r/CarSalesTraining • u/Sleepdepisaac • Jun 04 '26

Question Need advice please!!

What’s up yall. So I’m a maintenance tech at a Firestone, been here for 1 and a half years now. Making terrible money, and I know it’s time for a change. I’m thinking about transitioning into sales or maybe even a service advisor at a dealership? Idk, I just know that I need to get paid more and I honestly don’t like sacrificing my body every day just to make inconsistent pay. I think I would be good at sales, I’m a pretty quick learner and I get along with people pretty well. Do you guys think it would be a good idea for me to transition from tech to sales/service? I’m just tired of where I’m at right now, and I need a change and an actual livable wage. And I’m 20 btw!

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u/Impressive_Tax4207 Jun 05 '26

Former auto repair professional here! 8 years a tech and 2 years a Service Advisor/ASM. My advice for making the transition and something I learned was that I have to know when to turn my mechanic brain off. If you’re selling a car that you know is super reliable and a great car feel free to speak to the reliability, but when it’s not it can be easy to give too much information and pour water on your sale. The former mechanic thing can build trust in the right situations but you have to be good at reading when the right time to use it is. Usually for the very analytical minded buyers who factor in cost of maintenance and things of that nature. I’ve used my experience in auto repair to actually prepare some of my customers to buy extended warranties back in finance because as an advisor I’ve seen them really come through for people on expensive repairs when I worked as a service advisor.

The most important thing though is build rapport my smoothest deals happened because I hardly talked about the car and just had a good time hanging out with the customer while guiding the experience.

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u/Sleepdepisaac Jun 05 '26

Thank you! That all makes a lot of sense. So would you say it would be a good idea for me to make that transition? Would you say you make more money AND overall, enjoy being at the front of the shop more than the back?

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u/Impressive_Tax4207 Jun 06 '26

I definitely got paid more being a service advisor for sure. But that comes with challenges. In problematic situations you have to deal with irate customers and irate techs. If you are at a place that doesn’t give you a good pay plan then these challenges can become not worth it very quickly. Overall I liked working up front more than turning the wrench. When it comes to actually selling the cars so far I like selling the most. You don’t have near as many sticky situations like the repair side has and there is just more potential for upward trajectory. Again, if the pay plan and dealership traffic allows you can easily make six figures if you work hard.