Your Most Appalling And Bleak Stories Of Working At Car Dealerships

When I asked you yesterday why turnover in car sales was so high, I wasn’t quite prepared for the response. Hundreds of you weighed in with stories that were by turns thoughtful and, occasionally, very bleak. There’s a LOT of booze in car sales, it turns out, and enough pressure to make Glengarry Glen Ross look like a delightful work environment.

The last time I bought a car in at a dealership was in 2008, when I bought a used Saturn Ion (I know) that I ended up totaling on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway a few years later. I remember the salesman then being a bit sedate, even cold, which surprised me, since I expected a bit more attention given that, unlike I imagine a lot of people he sees, I was there to buy, not just look. But maybe he was just having a bad day; indeed, according to you guys, sales staff are constantly having bad days.

Here your most shocking stories about car sales, which include many, many bad days:

Sharks Hiding In Lots (MattDeZ)

Fuck The Customer (Manin Pub (told me so it must be true))

CarMax Might Not Be That Bad? (ShaneMorris)

More on CarMax! (Dake)

$200 Per Car Sold (kosmokenny)

Functioning And Non-Functioning Alcoholics (DannyO)

Weird Talk About Cadillacs’ Crumple Zones! (mallthus)

Quitting On Principle (bakatadi)

A Reasoned Take (As Du Volant)

The Bleakest Of Them All (Mini Mid-life Crisis, formerly Porschebago)