Automobile salesperson

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 or MSRP. The salesman is traditionally paid a commission rather than a fixed salary, usually based on a combination of profit margin and unit volume.

The automobile salesman, particularly the used car salesman, has often been a source of characters, often negative, in movies, television shows, and cartoons. History and fairy tales often characterize peddlers (people selling goods) as negative influences, or outsiders out to take advantage of people. Such salesmen are often well aware of their occupation's negative public image. As Valerie Biden Owens explained, Joe Biden Sr. left automobile sales for real estate when his son Joe Biden Jr. was elected to the United States Senate in 1972, because "he didn’t want a United States senator to have a used-car salesman for a dad."[2] It is a common theme for the "used car salesman" to be cast as a shyster in popular culture.

• The 1960 US Presidential Election featured a poster with a photo of Republican candidate Richard Nixon and the sentence, "Would YOU buy a used car from this man?"[3]
  • The concept of Richard Nixon as a used car salesman is itself referenced in various works.
    • In the National Lampoon humor book Would You Buy a Used War from This Man? the title of the book is a direct reference to the poster. It was published in 1972, at which point, Nixon was US President and was tangled in the Vietnam War. The front cover of the book shows a drawing by Edward Sorel showing Nixon as a used car salesman leaning on a pile of army uniforms stained with blood (presumably used by soldiers that were killed in the Vietnam War) beside an army Jeep, a pile of solder's helmets and a sign in the background with lettering that says "TRICKY DICKY" and "USED CARNAGE".[4]
    • In The Two Georges, an alternate history fiction book set in a timeline where the American Revolution was peacefully avoided with what is, in reality, the United States and Canada instead becoming the self-governing British dominion known as the "North American Union". One knock-on effect of this event is that Richard Nixon never went into politics but instead became a literal used car salesman. Nixon is known nationally-known for his profession and is given the nicknames "Honest' Dick", "'Tricky' Dick" (a nickname he also had in real life) and (in another knock-on effect) because cars is this timeline are powered by steam, "The Steamer King". At the start of the book, taking place in 1995, Nixon is in "New Liverpool" (the renamed Los Angeles) at an exhibition of a painting known as The Two Georges (depicting George Washington and King George III during the agreement that ended the Revolution) when he is suddenly murdered and while the crowd is distracted, the painting is stolen, setting the stage for the rest of the book where detectives search for the painting.[5][6]
    • In Ill Bethisad, an shared alternate history project, Nixon is once again literally a used car salesman instead of a politician. The page on Nixon references various parts of Nixon's political career including the poster. Nixon lived in Los Angeles (which is located in the same place but instead part of a country called "Alta California" as the US does not exist in that timeline, instead its territory is taken by several other countries). Nixon was a local celebrity and repeatedly proclaimed his pricing was honest with his catchphrase "I am not a crook". Despite this, a scandal insured in what was later known as the "water's gate" affair when the breaks of a car he sold had failed suddenly when then crashed into the gate of the local water recycling plant and his subsequent failed attempt to cover up the incident.[7]
• In the Muppet Movie, Milton Berle plays Mad Man Mooney.
• In Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Leonard Stone plays Mr. Beauregarde, Violet Beauregarde's father.
• In Fargo, William H. Macy plays Jerry Lundegaard, a salesman at an Oldsmobile dealership in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• In Used Cars, Kurt Russell plays a slick used car salesman and wannabe politician named Rudy Russo.
• In Suckers, a movie humourizing automotive dealerships and salesmen.
• In The Big Steal, Steve Bisley plays a used car salesman.
• In True Lies, Bill Paxton portrays a used car salesman who pretends to be a spy to seduce bored housewives.
• In Fast Lane Daily, Bob Shubin Jr. is a used car salesman who appears on occasion. He's best known for singing "Hey, How Bout a Deal!?"
• In Matilda, Danny DeVito portrays an unscrupulous used car salesman named Harry Wormwood.
• In Cadillac Man, Robin Williams portrays a used car salesman.
• In Minder, Arthur Daley (played by George Cole) is an archetypal 'used car salesman'.
• In Three's Company, Larry Dallas is a used car salesman.
• In EastEnders, Roy and Barry Evans, Kevin and David Wicks, Bradley and Max Branning, Frank Butcher, Darren Miller, and Arthur "Fatboy" Chubb have all at some stage portrayed car salespeople.
• In the Seinfeld episode "The Dealership," Jerry attempts to buy a new car from David Puddy due to the "insider" deal Jerry would get from being friends with Puddy's girlfriend, Elaine. Puddy and Elaine have a fight at the dealership, leading Puddy to backtrack on his discounts and start charging Jerry for miscellaneous "extras." Jerry, frustrated, tries to reconcile Elaine and Puddy so he can get the insider discount again.
• In the animated tv-series Goof Troop, Goofy's dishonest neighbor Pete works as a used car salesman