Working for a car dealership?

[lyonsroar]

Has anyone worked for a car dealership taking the pictures of the cars for eBay and web advertising? There's a job opening for just that where I live that I'm considering applying for...

Just wondering if anyone's done it before? Impressions? Money? I'm workin for minimum wage now so there is quite a bit of room for improvement in that last department!

Thanks.

 

[subscuck]

Having just spent a lot of time looking on line after my kid totalled his car, you ain't gotta be no pro. I can't see there being a lot of hours either. It may be doable as a second part time job. But I could be wrong, or at least mistaken...

 

[lyonsroar]

Would a car dealership be willing to pay more for better pictures of the cars? There seems to be some debate online about this. Some seem to think that a dealer just needs a photo, any photo, and that will do, but others seem to think that the better the photo, the easier the car will be to sell for good money...IDK...

 

[photocist]

Why dont you email or call them?

 

[subscuck]

In my quest to find a decent car for my kid I noticed the following:

1) Only "Internet Specials" are on-line. In both pre-owned and new, that's a small number of their total inventory.

2) How many pics of each car varied widely from dealership to dealership.

3) The web sites are only updated once a week.

4) As already stated, you don't have to take pro quality shots. It really doesn't matter how nice the shot is, they're small, low res images.

All of those lead me to believe that in all likelihood, it doesn't pay much, and won't require very many hours of work per week.

 

[Ginu]

I would definitely apply and see where it goes. Think about the experience you can get and perhaps equipment

Something like this can easily be done part time on the weekends for some extra cash

 

[mrpink]

We hired a professional photographer at our dealership for our internet sales. Took an old showroom and turned it into a "studio"

Here are the web examples of the photos he takes....

Beechmont Toyota - View All Used Toyota Inventory Online

To answer your question, yes, car dealerships are pouring tons of money into internet sales. One of the main parts of that is the photography. If you have even minor skills it could be a good job for you. Pay is not great at all, but this may just be the cheapness of our dealership, others may be willing to pay more. They should buy you a camera, tripod, and get a pro lighting company to set up your lights.

Any other questions, feel free to ask.





p!nK

 

[mrpink]

Something like this can easily be done part time on the weekends for some extra cash

For a very small dealership, yes. For a larger dealership (with deeper pockets) it is a full time job just trying to keep up.







p!nK

 

[lyonsroar]

Why dont you email or call them?

I am doing so, but I wanted to get some opinions from someone who has done this before...

We hired a professional photographer at our dealership for our internet sales. Took an old showroom and turned it into a "studio"

Here are the web examples of the photos he takes....

Beechmont Toyota - View All Used Toyota Inventory Online

To answer your question, yes, car dealerships are pouring tons of money into internet sales. One of the main parts of that is the photography. If you have even minor skills it could be a good job for you. Pay is not great at all, but this may just be the cheapness of our dealership, others may be willing to pay more. They should buy you a camera, tripod, and get a pro lighting company to set up your lights.

Any other questions, feel free to ask.





p!nK

Wow! that would be amazing if they bought me a camera and had lighting set up for me...
I have a line in the email telling them what gear I have, should I delete that?

EDIT: looking at the dealers website it looks like they have a similar setup to the one you linked too...empty showroom, white walls. Also noticed that the photos are woefully underexposed...

 

[Bo4key]

I work for a car dealer, and I can tell you it's all about dollars and cents. As long as the picture shows the vehicle, they aren't going to care about composition, etc. Any smart dealership is not going to pay extra for "better" pictures for online or newspaper adds. The only time I can see paying for better photos is for a brochure or something, but most of those are provided by the manufacturer anyways.

 

[lyonsroar]

I work for a car dealer, and I can tell you it's all about dollars and cents. As long as the picture shows the vehicle, they aren't going to care about composition, etc. Any smart dealership is not going to pay extra for "better" pictures for online or newspaper adds. The only time I can see paying for better photos is for a brochure or something, but most of those are provided by the manufacturer anyways.

So they why wouldn't they just toss a P&S at a lot porter and tell them to go at it? I'm sure 90% of them are good enough to get the car in frame...
Not arguing, just...stating?

 

[CCericola]

I think it depends on the dealership. The higher end dealers hire pros, but it is usually a contract job where you are paid per shoot and you will be expected to have your own lighting and equipment. Smaller dealerships may just need snapshots of used inventory. They have stock photos of the new vehicles. I don't think you can expect to quit your day job for this unless maybe you could get contracts with multiple dealers.

 

[Bo4key]

So they why wouldn't they just toss a P&S at a lot porter and tell them to go at it? I'm sure 90% of them are good enough to get the car in frame...
Not arguing, just...stating?

Most do. Even the Trader magazine that posts our vehicles in print and online just has a girl that comes around with a P&S.

EDIT: I work for the largest car dealership in town (no brag)

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

EDIT: I work for the largest car dealership in town (no brag)

This made me laugh.

It lacks a sense of scale.

 

[Bo4key]

EDIT: I work for the largest car dealership in town (no brag)

This made me laugh.

It lacks a sense of scale.

I guess you're name suits you. I've read a few of your posts and you are always looking for something snide to say.

There are 100k+ people here and we are also top 5 in the province/state for our brand. Does that provide enough "scale" for you?