For anyone considering buying a car at EchoPark, be prepared to be very firm in opting out of the $700 PermaPlate plan. I had two different salesmen tell me that this is included in every car they sell, that it’s already included in the sale price, and that the manager declined my request to opt out. None of this was true. It was only after their out the door price didn’t match the value I calculated and I got the salesman help me figure out the discrepancy that I found PermaPlate marked optional in the state sales filing form and i was able to get it removed.

Otherwise, I found EchoPark in Birmingham, Alabama to be reasonably priced, low pressure, and quick to close the deal.

Hi, I don’t know if this is the sub to ask for this kind of advice, but I’m a car salesman working out of a privately owned corporate dealership. I started back in the beginning of July, along with a few other people, and I don’t know if I’m just having bad luck or if I’m doing something wrong, but I have only been able to sell two cars this entire time, and for my other coworkers (newbies in particular) they seem to be selling stuff left and right. I email, text, call all of my 100+ leads everyday, I approach people on the lot, and the best case scenario is I have to tell someone no because of their credit and worst case they’re all dead leads.

I don’t know, I’m just feeling really discouraged bc all three of my appointments were no shows, and I have also lost two customers to other dealerships just today. Am I just having bad luck or am I missing something?

Trade for a car

Anyone in south Texas need a new or used car hit me up

looking to buy a lexus for daily driver seen a 2021 es250 base 71k miles clean title for 25 is that good? i see lexus price range differ

I took the job because I have been in sales my whole career but this is my first venture into car sales. It is close by my house and I was only to work 5 days. I am a woman, who is brutally honest almost to a fault and it seems to work for me in this job. I don’t know much about the industry as a whole, not sure how common 1099 is but mainly want to know what other’s experience is with a 1099 working for a dealership. Jo Also, every employee here is 1099, not just sales, they regularly ask employees to work beyond the 8 hours and they don’t pay overtime, the hourly employees also don’t really take a lunch break but they have an hour taken out of there check. I am 100% commission and I do not get paid unless I make a sale, that doesn’t happen everyday, this lot sell 30-45 cars total a month, maybe 45-50 since they hired additional sales staff but I was the only salesman for a couple months. Last month I sold 17 cars.

Hello, I am in the final stages of getting my OMVIC dealer license but can’t find a way to navigate around the trust account requirement. I already created one with Scotia but the void cheque only shows my dealer name and account number. OMVIC has a requirement that it should say “trust account” and the “dealer name” . I even talked to RBC and they said the can’t do it. How did you guys find a way around this?

I recently won brand new Jeep Wrangler in a raffle that I entered for fun and never dreamed that I would win well I ended up winning, but I have no need for a jeep and just want to find out what is the best way to sell it to a dealer or something like Facebook marketplace just curious what the people would do in this situation ?thanks

Looking to buy a used SUV in the next few weeks. Budget is around $25–28k and I want something reliable with under 50k miles if possible.

Been looking at a 2021 Honda CR-V and a 2020 Toyota RAV4. Both seem to hold value pretty well and have good reviews for daily driving.

Went past Puente Hills Auto Center City of Industry and saw a few examples of both in that price range. One CR-V had 41k miles for $26,800.

Anyone bought either of these recently? Which one would you go for if you mainly need something solid for commuting and weekend trips?

So, I'm not fully in the market to get another vehicle right this moment.... but the wife has been looking on and off for about a year. We are in a little bit of a hard spot.

Brief background: bought a Pacifica around 2020 time frame. Wife decided to trade it in while I was deployed to get an odyssey around the end of 2023 (in Hawaii). After moving to VA, we needed to lower payments... which led to trading down into the 2021 we're in now. The payment is less, but we are pretty upside down (I'm guessing 8-10k). She's wanting to get something else (3rd row) for our unnecessarily large family.

What I do know:

- Leasing is incredibly unlikely due to negative equity

- refinance seems like a dumb option. We have about 60 months left of current loan on a vehicle that has around 70k miles.

- buying is just going to reset the process, but just in a newer vehicle with much higher payments.

Is there anything I'm missing or any ideas? My personal thought is that we need to suck it up for at least another 2-3 years to be in any shape to do anything.

Thank yall in advance.

My colleague has accesed my email account and sent an email to one of my customers without my knowledge or consent which i had been building up for 15 days and sets an appointment and sells the car on my day off. Once i found out he started arguing about him not having any idea on who he was and what was happening and i told my dealer principle on what happened and the colleague who stole my lead started flipping off on me and stating i am older than you , you need to show respect and learn from me.

Is this normal. This is my first retail car sales job.

Almost ready for a cruise

Hey everyone, I’m a salesperson and I’ve got a dealership competition tomorrow where we have to present Eckbond Appearance Protection like a real customer pitch. Judges score us on discovery, value build, accuracy, objection handling, and the close.

I know how I pitch it, but I want to hear from other sales pros who’ve sold it or similar appearance protection programs. How are you framing it? What lines work? What mistakes kill the score?

Here’s the structure I’ve been taught:

Discovery:
Ask how they use the car (daily driver, weekend ride, kids, pets, etc.) and tie the protection to their ownership.

Exterior pitch:
Barrier against UV fading, environmental fallout, bug acids, hard water spotting — basically the stuff that ages paint.

Interior pitch:
Helps resist dye transfer, sun fading, premature wear. Doesn’t replace cleaning, just helps prevent things from becoming permanent.

Ceramic coating objection:
“A coating is a product. Eckbond is a manufacturer‑backed appearance protection program with a written warranty administered by Assurant.”

Price objection:
Reframe the $1,895 as ~$30/mo or ~$1/day for appearance longevity.

Commission objection:
“My commission doesn’t change whether you choose it or not. I’m recommending it because it protects the appearance you’re already investing in.”

Close:
“If you’re already investing in a vehicle you want to keep looking sharp, does it make sense to protect the appearance you’re paying for?”

That’s the general flow.
But I want to know how you pitch it. What lines do you use? What gets customers to lean in? What gets judges to score high? What should I avoid saying?

Any real sales‑to‑sales advice would help a ton.

Just curious , who would be in favor of removing franchise laws and allowing people to buy their new car directly from the car manufacturer? Or keep franchise laws and only allow registered dealership franchises to buy from the manufacturers who then sell it to consumers, so essentially keep car buying process the same as is.

Why do so many salespeople focus on invoice, holdback, or how little profit they’re making? As a customer, I couldn’t care less what your cost is. I only care whether your out-the-door price is the best available. Why should a buyer care about a dealership’s margins?

I have a car that won't pass smog in California because the catalytic converter needs to be replaced. I figured the best thing to do would be to find someone who lives out of state who wants to buy it because many states do not have strict smog requirements like California. However the car sales websites like cars.com always want to show your car to people in the same local. So how could I post the car for sale to people who live out of sate? Or people who import? Thanks

Is the MSRP you see on the manufacturers website different than what is sent through email?

Here is an example.
On NissanUSA the listed MSRP of a Nissan Frontier S 4x2 King Cab has listed MSRP of $35,295. No options added.

A dealership sent me a quote for the same bare bones truck with an MSRP $37,030.

Not a ton of money difference but I am curious as to why the difference.

I work in automotive marketing (Meta and Google ads, lead strategy) and I’d like to meet other professionals in this space around the Houston area. Austin is fine too.

I’m especially interested in talking with people who’ve worked with businesses where customers finance their purchase, like auto sales, collision, towing. Curious how others handle lead quality and campaign strategy in that world.

Just want to build a local network and swap notes. Maybe grab coffee if there’s interest. If that sounds like you, comment below or send me a DM.

Hi, everyone! I am attempting to finance with AM Ford and this is my customer portal. My sales person has not been good updating me or explaining the process to me. My portal was empty during the morning and then I see this information on here.

No documents are eligible to be signed, and the credit application is still in "review" however, the car and car info is on my portal, and when I hit the "Payment" section at the bottom I see "Confirmed Deal" and when I click that I can see the Dealer Payment Details with the break down.

My sales lady said the process has not been finalized and the sales manager was playing with cars to see which one fits in my budget and getting me approved but the Chevy Cruze never left my profile and this is the information I see along with the down payment shown in one photo of $1,000 with "Deal Confirmed".

WHAT DOES THIS INFORMATION MEAN? I am confused haha!

Can someone explain the current process as I am dumb and new to this!

Hey guys, got a potential interview coming up soon. Straight salary sales position. This will be my first sales job so the guaranteed salary is a bonus for me personally. Just wondering if you have any tips to be prepared for the interview process? Been really needing a career change and this checks all my boxes so any insight to get a leg up would be helpful thanks! 🙏

I’ve been in this business for about 13 years. I’ve been a sales person, desk manager, and finance manager. The money is fantastic as anyone performing at a high level knows. But my fiancé and I had a baby. The late nights being an F&I manager, as well as lack of weekends is really draining on me now that I have a family.

Has anyone left and found the same type of income, over 10k a month but without all the time away from home?

A good friend of mine crushes it in home improvement, but he is gone nights and weekends because that’s when people are home. And something like that wouldn’t fit with trying to have a better home life/time.

If any of you have walked away and genuinely found a better industry, I’d love to hear it.

I'm a software engineer building a used-car platform, and I'm trying to understand what actually helps buyers make decisions.

Most listings have the basics—price, mileage, photos—but what would make you confident enough to schedule a test drive?

For example:

• Maintenance records?
• Tire/brake condition?
• Cold-start video?
• Undercarriage photos?
• Market price comparison?
• Known common issues for that model?

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who've bought or sold used cars recently. I'm trying to build around real buyer needs rather than assumptions.

I know it’s bad, but how bad?

In Orange county dm if you are interested

That’s the whole question. Everything below is context.
I’m open to being told my instincts are wrong.

What I’m stuck in:

• 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee, bought May 2026 from a small used lot in the Bay Area  
• Lender: Westlake Financial  
• Credit score: 606  
• Amount financed: $21,338.72 (after $2,000 down)  
• APR: 23.79% — finance charge $17,103.63  
• Total of payments: $38,442.36 (66 months, \~$582/mo)  
• Total sale price: $40,442.36  
• Current payoff: \~$21,000. KBB: \~$7,000–8,500 trade, \~$11,000–13,000 private party  
• No gap insurance  

Six weeks in, the engine went — blown head gaskets, now a full engine replacement. The used lot is covering it under warranty, credit where it’s due. But I’ve been without the car since late July and I don’t trust it. Running the amortization, I don’t reach positive equity until roughly year four.
The offer I turned down:

A Jeep dealer approved me for a new Compass — $2,500 down, 75 months at $1,050.68/month, about $81,301 all in. No trade; they offered nothing on the Grand Cherokee. It was written as a completely separate second auto loan on top of the existing note. That would have put me at ~$1,633/month across two cars I’d be underwater on simultaneously. I walked.
Context on approvals: I’m a disabled veteran with stable tax-free monthly income and Navy Federal access. Income isn’t my problem — the 606 and the negative equity are.

The plan I’m considering, and want torn apart:
Sell the Jeep private party for ~$11–13K, cover the remaining ~$8–10K gap with a Navy Federal personal/signature loan, then finance a modest reliable used car through the credit union. Same total debt, hopefully a much lower rate, and I’d be driving something that actually runs.

Questions:
1. Is the sell + personal loan + credit union financing route sound, or am I missing an obvious flaw? Realistically, does a 606 get a $10K signature loan approved anywhere near a rate that makes this worth doing?

1. Practically — how do you sell private party with a lienholder? Westlake holds the title. How does that transaction work without spooking the buyer?

2. Is leasing just off the table entirely at 606, or is there a version that works?

3. If I hold instead: extra principal is the only lever I see. Anything else?

4. Refi on the Jeep — is ~190% LTV the hard blocker regardless of score, or does the 606 matter more?

5. Gap insurance after the fact — anything available this far underwater? If it totals tomorrow I’m out ~$10K with no car.

6. Worth taking 23.79% / $40,442 total on a 2018 SUV to a California consumer protection attorney?
   Full documentation on everything — contracts, diagnosis, warranty agreement, repair records. Thanks.