SA's make 6 figures (split)

[Hallowed_point]

If you're crazy enough to say yes to every brake/clutch fluid flush, throttle body service, injector cleaning you deserve the big bill. SA's aren't making 6 figures without it.

[killramos]

SA's make 6 figures?

[max_boost]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

SA's make 6 figures?

You wanna know how much those finance/business managers make? How about the owner? lol

[rage2]

Good luxury car sales people make $200k+. You move an S class/7 series and it's a ridiculous payday for 1 car. Depending on options, it's like 20-30k commission.

[dj_rice]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

You wanna know how much those finance/business managers make? How about the owner? lol

Good SA's easily hitting $120K.
Finance/BM's, gotta pay for their yacht, winter AMG beater somehow

[G-ZUS]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Good luxury car sales people make $200k+. You move an S class/7 series and it's a ridiculous payday for 1 car. Depending on options, it's like 20-30k commission.

[Mitsu3000gt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Good luxury car sales people make $200k+. You move an S class/7 series and it's a ridiculous payday for 1 car. Depending on options, it's like 20-30k commission.

Serious? I had no idea it was that high for the ultra-luxury segment. Most sales people I've talked to made it sound like they only make a few hundred per car or so. That made sense to me given that even high end dealers seem to be willing to hire literally anyone with zero experience or brand knowledge. I guess it's like anything where the top 1% makes most of the money.

The last MB salesperson I talked to at Downtown Mercedes had been working for 15 years as a high end German car salesman. He didn't even know a C450 existed, thought there was such thing as a C45, didn't know what transmission was in the C43, etc. Blows my mind that high-end dealerships keep people like that around who can't even answer the most basic questions for the customer. Then I hear some of them might be making $20-30K if they sell an S class, holy shit.

[max_boost]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Good SA's easily hitting $120K.
Finance/BM's, gotta pay for their yacht, winter AMG beater somehow

What about you bro? What department are you in? haha

[killramos]

I think university really is for fools...

[shakalaka]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I think university really is for fools...

Yup.

If making money is the only goal then there are many other ways to do that than going to university.

[you&me]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Good luxury car sales people make $200k+. You move an S class/7 series and it's a ridiculous payday for 1 car. Depending on options, it's like 20-30k commission.

Sure, good sales people can make $200k(+) a year, but they're not getting there $20-30k at a time

[Strider]

So are the publicly available numbers completely off base? Or is it one of those industries like Realtors where the top 10% make 90% of the cash?

[Mitsu3000gt]

^^^ Wow, that's brutal. Not to mention "most people in this job move on after 20 years"...

Those median numbers though may not be representative of a high volume luxury dealer, who knows.

[max_boost]

The Automotive managers I know make 3-4X that average. If I buy a car from them they better waive all the fees and gimme a bro deal but not a bro deal like dj_rice haha

[you&me]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

So are the publicly available numbers completely off base? Or is it one of those industries like Realtors where the top 10% make 90% of the cash?

A service advisor and finance manager aren't exactly the same as a salesman, but nonetheless... Yes, it is a lot like realtor where there are a few very successful sales people in a sea of others barely treading water. The difference in real estate is that the pay plans (commission) is fairly standard across the board, whereas in automotive sales, a good veteran sales person can get quite creative with their pay plan, including bonuses for hitting certain metrics, profit sharing, etc (those instances are few and far between though). I'm still not aware of any sales person hitting a $20-20k pay day on an S-Class or 7-Series; the profit just isn't there for that kind of commission... Once you get into the mega-exotics, new Rolls, Lambo, etc, then maybe, but even at that level, commissions like that would still be an exception rather than the norm.

Sorry for the OT... Fuck shop supplies hahaha

[rage2]

Sorry, I should be more clear in that I’m not taking about a base S class, but a V12 model. You sell a loaded S65 at MSRP which is approaching $300k, you’re walking off with $30k. At least.

If you think there aren’t any margins in this price range, wait till September next year, search in Canada for a 2018 S600 sitting in inventory, and see how much they’re willing to discount.

[ExtraSlow]

All I know is that when I was discussing a potential position with a car salsebro I know, I called $155k/yr salary "big shot money" and he was quite dismissive.

Never seen his T4 or anything but I'd guess he expects to make significantly more than that.

People talk about other industries not paying oil and gas money but it seems lots of them do.

[you&me]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Sorry, I should be more clear in that I’m not taking about a base S class, but a V12 model. You sell a loaded S65 at MSRP which is approaching $300k, you’re walking off with $30k. At least.

If you think there aren’t any margins in this price range, wait till September next year, search in Canada for a 2018 S600 sitting in inventory, and see how much they’re willing to discount.

I'm familiar with the margins. But there's a difference between gross margin and what they dealer is able (and willing) to pay in commissions. Besides, most of the money from discounts comes from holdbacks and corporate. It's not like the dealer is just sitting on a pile of profit but they wait until the end of the year to finally cut them loose.

The more generous pay plans tend to be in the 25% of net range. And yes, some top-level SAs can get a piece of hold backs (rare) and factory money (slightly less rare), if they've hit certain targets throughout the year. And that is only if those don't have to go to the client to close the deal! Think about it; even if the dealership was paying the SA 50% of GROSS, a $30k pay day on a $300,000 S65 would mean the dealer's gross margin was 20%, which could be the case with hold backs and trunk money. But then a commission like that would still require the dealership to pay their SA half of their total gross and, more importantly, it would mean they didn't have to throw all of those incentives at the buyer to close the deal. If that was the case, that the SA closed his client at full pop, then I guess he would would certainly deserve his $30k commission, but we're talking about a once-a-year-in-the-whole-country sort of scenario. It's a slightly different story at the Lambo, Rolls, Bug stores, but that's just because the figures are larger

So aside from those mega-rare cases on the full retail sales of S65s, the margins can still be decent enough that a top-level sales guy can be making sales with commissions well into the 4-digits regularly and be doing that on multiple deals a month.

[dirtsniffer]

Can confirm. In good years a relatively crappy advisor could make 90k at a German shop. I thought about doing it if I was laid off. Not sure if I would sleep well though. Much prefer business to business.

[dj_rice]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

What about you bro? What department are you in? haha

I'm on the Parts side. The poverty side of any dealership. Its always Service Dept and Finance/Sales making the big big $$ which is understandable as they do the selling to the customer but the salary gap is huge.

Finance Managers, in a high volume luxury dealer, probably $200K+ easily.
GSM $250-400?
General Manager 400-600K?

As for the $20-30K commission for selling an S-class. I'm not too sure. Possible perhaps. I just know one of our Sales Guys sold a 18 E63, customer spec'd every option. Commission was capped at $4K.

There is a ton of bonus money from the manufacturer themselves. Mercedes-Benz Canada, offers $500k-$1 million every quarter for your dealership to land in the top 10 across Canada for CSI. Do whatever it takes for happy customer surveys to come back 100%. 48 dealers fighting for that bonus every quarter.