| Author | Message | ||
| Nebula Class (Nebulaclass)
Member Username: Nebulaclass Post Number: 458 Registered: 11-2002 |
Well, I could have made (probably) double at the F-car store than what I did at the Kia store. I liked it for the first few months, but the novelty wore off and it got old. I soon found that selling F-cars ain't as fun as I thought, and it takes a LOOOOONG time to build a clientele. Soon, I was unhappy with my decision to give up the GSM position, but in the end, it all worked out. I realized, after selling to wealthy doctors and lawyers, that I could make condsiderably more with a law degree, so I quit and went to school! Much happier now, and soon I'll be buying vs. selling... | ||
| Amir (Amir)
New member Username: Amir Post Number: 49 Registered: 2-2003 |
Nebula, you left that job to sell F-cars? Doesn't that pay a lot less? Are you happier? | ||
| Nebula Class (Nebulaclass)
Member Username: Nebulaclass Post Number: 457 Registered: 11-2002 |
I was the GSM, so I was paid a percentage of every sale the store made. I only had 8 sales people, 6 of which made OK money (2k month), but two of those bastards made BIG MONEY. | ||
| Jordan Witherspoon (Jordan747_400)
Intermediate Member Username: Jordan747_400 Post Number: 1934 Registered: 12-2002 |
Jesus is commision that much for a Kia car salesman? I need to do that over the summer! | ||
| Nebula Class (Nebulaclass)
Member Username: Nebulaclass Post Number: 455 Registered: 11-2002 |
How 'bout that! What a coincidence.... But I don't blame him. Kia is a great franchise to own. All you need is the inventory and a great list of F credit lenders. We were the last stop for everyone - about 90% of our customers had been turned down EVERYWHERE, and were hoping Kia could do something. As we had a FANTASTIC Special Finance Dept, we could get just about everyone bought (with the right typing), and the customers were willing to spend whatever to get it done. We could mark the cars up by 2k (as long as they had 2k+ to put down), and the customers could notcomplain because they either paid the money or drove nothing. We cleaned up. And helped customers rebuild their car credit. I had many a good month there (sometimes clearing 10 - 14k) on only 60 cars, which is low for regular cars. | ||
| '75 308 GT4 (Peter)
Advanced Member Username: Peter Post Number: 3095 Registered: 12-2000 |
Nebula: "Here's my advice: Buy a Kia dealership..." Maybe that's what Brian Jessel's big plan is... Since he's got one now!  (For those that don't know the story, the Vancouver Ferrari dealer - Brian Jessel Sports Cars - recently shut-down and is now a Kia dealership) | ||
| Nebula Class (Nebulaclass)
Member Username: Nebulaclass Post Number: 448 Registered: 11-2002 |
Here's my advice: Buy a Kia dealership. I left a GSM position at a *tiny* Kia store in Victorville, Ca, in order to sell F-Cars. @ 60 units/month, the dealership made $120k/month on car sales profit ALONE. Now, about 30% of that went to costs (commisions, rent, payroll, etc), the owner still netted about $75k PER MONTH. And he bought the store for $600k! Add to that parts, service, and WARRANTY WORK (which dealers LOVE), and the owner brought home a pretty penny. Amazing, but true. Of course, that was three years ago, and the cost of a Kia franchise has increase from about $300k to $1mil, but still, not a bad return on investment. Let's to THAT, and then buy a bunch of play F-cars with the profits! | ||
| Ben Cannon (Artherd)
Member Username: Artherd Post Number: 864 Registered: 6-2002 |
KDS brings up a great point, the manufactuars know what they are doing, and have taken steps to prevent this. Besides, if we can hardly buy Rob a set of slicks for the F-chat Challenge car, how teh HELL are we going to come up with teh $ for a dealership? Now, an F-chat owned dealership, that sells at MSRP and plays ball and all, would be doable. But not really all that neat (with the possible exception of service discounts for F-chatters or some cool events and the like.) I'm going to stick to drooling over the cars, maybe one-day offering a few choice accessories to other owners. I'm split however on the whole buisness-vs-pleasure thing. I do what I *LOVE* for work. (make movies, play with computers, build home theaters, persue the art of HiFi loudspeakers, bunches of fun ••••.) *I* love it! But almost everyone I've ever hired cannot hack it for some reason. I honestly don't know what that reason is, the only commonality I've noticed is they're actually happier doing something they hate (or at least don't love...) f-ing insane if you ask me, but.. My wiring is a little different, I would expense that sailboat, and even start working on a CF mast using the same machines and leverageing my investment in militart composites. I'd have a blast at it too, I love that kind of crafty sneaky •••• that gets more result/fun/sweetness out of what I'm given. Best! Ben. | ||
| Kds (Kds)
Junior Member Username: Kds Post Number: 181 Registered: 5-2003 |
And you'd pay the bills how ??? FWIW manufacturers watch gross profit margins on sales as well....and they limit or take away allocations if you do not sell the cars for what they think you should be. I know that you can cry all you want...fair play....etc....etc....so go ahead and sue them when you have a few million tied up in a building and no stock to sell because you gave the barn away. How deep "are" your pockets anyways ? IF we discounted "ANY" AMG cars for example, Mercedes would reduce our allocation accordingly and give us hell...same goes for the "600" V-12 models. Discount an SL500 with a 3 year waiting list ??? Heh....watch your list become a 6 year wait all of a sudden. | ||
| Nebula Class (Nebulaclass)
Member Username: Nebulaclass Post Number: 446 Registered: 11-2002 |
It's not fun. Ferrari buyers grind like the rest of them. And you get a lot of timewasters who want to pretend like they have the money to buy, but really don't. And you get a lot of really polite lookie-loos who can't buy, but are interesting in seeing the cars. It's not fun. Trust me. I used to do it. And the cars really begin to loose their novelty. Like when you want to take a buyer on a test drive and EVERY DAMN F-CAR on the lot has a dead battery. It's not fun. It's hard to make money doing it, and be prepared to pay FNA in excess of $30mil in order to run a new dealership. | ||
| rob guess (Beast)
Member Username: Beast Post Number: 335 Registered: 5-2003 |
I will have to agree with Dale about mixing Business with pleasure. I worked for a motorcycle dealership in Albuquerque NM. on the weekend i would make the 2 hour trip to the lake and forget work. I was offered a job at a new dealership at the lake and moved there full time. Upon getting there and getting settled down i no longer enjoyed going out onto the water. Instead i ploped down infront of the TV and put on weight. I was tired of working on other peoples piles to the point that i never wanted to work on mine. I instead took up flying radio controled aircraft. Once i move to Phoenix i began to enjoy going out on the water again. | ||
| Crawford White (Crawford)
Junior Member Username: Crawford Post Number: 148 Registered: 3-2003 |
I sell guitars for a living. A lot of my friends have the passion for vintage guitars like I have for Ferraris. The passion for guitars has waned a lot for me over the 15 years I've been in business. I am very happy that Ferraris are an avocation and not vocation. I'd hate to have to be thinking about floor plans, customers, and moving inventory.... | ||
| Thomas I (Wax)
Member Username: Wax Post Number: 280 Registered: 7-2003 |
Very good points about Business or Pleasure. I'd like to see the opinion of another F-Chatter whose input also isn't taken lightly - Martin. | ||
| Dale W Spradling (Drtax)
Member Username: Drtax Post Number: 384 Registered: 4-2003 |
For new Ferraris - NFW... For a used car dealership, well, it's not as simple as it seems. Each state has funky laws, as Auto Nation found out. But the big problem is insurance. For even a small dealership, liability insurance can run $20k, if you can get it, which in Texas currently you can't. How do I know all this? Well, I have been working on forming a boutique dealership to take advantage of the tax laws and to minimize the sales tax bite on those of us who love to flip cars. But I gotta tell you, getting into the car bidness is a great way of ruining a good thing. It's one thing to buy & sell & drive & bs about cars. Having to make money on them is an all together different deal. Plus, dealing with all the flakes out there... remember the story about the dealer in North Carolina who got a 328 stolen in a test drive? Do you stil want to get into the car bidness? One story, then I gotta run. In another life, far, far, away, I worked for the IRS. In one case, I had to audit a very successful attorney. The first time I walked into his office I saw sailing stuff everywhere. There where pictures of his boat, plaques, trohpies, you name it. I started drooling because I was sure that he written all this stuff off on his tax return as a business expense. The first words out of his mouth were, "You will not find it." Whatca mean, I won't find it," I replied, "What are you talking about?" The guy smiled and said, "The sailboat." Of course, by now, he had my dander up because I though he was saying that he had hidden his sailboat writeoffs so well that I would never find them. "And, do you know why you will not find any deductions for my sailboat," he continued? "Simple, because I never write any thing off that has to do with my boat. When I'm on that boat, the last thing that I think is bidness. That boat is me. Being on that boat keeps me sane. Besides my family, it is the main reason that I put up with all this crap." Point is to be careful before you mix business and fun. You can end up killing a good thing. Dale | ||
| JRV (Jrvall)
Intermediate Member Username: Jrvall Post Number: 2413 Registered: 11-2002 |
>>There is a cost of doing business and it is not cheap. << You got that right.....not many people want to ackowledge that part of the equation. | ||
| G. Green (Mr_green)
Member Username: Mr_green Post Number: 282 Registered: 8-2003 |
If you got the dough you can do whatever you want. | ||
| Bart Duesler (The_bart)
Member Username: The_bart Post Number: 344 Registered: 1-2003 |
There is a cost of doing business and it is not cheap. Do you like a clean dealership? Pay the janitor. Like mechanics. Pay them whether or not there are any cars to fix. Like to see cars on the dealership�s floor? Pay for the flooring (interest). Of course, the government must have their cut. Maybe we could have an e-bay type of shop. No employees, no cars, no cost. Nay, that is no fun. | ||
| Jim E (Jimpo1)
Advanced Member Username: Jimpo1 Post Number: 2543 Registered: 7-2001 |
We could start a USED dealership and sell whatever we wanted. | ||
| djmonk (Davem)
Member Username: Davem Post Number: 413 Registered: 1-2002 |
Let me be the first to say no. Sorry to be a bummer. | ||
| George Ascherl (Georgef360f1)
New member Username: Georgef360f1 Post Number: 23 Registered: 8-2002 |
I know this sounds childish, but could we as a group start our own dealership so we wouldnt have to pay the mark-ups? |