Working as a Ferrari sales person?

I've known several and most sold other cars. Actually, selling cars is really technical with a lot of paperwork.

 

True dat

 

I have a better idea for you. Work your way up into being a Lexus salesman. You'll make more money in December than a Ferrari guy will all year. You can then buy all the Ferraris you want.

Dale

 

Being a Ferrari Salesman is quite easy. Sit at your desk on the computer and either ignore all customers, insult them, or yell at them to not touch the cars.

 

I was very good friends with the GM of a Ferrari dealership...and not just the sales dept. The owner and he used to get into fights all the time when it came to paying out commissions to the sales staff especially on new car sales. The owner felt that Ferrari's sell themselves... people who want to own these cars buy them and salesmanship has very little to do with moving new product. Commissions were cut to the bone and most of their top sales staff moved on.

 

I thought about it when I was in high school but figured I'd rather own them than sell them. Hopefully I can make that happen eventually.

 

+1

 

I have a bad feeling that Lexus does not have those factory funded December to Remember leasing events in South Africa as they do in the U.S. Thus, I'm not so sure Lexus will be so great to sell over there. For some reason I feel like cars outside the U.S. are not factory leased so they may be harder to sell.

Selling Ferrari's can be cool but you will deal with a lot of unreasonable and irrational jerks and those with big egos. That can get old quickly. In the end I think unless you really want to work with Ferrari's all day you can make more money selling other types of new and used cars.

 

You don't want to go into car sales. Repeat -- you do not want to be in car sales.

The business has changed greatly over the last decade. It is very hard for any car salesman to make good money, as it is very hard for many car dealerships to make good money. Not only do I know many dealership owners, but my best friend left being a car salesman a few months ago. I also know plenty of guys who have been in and out of dealership management, and they all say the same thing.

Essentially, the dealerships that make great money are those that have been in the same ownership since the 1960s and 1970s. The newer dealerships don't have enough cash on hand to buy cars, so they are tied to financing -- sometimes at very bad deals...or they cannot get financing when they need it. Also, the manufacturers have placed so many requirements on dealers that dealerships are constantly spending money on plant and equipment to keep up. Mercedes, for instance, is requiring all dealerships to have a standard look and size, which means many, including our local Merc dealer were required to choose between building new or totally changing existing. About $5-8 million later, there's a new Mercedes dealership here. How many S550s does one have to sell to break even on that?

Since the dealers are having a tough time, that means the compensation structure for salesmen has changed greatly. The idea of the salesman making a big commission is pretty dead, for the most part. Words like "mini" are the norm now. If my buddy sold a used S60 at the Volvo dealership, he generally made...wait for it...$200. He could make as little as $50 for a sale. When another salesmen helped either with paperwork or arranging something, the salesmen split the sale. When my buddy sold 10 cars in a month, he was the top salesman. You do the math. Most car salesmen earn what is basically minimum wage. The good guys can make $40K per year in this climate. The best guys can make six figures, but those guys are a)the ones who find a way to never split a sale (meaning they screw their co-workers with a smile) and b)would make twice as much in a more lucrative sales field.

7318 new Ferraris were sold last year. There are 200 Ferrari dealers across the globe. That means the average dealer sells just under 37 new F-cars each year. (And really, certain dealers sell a lot more than others.) If there are four salesmen in each dealership, they sell just over nine new cars per year. To make enough to buy a used 360, a salesman would have to make over $10,000 per car. Not going to happen, because as we know, Ferrari SPA makes more on logo swag than on cars. The dealers sell more used than new, but still, you get the idea.

Just food for thought.

 

Bingo.

Sell to the classes, eat with the masses.

Sell to the masses, eat with the classes.

-F

 

This is sure how our local dealer did business 8 years ago....the last time I could stomach going in there after multiple missed appointments.

 

Sorry, I didn't catch the SA reference. I haven't a clue how things work down there.

True. Places like Texas Direct are, and will continue to be, game changers. I talked to the principals of Texas Direct when they were first starting up, and they set out to prove that cars could be sold over the Internet, and they succeeded. Last I heard, they were moving 50,000 cars a month with 100% of them on floorplan.

Ah, the Germans. Unfortunately for them, there is a limited supply of newly minted 1%'ers who are willing to piss their money away.

This is why I brought up Lexus. They have an unbelievably loyal customer base who turn in their cars every two years or so. I sometimes think there are more RXs on the road than anything else. (Disclosure: I have an RX.) But it works. I have a buddy who sold 38 brand new cars last December. His previous record was 32 the year before.

Most of the newer dealerships are eye candy for a multi-line owner. The older stand alone dealers generally pay their their rent with service. The only saving grace for new car sales is that they are already sold before hitting the ground. Used car sales are all consignment. I'm not aware of any place that has four full-time salesmen. One or two is more like it. I'm gonna guess that the good ones make about $100k a year, or less, depending on the year. And, yes, they do work. Selling a Ferrari takes a lot of handholding.

Dale

[/QUOTE]

 

I hear this a lot. But what about the dealerships right of first refusal? Isn't that how "A list" clients get the most sought after new cars? Wouldn't that put the used car ownership back to the dealer?

I don't know the in's & outs of Ferrari dealerships, but always thought this was the norm.


Joe

 

No. Simple math will show that this is not possible.

 

If you want to drive other people's exotics, start a detailing business. People just throw you the keys.

I've driven more Ferrari's than my salesman has.

 

From my experience having gotten into and out of the car business this is great advice. With the internet and the free flow of information cars are now basically a commodity and the days of huge commissions are all but gone.

This is just great business advice in general.

 

There is no legal "right of first refusal." However, many "Friends of the Dealer" trade in their current Ferrari for a new one. But the dealer does not buy the used Ferrari. It is either sold to another customer or to a wholeseller.

Sorry, meant 5,000

Dale

 

I think the first thing you have to look at is I you want to go into sales. Sales is not easy... It takes determination, insight and patience - what ever you are selling. I looked into this earlier this year as an exit from technology into something I love. It didn't work out but I did find that there are bright people in the business and they have to work very hard. There are also those who are not so reputable and have a poor track record with the public. Research the dealers in your area and go cheek it out. They are not going to come looking for you. Also remember that you are not going to work to drive these cars - they are for the people who buy them, not you. You do get to meet very interesting people and tough people. Loving the cars doesn't mean you are good at selling them but if you have the guts go for it. Don't count on people walking through the front door - you have to go find them and close the deal to be great.

 

I think you have to look at your skillset and see if you are suited to sales, nevermind selling Ferraris. Second you really need to know your stuff! I bet you would get to meet some insanely rich people in that line of work!

 

Okay, doesn't seem like anyone has any actual experience so here goes..

I used to a work at a Ferrari & Maserati dealership/workshop. Didn't work with sales but you get to know everybody when the entire place had sub-20 employees. Sellers these days still can make a lot of money, it does sound like some of you really don't know to many car dealers.

If you want to get invited to lot's of exclusive parties, get rich friends, dress in only the finest from top to bottom then F-sales is for you. Okay everbody doesn't get rich but my ex-GM has a $1m+ Koenigsegg CCXR. Other salesguy is not even 30, he's had an M5, 997, etc. Even the mechanics where I worked had nice cars. Techart 996, tuned A5 3.0, M6, 360(!!) etc.

Clients are demanding and you do get a few weirdos in... But you've got to be a good salesguy (no s***) but also be adaptable. You've got to team up with the prospective buyer. And you're never off duty, late nights are more usual than not, and you've absolutely got to be available on the phone 24/7. From roughly 9am to 8pm, you'd be lucky to be able to talk with one of the salesman for 10 minutes without their phone ringing. It's hard work, because the customer experience demands more of the seller. Often people expect too much from a dealer, forgetting that the people who work there are human beings and not robots shipped out from Maranello. I've seen that on this forum, let's say someone who dents their car and weeks later claim it was transport damage. Typical thing.

I can't go into detail concering the economics but I once overheard a discussion of a commision sale and the GM said he took rougly $8,500 for the sale of a used 430 Scud. A big thing these days is finance on the cars and loan. Remember the dealer get's a bonus from the bank/finance company for each loan they register on a car. A few dealerships with bad economics will cheat with this and resell a car multiple times with a lot of financing on it, often to partners and close friends. This so that they get their commision from the bank, quick cash and highly illegal.

But the only way these dealerships make enough money is down to a few things

A) they are owned by a big franchise which sells ordinary cars (or other forms of business) which keeps them afloat

B) the workshop goes like warm bread (very rare these days)

C) when Porsche and Maserati bring in models like the Panamera, Cayenne, Ghibli and new QP which are relatively easy to sell in larger quantities. (Not unusual)

D) they actually sell enough sportscars (again this is down to very few companies worldwide, even big dealerships in the US, UK and Germany are normally owned by a bigger company which makes it's majority of profit elsewhere)

If anyone has any further questions or would like me to go into further detail on anything please let me know.

 

The previous post is laughable. I'm a finance director for a major auto group. Happy to help y'all out if you have questions, but there's simply too much regulation for anything not above board to happen in any transaction as large as these tend to be. People glamorize car dealerships as something more than buying something for x and selling it for x+y. Of course there's profit, and of course upper level executives in large companies make good money. No different than your industries. PM for further info as necessary or for a group rate on service contracts (warranties) . Not a plug just an offer to help out fellow enthusiasts.


Jesse

 

this made me lol

 

Or, you could startup your own small high-end dealership, which is what I recently did. (not going into details, because I'm not a sponsor on FC. Yet.)

However, don't underestimate the work. I've only been in business for a couple of months, and even before I could open the doors, it was a ton of work and time to get a dealer license. Then, don't just think you get to go buy lots of fun cars and drive them around. Sure, it's that, but you have to have the capital to get going. Plus, you'll be putting work and money into them. Then, it's listing cars, and getting all of that initially setup. Oh, and all of the other stuff to get a business started.

Once you've got the cars for sale, the real work begins: selling them. Believe the 24/7 talk; that's what it is, unless you don't want to sell.

Don't get me wrong; I'm having the time of my life. Doing this has always been my dream. However, it's definitely very hard work.