My husband decided upon a career change. He went and applied at a local new car dealership (ad in paper). Well he passed the intial interview and the man told him they had 3 days of training. Yesterday was day 1 and he came home last night and said he has to pay 549$ by Friday for tuition. We don't know how many they are hiring. I have heard from different people that car sales make big money. The man (this is a company hired by the dealership to train) said that after you are employed 3 months the dealership your at reimburses you. Has anyone any knowledge of this topic? Any advice? That's just a lot of $$ to pay if this "job" doesn't pan out.
Im not sure if it's a scam or not, but I personally have'nt heard of having to pay for training? In fact most companies actually pay you to train. JUST BE CAREFUL. Thanks
I know some companies pay for certain training on the intent you will be w/ the company for a certain amount of time. I took some classes to work at a hospital and I had to sign a contract that I would work there a year to pay for the training or else they would prorate when I quit and take that money out of my last paycheck. I am scared about this and my husband is too. He is supposed to get lifetime placement assistance, a trainin manual, 3 days of training, and a diploma. 549$ is still alot of money. A friend of ours also applied there and his brother-in-law works at a different dealership. He told Carl to get on because it was really good money. He also had to pay tutition but upfront (500) but that it was well worth it. I am still reluctant because they have not said exactly how many openings there are, but there are 30 people in his class. Well, maybe not since he dropped the 549$ bomb yesterday.
If he wants to be in Automobile Sales he should go elsewhere - almost all dealerships that hire new salespersons without experience offer training for free. I would not affiliate with any dealer that expects a new hire to pay for their own training.
My first impression is that paying for the tuition is a bad idea. But I'm thinking you should find out who is providing this training that they want tuition for. If it's some outside school, then that's at least some meager evidence that this might be legit. But if they want $549 tuition for somebody at the dealership to train him, then I think it's a bag of dookie. Car dealerships already run a bunch of scams to pad their take. I can just imagine "Thanks for the tuition. You're fired." It reminds me of the scene from "The Grifters" where John Cusak seeks con-artist training. His mentor-to-be says "Ok, give me $20" Mentor-guy folds the offering into his lapel and says "Come back tomorrow, I'll take you again." Come to think of it, I can't imagine anyone concerned about consumer rights could devote themselves to the predatory profession of car salesman. -ingenue
My husband wants to go into this "field" because we heard it makes good money. He is too honest for his own good sometimes so I am worried about him!hehe. This is supposed to be an individual company that dealerships hire to train salesman. I found a website w/similiar wording to what my husband was talking about last night. www.conoverautosalestraining.com I did learn something new...salesman make 25% commission on sales. So if you buy a 10,000 car they get 250. most cars sale for 20,000 so they make 500 a shot.
Did not actually do the math....swore he said 25%, but he did say 250 Ill ask him again this evening something is wrong with that calculation!!!
I wouldn't advise it. Like the U.S. 5% of the people make 95% of the wealth. The rest have to fight over the 5%, and unless your husband is that good/lucky to be in the top 5%, he's looking at making McDonalds money. I worked for Toyota as a car salesman for about 9 months. Your situation may be different since I live in Dallas and there's 12 Toyota dealerships within a 60 mile range. Most of the dealerships will give 25% of the profits to the salesman with a minimum of $50-$100 per car. However, my best month I sold 11 1/2 cars and barely made $1500 that month. If you divide that by the number of hours I had to work I barely made over minimum wage. And 90% of the time the dealers tried to skim you out of your profits. I can't count how many times I had to challenge the dealership for claiming they didn't make any money on the sales when I knew they did. In other words, I would have sold a car at $1,000 profit. Which means at 25% I would have earned $250. When I got my slip, it states I've made the minimum $50. I then challenge it, pull the records out, then find out that the deal ended up making $600, which should have gotten me $150. Now I have to bring it to the manager's attention and listen to them explain it as "an honest mistake" - when I quit Toyota for good they held out on $350 in bonus money. I asked Toyota Motor division in Houston about it and was denied. Chalked it up to a life lesson. Dealers also have the "House rat" - that one person who the boss will "hand" deals to. Everyone else has to cold-call and fight for sales. The HR just sits at his desk and makes the $$$. If your husband wants to get into sales, he would be best to look at other areas, car salesmen last an average of 90 days before splitting (Hence, why they gave you the three month deal). Just an opinion of someone who's worked in that business. Hope it didn't scare you too much... GT
Do not pay for car sales training! A reputable dealer will always be willing to train a greenpea (new dude or dudette) for free. Have him call a couple of local dealers and talk to the salespeople that work there. Thats how you find a good dealer. I have 20 sales reps and our bottom guys make 50k and the top make 130k. Just like any business there are good companies to work for and bad. Most sales reps get paid 25% of the profits (not gross) If you paid 20k for a car and the dealer paid 19k the profit is 1k. 25% of 1k=250. commission. It can be a great career for the right person. All of our reps make more $ than they ever had before. They work really hard and get a lot of rejection (objections) along with the job.
Thanks for clearing me guys. I assumed they made 25% of the gross. I was going to quit my job as an accountant and become a car saleswoman, but since they only make 25% of the profit I guess I'll hold on to my job. I wouldn't make a good salesperson anyway. Dani
are you a car salesman too????? Did you have to take classes or have knowledge of classes??? This company said that this perticular cardealership would not hire w/o this class. It's a nissan/daewoo dealership. My husband just called and paid them the tuition (he thinks its a good idea) and had to sign a paper stating this did not guarantee him a job. But that they would set up interviews. I think he has heard from people about the money so now he wants to pursue this. It's just scary paying out this money when your looking for a job. The class had 30 in it yesterday. Only 15 today.
Are you mad @ me LAT? Just trying to direct your fella to a good dealer. Yes, I was a car salesman for 10 years. Nissan, Ford and now Chrysler. I now train, hire and help run a dealership. We send all of our reps to paid training often. But we pay for it. Just like any good company (Do you think IBM makes their people pay for training?) We all work as a team and help the new guys cause we were all there once. I hope this new opportunity works for your hubby.
Sorry if I came across rude or mad. I am not mad. I'm just anxious about this whole darn situation. I really hope it works out? I just don't want this to be a sham, especially now since he's paid the money. I know you can talk to many people in the same profession, and some hate it, others love it. I just have never heard of paying tuition and then "maybe"getting a job. Like you said, I worked for a hospital and they paid for classes. I was obligated to work there for a year to pay for the classes, but I knew I had a job when they were done. This whole concept is new, so I have like a million questions and I appreciate (really!!) your input. Thank You
I could just see MC DONALDS, BURGER KING, TARGET, and K-MART charging $250.00 or even $100.00 for a "JOB TRAINING CLASS"... AT WAL*MART ALL TRAINEES ARE "ON" PAYROLL FOR ORIENTATION AND ALL TRAINING...EVEN FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF PAPERWORK.
I can tell you that we pay our new hires at Target, for orientation and training, even if they don't work out. I can also tell you, as a former McDonalds manager, that they pay their new hires for orientation and training, even if they don't work out. You may want to call your State Attorney General's office and see if that is legal. I remember being a security guard for $4/hour and getting paid for training, and orientation.
