Well I officially am done selling cars today. With the changes in management lately at my dealership, I found it was tough to keep my heart in it. Now begins the exhausting process of applying for 27 million jobs a day. Probably going to go back to being a service writer or a QA position at some sort of plant.
Good luck man.
Thanks. It was fun while it lasted but the idea of potentially owing them money was a lot of stress each month.
Keep us updated as to where you land.
Explain the owing them money thing.
yupididit said:Explain the owing them money thing.
Yes, please continue
yupididit said:Explain the owing them money thing.
It's not uncommon for car dealers to use a "draw against commission" pay plan. Basically, an employee is given an advance early in a pay period and that amount gets taken out of their commission at the end of the pay period. If your commission for the period doesn't exceed the initial draw, then you owe your employer the difference.
MF, good luck with the search. Sounds like it might be for the best!
I think the OP was a salesperson at a dealership. My place (I am in service) salespeople have to sell 8 cars a month , if the SP does not hit the mark they might be let go or have the option to buy back in.
We use the eight or the gate system.
Good luck in your search.
Damn I'd hate to sell Nissans under that system!
I spent almost 30 years in the medium and heavy duty truck market (primarily Freightliner and Ford) selling and managing sales to small fleets and individuals, made great money some years, ok money most years. Always worked on a small base salary plus commission vs draw with higher commission. That was the only way we could keep good salespeople to ride out the lean years.
Stress is high, change is constant and I finally got tired of the roller coaster last year and left. Do I miss it ? Yes, I miss the money and my customers but I sure don't miss the stress of trying to keep up with the constantly increasing demands from the OEM's. It's no different than the automotive side, profit margins continue to decrease, your constantly looking for other areas to generate profit and your real profit still lies on the parts and service side of the business. Always has, probably always will.
If I understand the original post right, all I can say is that you are supremely brave for quitting a job before you have another one.
Good luck!
Having read a few articles about selling cars, I can understand better why salesmen act the way they do. It doesn't mean I have a lot more sympathy for them, but I understand the stress they're under. I wouldn't want to do it. At least not with a typical dealership.
STM317 said:yupididit said:Explain the owing them money thing.
It's not uncommon for car dealers to use a "draw against commission" pay plan. Basically, an employee is given an advance early in a pay period and that amount gets taken out of their commission at the end of the pay period. If your commission for the period doesn't exceed the initial draw, then you owe your employer the difference.
MF, good luck with the search. Sounds like it might be for the best!
Basically this. Yes I quit before having literally anything lined up. Definitely out of the norm for me, but I felt like it was time for a change. I have an interview today at 11 for a quality control position at a manufacturing plant, as well as about 30 applications in to various companies. Hopefully one of them pans out, we shall see. Cousin Eddie you'll be the first to know if it's somewhere neat.
Best of luck! Tough move, but I sure understand.
Good on ya for getting out of car sales! Did that for 4 months 22 years ago and I'm still bitter about the experience. Hated everything about that job.
Onward and upward MazdaFace!! Better things await you!
Having the management change things to the point you could be stuck having to pay for keeping your job sounds like a good reason to quit without something lined up to me. Good luck with the job search!
Well I feel really good about today's interview. Hopefully they call back because I think it'd be a neat opportunity for a great company.
Ive quit several jobs before having another.
Theres always ways to make money before you start your next job, not all illicitly either. Ubereats isnt a bad gig here for one
Antihero said:Ive quit several jobs before having another.
Theres always ways to make money before you start your next job, not all illicitly either. Ubereats isnt a bad gig here for one
I don't think I'd make anything feeding my 135i premium running around getting 14mpg.
I take that back, I did quit one job my last semester of college. I didn't really "quit" so much as knowing that not going in on their busiest day of the year (day before Thanksgiving), would get me fired. But I was finishing a capstone project for my last class of my college career, wasn't about to mess that up!
z31maniac said:Antihero said:Ive quit several jobs before having another.
Theres always ways to make money before you start your next job, not all illicitly either. Ubereats isnt a bad gig here for one
I don't think I'd make anything feeding my 135i premium running around getting 14mpg.
I take that back, I did quit one job my last semester of college. I didn't really "quit" so much as knowing that not going in on their busiest day of the year (day before Thanksgiving), would get me fired. But I was finishing a capstone project for my last class of my college career, wasn't about to mess that up!
My explorer isnt exactly a fuel sipper and i was getting at least $17 an hour after fuel, and im not in a good area for ubereats, plenty of markets have better rates.
Of course its not exactly steady, you could work 5 min and get $16 or work 15 min and get $5 but i averaged between $17 and $25 for sitting in my car and listening to music mostly
z31maniac said:Antihero said:Ive quit several jobs before having another.
Theres always ways to make money before you start your next job, not all illicitly either. Ubereats isnt a bad gig here for one
I don't think I'd make anything feeding my 135i premium running around getting 14mpg.
I take that back, I did quit one job my last semester of college. I didn't really "quit" so much as knowing that not going in on their busiest day of the year (day before Thanksgiving), would get me fired. But I was finishing a capstone project for my last class of my college career, wasn't about to mess that up!
Always other things out there if you look hard enough.
I was very close to leaving my last job (toxic) without anything else lined up when they E36 M3canned me. That worked out as I got severance. And I had 4 interviews set up that week already. Ended up getting two offers before my severance ran out; the severance + unemployment put me ahead of where I would have been--actually way ahead since my spending went down. And, due to how my side gig fell with working and payments, I don't think that my unemployment benefit was even decreased because of it--even though it was about $500 extra cash for me.
If you were near DC I could throw your resume on a friends desk... They are looking for someone who knows cars. (paperwork, not dirty hands work)
In reply to Apexcarver :
Thanks for that. If I was out that way I absolutely would take you up on that. I'm hoping the position I interviewed for today works out. It is less money than I'd like BUT I think it's a better opportunity for a career in a position for a company I'd like working for.
Good luck man. 
MazdaFace said:Well I officially am done selling cars today. With the changes in management lately at my dealership, I found it was tough to keep my heart in it. Now begins the exhausting process of applying for 27 million jobs a day. Probably going to go back to being a service writer or a QA position at some sort of plant.
The days of applying for a job and getting one are pretty much over. Now days it’s nearly impossible to get a decent job on your own.
Headhunters seem to be the way. First you contact a few, tell them what you do and ask them what do they have for you.
I thought as a life long salesman with a great( and well documented) record of top sales I wouldn’t have any trouble. Jobs that I had the inside track to never happened. I wore out shoes and spent endless hours applying for on the internet. Never even got a squeak.
Many job with a decent paycheck attached to it would get hundreds, heck thousands of applicants for. HR was overwhelmed. They put filters in that read your resume and you had to get 27 or 49 or 206 key words right to even be considered. Then the filters included a maximum number or words. Still they’d get more people than they wanted.
That’s when they turned it over to the headhunters. 2 or three firms find the people the company wants. They take a serious part of your salary/compensation for at least 90 days maybe as long as 2 years. But they “sell” you to the guy who actually does the hiring. They have this long term relationship that without their approval you will never get the job.
Oh, once in a blue moon somebody rides an elevator with just the right guy and for 57 seconds hits all the hot buttons and gets in. But few management types are willing to stick their head out to give a stranger a job.
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