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Anautomobile salesperson is a retail salesperson who sells new or usedcars. Unlike traditional retail sales, car sales are sometimes negotiable.[1] Salesmen are employed by newcar dealerships orused car dealerships.
The price of a car, unlike many retail sales, is often negotiable. New cars will often have a factory window sticker (Monroney sticker in the US) listing equipment and options, and the suggested retail price orMSRP. The salesman is traditionally paid acommission rather than a fixed salary, usually based on a combination of profit margin and unit volume.
It is a common theme for the "used car salesman" to be portrayed as a dishonestscammer inpopular culture.[2] The used car salesmantrope is "modern culture's epitome of the sleazy, two-faced, greedy capitalist out to cheat honest people of their hard-earned money by tricking them into buying damaged or inferior goods", even though such "salespersons are engaged in a perfectly respectable endeavor that benefits millions of ordinary people".[2]
Such salesmen are often well aware of their occupation's negative public image. AsValerie Biden Owens explained, Joe Biden Sr. left automobile sales forreal estate when his sonJoe Biden Jr. was elected to theUnited States Senate in 1972, because "he didn't want a United States senator to have a used-car salesman for a dad."[3]