I get that the dealerships and manufactures are making good money right now, but are the client advisors themselves making decent money?
With less cars to sell, I am guessing you wouldn’t need as many, or they are all fighting each other for the sale. Doesn’t seem to be a great time for them, unless I am missing something.
Their pay plans have likely shifted from volume to gross, so many are doing fine.
I haven’t heard of any dealer doing this
I have only one data point but the place I just got my car from had about 350 new and used (mostly used) on the lot. Finance guy said they normally have around 600. The salesman I worked with said that they have been very busy.
Why would they (the salespeople) be fighting each other for a sale if demand likely hugely outstrips supply?
Supply is low, customers are chasing the same car. I am guessing they are going to want their customer to buy it before the other sales guys customer gets it.
Anyone on a gross payplan is making more than ever with less work. Great time to be in business.
I’m still not really following you.
The buyer will be chasing the dealer/salesperson.
If hypothetical buyer doesn’t want the car, the salesperson presumably has lots of other potential buyers who will need to pay the same price that was offered previously b/c no dealers are offering huge discounts (generally speaking).
OTOH, if the buyer doesn’t chase the dealer, the buyer could potentially wind up w/ no car at all or a car that is only offered at a markup.
In this scenario I am assuming each sales guy works on commission, if he doesn’t make the sale, and the other sales guy does, he doesn’t get paid.
If each sales guy has a customer chasing the same car, they would be trying as hard as they can to get their customer the car first.
This is all assuming that supply is so short that every sale matters.
You are lumping the sales people and dealer as one person. And it has been a race to sell cars before others do. I have personally had 2-3 cars sold from under me this month since the other sales person’s client was able to be there an hour or two earlier.
Thanks for the clarification.
To get back to the OP’s more original question, is your income (or the income of your sales colleagues) relatively unchanged?
Some are doing well and others are struggling this month. But overall, I would say we are down compared to normal since there are very few cars to sell right now and we have a volume pay plan. Everything is moving, but when you normally have 100 new and 75 used cars in stock and are down to 5 new and 20 used, there is only so much you can make when there are 7 others trying to do the same job with limited product.
Lost a TRD PRO deal by one hour yesterday 
Owners are notorious for changing comp plans all the time… to screw over their rank-n-file salespeople
I see. So the dealers are generally doing great, but their employees may not be. ::sigh:: 
It is a mixed bag all around. If a dealer is selling half as many cars as normal, they might be missing out on factory bonuses and don’t forget about service. Every new car gets PDI’d (that can range from $100 to $1000 per car depending on brand and shop rate) plus all the trade-ins that get run through for before sale.
manufactures pay dealers for PDI?
Some do and if they don’t then sales does and it is charged to the profit in the car. Service doesn’t work for free.
Depends on the dealership, I have many friends locally struggling b/c they don’t have any new or used cars. We have not had any issues since we been lucky with new and used inventory. Gross has been great as well.
I know of two that just repaid their student loans, if that says anything.