Whether you’re already established in your career or just starting out, an outstanding car dealer resume can make all the difference! That's why you should always make sure that yours showcases all your best skills, experience, and qualifications. But how to achieve that? 

Let our comprehensive guide be your mentor! Below, you'll find valuable writing tips, customizable templates, real-life resume samples, and plenty of examples that will help you craft a car dealer resume that stands leagues above the competition.

Location Sales Manager at Advantage-EZ Rent a Car Resume Sample

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Hired by: Advantage-EZ Rent a Car

Car Sales Representative Resume Sample

Car Sales Associate Resume Sample

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Keep on reading and learn how to: 

• Pick the right resume format
• Impress recruiters with your car dealer professional summary
• Showcase the most valuable car dealer skills on your resume
• Describe your work experience as a car dealer in a compelling way
• Outline your academic credentials in your car dealer resume 
• Pick the perfect optional sections for your car dealer resume
• Access valuable resources for job-seeking car dealers

Still looking for a job? These 100+ resources will tell you everything you need to get hired fast.

1. Pick the right resume format

The first step you need to take is choosing a resume format that best suits your professional experience. 

If you thought that the way in which you present your resume is purely a question of aesthetics, you thought wrong. Each resume format serves different purposes. Here's a quick breakdown of the three most common of them:

• Chronological resume: The chronological format is best suited for those with continuous, long-term work experience in a specialized position. The main characteristic of this format is its emphasis on the work experience section of your resume, listing all its entries in a reverse-chronological order (from the most to the least recent).  
• Functional resume: But, if you've never worked as a car dealer before (due to a career change or because you're a recent graduate) or have a significant career gap on your resume, consider opting for the functional format instead. Also known as “skills-based resume,” this format draws the recruiters’ attention away from your work experience to your skills and qualifications. 
• Hybrid resume: Finally, you can choose a format that lies somewhere in between. The hybrid format puts equal emphasis on both your experience and skills, distributing the focus of your resume more evenly.

Remember that formatting your resume also includes consistent application of appropriate fonts, professional headlines, and reader-friendly layout.

The best way to keep your formatting consistent without having to constantly think about it is by using a resume template expertly crafted by professionals.

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2. Impress recruiters with your car dealer professional summary

Even before you decide on what experience to include and where you'll want to provide a brief overview of who you are and what you do. They don't need your hobbies and interest — they want a couple of sentences on why you're suitable for the role.

It's the hook, and, by definition, it can't be boring. Creating your summary or objective could make or break your resume and determine whether the recruiter even sticks around for long enough to read the rest.

With that in mind, don't be vague and don't lull them to sleep with something like:

What makes this exampe so bad? It doesn't tell anyone anything other than bringing direct attention to the fact that the applicant hasn't done this before. You don't need experience, but when there are dozens of resumes on hand from people that do, you don't draw attention to it.

Instead, avoid pointing out the negatives and make it compelling with facts.

Why is this so much better? This could easily be the same person. However, this time they've made a point of listing achievements that the recruiter will be able to apply to car sales, even if they weren't initially achieved there. Most importantly, they've avoided any negativity and set the rest of their card dealer resume up with a positive outlook.

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3. Showcase the most valuable car dealer skills on your resume

Depending on the resume format you end up using, your skills section can be placed either before your education and work experience sections (for the functional and hybrid formats) or after them (for the chronological format). 

In any case, to be considered a well-rounded candidate for a car dealer position, you need to display a blend of both technical knowledge (hard skills) and interpersonal know-how (soft skills). 

Here's a brief explanation of what each of these terms means: 

• Hard skills: Hard skills are specific and measurable abilities that can be taught through courses or formal education. These may include language proficiencies, financial analysis tools and methodologies.  
• Soft skills: On the other hand, soft skills refer to how you carry yourself in the workplace and interact with others. 

Here are 10 examples of both hard and soft skills that can decorate every aspiring car dealer’s resume:

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4. Describe your work experience as a car dealer in a compelling way

Without a doubt, the work experience section is the part of your resume that interests potential employers the most. It's where they see how you utilize your skills and handle challenging situations in a real-life professional setting. 

A good work experience entry should follow this structure: 

• Job title
• The name of the company and the period of employment
• A list of bullet points capturing the most relevant and impressive accomplishments and results. 

An example is worth a thousand words, so let's have a look at two model work experience entries and assess their execution:

What makes this example so bad? Basically everything. For once, it’s way too short and confusing. It fails to show any achievements or results. Overall, the tone is far too colloquial for a document of this importance and the text contains a lot of irrelevant information.

What makes this example work? The job description is well-organized and easy to follow because of the use of bullet points with every new information. Similarly, using action verbs helps save space on your resume and eliminates the use of unnecessary phrases. Additionally, this example uses quantifiable data whenever possible, giving more weight to the achievements mentioned. 

Most car salespeople enter the workforce without specific prior experience as on-the-job training is often expected as standard. If you don't have specific experience, your job becomes applying what you've learned elsewhere in a way that becomes relevant.

So, if you've got a background in sales, portray it on your resume in a way that will make the recruiter sit up and pay attention. For example, if you were tasked with selling fifty of something but ended up selling 200, they'll like those numbers. Sure, if your monthly target is to sell fifty cars in a month, you'd do pretty well even to double it. However, selling abilities are a prime example of transferable skills.

5. Outline your academic credentials in your car dealer resume 

One of the best things about applying for a car dealer role is that you can adjust your resume to suit you. There are jobs out there that will exclude candidates automatically if they lack a particular credential, and often rightly so. After all, a hospital wouldn't hire a doctor that hadn't been to medical school. However, this is a role without such barriers. 

Rather than concerning yourself with what you haven't got on your resume, focus on what you have got and how it applies to the role at hand. Even a high school diploma might be enough to take you through to the interview stage, especially if you gained skills that are relevant to selling cars in the process.

All your education section entries should be as concise as possible. Besides, information, such as the name of your degree, the name of the institution, and years of study, you can also add notable acknowledgments or awards if relevant.

Just having a diploma alone indicates some degree of competence, so make sure not to skip this part of your car dealer resume!

This is one of those roles where recruiters seek to hire based on the person as much as their certificates and accolades. So if you can shape your car dealer resume in such a way that you demonstrate passion, ambition, and communication skills, you've already achieved enough to stand out.

6. Pick the perfect optional optional sections for your car dealer resume

Another way you can stand out from the other job candidates is to add optional resume sections. Ideally, you'd only choose to include them if the information it conveys showcases your strengths, experiences, and qualifications that align with the job position. 

For example, your optional sections can be dedicated to your: 

• Certifications: Adding certificates that vouch for your knowledge, skills, or expertise relevant for the job increase your value in the eyes of future employers. Becoming Certified Sales Professional (CSP), Certified Automotive Remarketer (CAR), or having Finance and Insurance (F&I) Certification makes your potential more evident. 
• Volunteering: Including a volunteering section shows a bit of your personality and your values. Remember, getting hired often hinges on your fit within the company culture. And your volunteer experience may be just the thing that sets you apart. 

7. Valuable job search resources for car dealers 

Now that you know how to craft an attention-grabbing car dealer resume, it's time to talk about the job hunt. Navigating the sea of opportunities this professional offers is by no means simple. But with the right online job search tools, even this task can be made less challenging: 

• Job boards for car dealers: You can start your job search by looking at websites that aggregate job postings specifically aimed at the automotive industry Automotive News, AutoJobs.com, and Auto Careers Group.
• General job search engines: Although broader in focus, platforms like Glassdoor, Indeed, Monster, or SimplyHired can also yield interesting results. 
• Networking: Networking is by far the most effective means of securing a place at a car dealership. That's why you definitely shouldn't overlook the many services offered by LinkedIn.
• Professional associations: Networking opportunities, training programs, job listings, and the latest industry news — all that under one roof. That's what you can access by following organizations like the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI), or the Alliance of European Car Dealers and Repairers (AECDR)
• Specialized publications: To keep up with the latest industry trends, car models, innovations, and regulations, we recommend regularly checking media like ”Car Dealer Magazine,” “AutoSuccess,” or “Motor Trend.”
• Courses & certificates: Finally, to stay on top of your game, consider expanding on your knowledge and enroll in courses provided by online learning platforms such as Coursera, edX, LinkedIn Learning, and Udemy. 

Looking for the right job opportunities can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. But keeping up your enthusiasm, dedication, and resilience is the only way you can win this race. So, gear up, prepare a persuasive car dealer resume, and go for it!