tactic you list is something the salesperson has nothing to do with. Used car manager values the trade, sales manager makes that trade offer and prices the car you're purchasing, F&I office sells all the add-ons you mention and brokers the loan terms.

There's money to be made selling cars but all that stuff has little to do with the actual car salesman.

Worked with a sales guy once that swore he was making 180k in the "car business" before giving it up to build pipelines.

Never believed him bc I doubt he was making 150k doing pipeline work at the time.

I am a vendor in the car business, with over 10 years of in-store experience before I went the vendor route. It is absolutely not uncommon for car salesmen to make over $100k. This isn't the 80's. Most my stores which are "average" in size, the normal sales staff is making $50-80k a year. Good sales people are making $80-120k and the top are above that.

Finance and upper management is definitely where the money is as most stores have pay plans, again depending on size/market of the store, that puts their pay somewhere in the $150,000 at bottom tier and around $300,000 at top tier.

I never pay for the extra nitrogen, paint protection, lug nuts whatever. Usually they say those are non negotiable items and when you say you don't want them and to take it off they get confused. I bought my wife's car and the extras (N2, paint protection, and locking lug nut) we're like 2200 extra. I told the guy I'm not paying extra for N2 when it's 78% of what we're breathing right now, I have no idea if you even put the protectant on, and I can go get a locking lug nut for $30 at autozone. They took it off and apparently I still drove off w extra special nitrogen filled tires.

All I can add is I never knew how dumb people could be until a finance scenario mentioned in this thread was shared with me. Had a client that owned (at the time) the largest used car sales company in Houston. Whenever the financing stuff came up the buyers would always have the option of 12, 24, or 26 payments a year……..a lot of them would pick 26 because it was the lowest payment……however they would get pissed off when that inevitable month rolled around where they had 3 payments.

They were incapable of doing math and realizing there would be 3 payments due in 2 out of 12 months of the year.

ea1060 said:

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Im sure Im oversimplifying it, but it seems pretty easy to sell cars. Most people that walk into the dealership are probably ready to buy a car that day. Show them a few cars, dont be pushy, negotiate a bit, then sell it. Profit?

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Larry David thought so too.

Knaack said:

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Saw a billboard of a guy in Houston that sold 37 vehicles in 1 month.

Any of yall know someone thats a top guy at their dealership and know what kind of money do they make?

Just wondering.

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In my previous response I didn't respond to your exact question, but the top guy (that I'm aware of) in my area (East Texas) sells 40-70 cars per month and makes $250k+ a year. This year is an anomaly but I believe he's on track to make $350k this year. He works at a non high-line Japanese brand Franchise.

Most car salesmen make 40-60k a year

Every dealership has a top dog, that guy is making 150k+ After that they all have 3-4 guys who perform well every month. Rest of the salesguys are just guys.

Salesmen don't make more by hammering the buyers, they make more by selling a bunch of units

Salesmen don't make more by selling Lamborghinis, those stores have the one guy who has been there for 20 years and is making a bunch, the rest don't sell anything. Walkins don't buy Lambos.

Finance guys average 80-90k, top ones make 150k ish. They do better on average but sales boys can make more. Finance guys don't make nearly the money they used to make as banks don't allow them to hammer the customers on rate anymore

Buy here pay here people make as much as nice dealerships, sometimes more. Nice buy here pay here lots crush it selling $300 payments to people with bad credit. They just put a lowjack on the car and repo it if the payments fail.

Traveling salesguys make bank but they are in a different city every weekend. Their job is a festival of booze, coke, and crack.

New car sales Mgr makes pretty good money, usually 150k range
Used car sales Mgr makes more than new car as profit is better
GSM usually makes 200-400k


You can make money selling cars, but the problem is you have to be there all the time. Those top dog salesguys have been there from opening to closing bell every day the store is open for 15+ years. They start every month knowing they will sell 10-20 units just off repeat customers. I know a guy selling subarus in Knoxville who has been there every monday through saturday for over 20 years. Never missed a day. On Sundays when the store is closed he walks around the parking lot and hands out biz cards. Every Sunday for 15+ years, never misses one. Pretends he is "doing inventory work" and people come up to him. He makes 250k plus a year. He would go to the lot on Christmas and thanksgiving afternoon to catch the people walking off a big meal. He is probably dead now, but why would he care, he never lived anyway.