Working in a dealership

Yeah don't even get me going on them.....especially US Fidelis. How these companies operate is beyond me.

 

As of March 10, I will have been in the business for 48 LOOOOOOOOOOOONG years. I have done everything from new car get ready to service manager, to owing my own shop, and managing for others. For the last 13 years I have taught auto mechanics at a prison here in Ca. What a refreshing change! I was driving home one day and was surprised at how relaxed I was. And then it came to me, no problem cars, no whining customers (yes I have had many great ones too), no worrying about parts coming in for a hot job,no dealing with the dealer principal, no college boy factory reps that "know everything", no stressing out from work done by a marginal mechanic, just relaxed teaching. One advantage of prison life is when you have a student that WILL NOT cooperate, one call to the guards and they gaff him up and away he goes for a while. There weer lots of customers during my time I wish we could have done that to. But, it helped me build lots of hot rods and eat well.

 

I am 46 years old, and have been in the business for most of my life.
Started out pushing a broom around my family's Chrysler/Plymouth dealership when I was in grade school in the early 70's.
I started washing cars and doing oil changes when I was a Freshman in high school.
Worked my way up to being a fully certified tech by my Senior year in high school.
Went to college to get an engineering degree. While in school my family acquired a Ford dealership.
Got out of college and went to work for Dresser Industries and Caterpilar for a couple of years...not my cup of tea...ended up in the family business for the next 20 years.
Our family sold our dealership a few years ago.
I am now a sales manager with the largest dealer group in our area.
The economy is killing my paycheck....but I still Love what I do.

 

I'm 62 this May and have been an Owner/General manager of a VW dealership for 16 years, 1974 to 1990 then General Sales Manager for a Buick Pontiac store for 17 years. The last two years I've been partnered in a used car store and as of May 18th I will be offically retired. I wouldn't trade my years for anything, I learned alot and was always able to have a place to work on projects and had a nice shop available to me. The connections I've made and the friends I've made, well you can't put a price on that. No regrets.

 

Haven't gotten the opportunity to work in a dealership, and kind of glad I haven't. Worked for allot of independent shops though and its the same kind of hustle PLUS you have to deal with getting them to pay you. I am now independent or contract only and will never work under another company name again in the automotive industry. I also work part time doing other less stressful shit when money gets tight.

 

I worked for a local VW dealer for the first eight years of my trade, 1968 thru 1976. Wasn't too bad a deal. From the owner on down it was a decent place to work. I went to a private shop til 1990. The owner sold the shop to a real asshole. I left and went to work for the local Mercedes Benz dealer. I managed to last there for only about 6 months then I couldn't take it anymore. It was the worst place I ever worked! It cured me from auto dealerships for good. Went back to the VW shop (original owner had repossesed it) for a couple of years. For the last 17 years, I have worked for a local city. Much better! Though, it sometimes gets hectic and the work can be very heavy, I have liked it. Now, I'm semi retired and work there part time.

 

Working on 10 years now started in sales and made a ton of money but no time off ever went over to body shop as an estimator and now a service manager at a high end preowned shop. Making a lot less now but at least I am home at night. We are still busy but I know others are not. Being in Dallas TX helps a lot right now.

 

I have been out on my own just over a year buying/selling classics but worked the last 7 years at a classic car lot that specialized in Corvettes. It's all about the cars. I feel fortunate to make a living doing what I would have done anyway.

 

First month in sales after 26 years working outside delivery. Great dealership and I get to be inside. Money can be very good, ambition is everything.

And I am always warm. Did it for me.

Cosmo

 

Pre '80s, domestic dealerships were interesting places, given the types of cars the Big 4 were making. That all seemed to die out in the '80s when everything went front drive and minivan.

I wonder what engine that Capri had, 2.3, 2.8 V6 or 5.0? And what was it being raced against? Not a Rabbit I hope!



GM classic V8s

 

Now I work at a Cadillac,Hummer,Saab,Subaru service dept as an advisor. I was aService manager for Galpin Mazda before this. Galpin was the best place for me because they did'nt keep me on A short leash. The owners son is into cars , he owns a Big Daddy roth car The orbitron

 

Worked as a new car prep /used car detailer for a small town Chrysler Plymouth Dodge dealer in 70-71. Fun for a while, especially when I got to jockey around 340 Dusters, 383 Roadrunners and 440 6 Barrel Challengers right off the truck.

Pay sucked (minimum wage, probably$1.10/hr) & it was a small shop, so I didn't get many hours, but that was ok since I was in school for my BSME at the time.

Finally left when I accidentally dropped the rear engine plate for the owners Chrysler powered inboard down the sewer pit (sump drain) while cleaning parts for an engine rebuild.

He wanted me to reach into the effluent pit with my bare hand, but I knew he would piss into the pit daily. He'd look around to see if there were customers in the shop then wizz away down the drain into the pit /oil separator.

I decided cholera wasn't in my future so I left & concentrated on my engineering classes. NFW was I putting my hand in there after he pissed in the hole.

Laughs on him as he's dead (his son still runs the dealership) and I ended up with an engineering degree and a 35 year career doing Advanced Engine Development, retiring in an executive position for a $15 billion / yr engine manufacturer.

Sort of glad I had butterfingers in 1971.

 

i worked for las vegas B.M.W.(motorcycle tech) for a bit it was the only big time dealler i have ever worked for also at a few small little motorcycle shops small shops deffently better to work for but money is way nicer at the big dealers

 

My Dad sold cars as a sideline for a few years, so that is probably where I got my initial interest. I worked at a few dealerships as a teenager, doing everything from shagging parts, to detail, to service writer-in-training. Worked first at a small-town Chevy-Pontiac store, then for my dad, then a Buick dealer, a Chrysler-Plymouth-FIAT dealer (talk about prophetic!), and lastly, another Chevy store. Probably five years total, as a kid. Haven't done that to earn a living in over thirty years.

 

tech, ford dealer. 20 years.

 

10 years with Ford... Thank God! You would be surprised how many people trade in their Chevy's & Dodge's because they are pissed off about the bail-out money that was accepted by Bowtie & Ram! We are on track to have a record-breaking Feb and have been doing that for months now. I started out writing service but am now a Pre-delivery manager. Still not what I want to do when I grow up... but pays the bills for now! Go Ford!!! Go H.A.M.B.!!!!

 

I suppose in the medium term those Hummer & Saab brands will be out of the equation. Not the first time the squeeze has been put on dealers. I saw in the news how some ex Chrylser dealers are going to court over their dealerships being unfairly pre-empted and not restarted with the economic recovery, even though they were profitable at closure.



Pontiac V8 Rules!

 

2 years selling Hondas. I need a job

 

i hear ya brother!did the same...

 

Did 15 years as a service tech at a ford dealer. I got out in 2005. Business still seems slow at the dealers from what I hear, and the independents have more business than they can handle.

 

Parts dept at Randy Wise Chevy. Been ther 6 yrs. I like it. Even converted some other employees to old cars.

 

spent 20 minutes at a Caddy dealership. I walked on the lot looking for a job. Saw a guy checking out Seville and figured "what the hell" sell him the car, and bingo bango, I'll get the job. I sell him, bring him inside, sit him down and go looking for the manager. I find the guy, tell him I have a Caddy sold. He wants to know who I am, so I tell him, "I'm your new salesman." He looks me up and down, then tells me they don't do things that way, and I would have to 'properly' apply. Told him to kiss my ass and took the customer across the street to the Lincoln dealership. Guy at Lincoln didn't miss a beat. He shook everybodies hand and helped me fill out the paperwork. Paperwork I took across the street and showed the asshole at Cadillac later that day.

 

Back in the summer of '84 I worked a Luby Chevrolet in Lakewood, Colorado as car shag.

Not exciting work but we did drive some interesting iron.

The most interesting pieces we ever saw were-
-The first TPI unit in a Camaro Mule
and
-a dual V6 Engined Celebrity

It was standard practice for GM to shuttle pre-production vehicles in the harsh Rocky Mountain climate.

 

GM.. Cadillac , Hummer to be specific.

 

I did front end work in Pontiac dealerships in Waco, Tx and the in Yakima, Wa in the early and mid 70's when it was almost fun. I worked on and test drove a lot of interesting cars in that time frame including some damned fast Trans Ams. I got out of it while the getting was good though.

 

Been a tech with Vw and Audi for 9 years. wow that went quick. I love working on cars and hate all the other bs. the pay is not great. Wish I had gone to school or was born with another great skill. but it's all I know so it's what I do. the economy sucks and is making it much harder to survive. I hope when It picks up so do my pay checks.

Eric

 

i work at the Dodge and Ford Dealer here in St Helens. been slow but fun so far. i used to work at a BMW/MINI dealer in Portland for 5 years but found out management are a bunch of Di^%s and moved closer to home.

 

You hear all the old great stories about speed shops like Yenko and Mr Norm Grand Spalding. I wonder if it was really that great working at places like that?

 

4 days out of the Air Force, to a Ford dealership part department in the early 70s. Worked my way up and thru several different small Michigan dealerships till I was Parts Manager.

Left it in '84 - not because I didn't like the work - but the pay sucked unless you worked 24-7. That, and by then getting more and more into emissions and digital stuff made it a lot less enjoyable. The muscle car days had to be the best, I caught the tail-end of it but there were still a lot of 'em on the road. Good thing about those times was when somebody'd come in and you could actually work with 'em to 'hop up' their car with still-available factory speed hang-on parts.

 

I do bodywork at a nissan, honda and kia dealership. It pays the bills but not much fun