Motor Vehicle or Caravan Salesperson

A motor vehicle or caravan salesperson sells new or used vehicles to individual and commercial customers in a dealership or independent sales yard. They assess customer needs, demonstrate vehicle features and safety systems, negotiate prices and finance options, and complete sale documentation including warranty and registration processes. The role requires knowledge of vehicle specifications, financing products, and consumer protection legislation applicable in their Australian state or territory.

Identify customer requirements through questioning about intended use, budget, and preferred vehicle features and specifications. Conduct product demonstrations of vehicles including operation of safety systems, infotainment platforms, and driver-assistance technologies. Explain warranty coverage, service packages, roadside assistance, and extended warranty products to customers. Present finance and lease options including interest rates, loan terms, and repayment structures offered through dealership partners. Negotiate sale price, trade-in valuations, and finance terms within dealership authority limits. Prepare and review sale contracts, statutory declarations, and consumer information notices compliant with state-based motor dealer legislation. Arrange vehicle inspections, roadworthy certificates, and compliance checks as required by state authorities. Process customer identification, credit applications, and conditional sale agreements in line with Australian Consumer Law and responsible lending obligations.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate II or III (ABS skill level 4). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

Your income is almost entirely commission-based, which means slow months hurt hard and job security depends on car market conditions you can't control. You'll also spend a lot of time with customers who've already decided not to buy or are just kicking tyres, which gets repetitive and demoralising fast.

Dealerships cluster in major city metros and regional centres with populations over 50,000. Most jobs are in traditional dealership yards rather than remote work. Rural areas have fewer opportunities. Independent used-car yards exist everywhere but offer fewer hours and less structured work than franchise dealerships.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 6213, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Achieve sales targetscore
• Active Listeningcore
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracycore
• Carry out active sellingcore
• Carry out order intakecore
• Characteristics of productscore
• Characteristics of servicescore
• Complaint Handlingcore
• CRM System Operationcore
• Customer Needs Assessmentcore
• Empathy and Emotional Intelligencecore
• Invoicing and Billing Administrationcore
• Negotiationcore
• Objection Handlingcore
• Problem Solvingcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Upselling and Cross-Sellingcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Adaptability and Flexibility
• Data Entry and Accuracy
• Digital Literacy
• Feedback Collection and Actioning
• Goal Setting and Planning
• Outbound Customer Contact
• Record Management
• Regulatory and Legislative Awareness
• Written Communication

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

What Motor Vehicle or Caravan Salesperson workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 30 October 2026