what do car salesmen make on a car sale?

Stanton Valdivia: Each dealer has their own pay plan. MSRP and INVOICE have nothing to do with it, so the first two answers here, are basically not an answer at all. On a new car, car dealerships hardly make any money. On used cars, they have to sell the car quickly in order for their profit to stay high.A dealer I used to work for was 30% of the GROSS profit on the car, was what we were paid, and there was a minimum of $250 per new car, and $150 per used car. That sounds like a lot, but when you're selling a new car that is so heavily discounted, the dealer loses money to sell it, or only make $400-500, you're actually better off getting your $250 minimum. On used, where a car might have $2000 profit in it, you can make $600 or so on some cars. People have a misconception that dealers make tons of money on new cars, and used cars are a steal. In all honesty, most dealers lose money on new cars, and make money on used cars - if they do it right.Some dealers that ar! e "one price" or "non-negotiable" on their pricing, they have a pay plan based on the number of cars they sell. This is what my dealership does. As a salesman, I get paid a flat-fee per car that I sell, and then there is a bonus scale at the end of the month based on the number of cars I sell. So, I dont care if I sell a $3000 beater that some kid buys, or a $40000 SUV, it makes no difference. If we have a car that we're losing $1000 to sell because we've had it on the lot for 8 months, I dont care. A car is a car, and it's just another checkmark on the board for my pay.Lets say I get $250 per car, and I sell 15 cars. That's $3,750 in commission, plus 15 cars gets me another $1,000 bonus. We get some bonuses for financing, warranties, etc, but that's maybe $30-$70 per car. So if I sold 15 cars, I'd expect to make around $6000-6500 depending on how the bonsues work out that month.Believe me, unless you're REALLY good at this....it's actually not as lucritive of a job! as many people think it is....Show more

Anibal Katayama! : we basically make money by getting the customer to paying close to the msrp, then by the sells we make we get a portion