What are the best resources to learn about starting a car dealership?

Currently in college and dad want's me to get a dealership license so he can become a dealer and make cash. His a auto mechanic and fix cars but I have no clue how it would affect me.

Currently going to college on aid and scholarships. What's the best way to learn about the effects of owning a business and how it effects everything in general?

Car dealerships effectively have monopolies by law and most are just passed down through the family. Good luck breaking in user.

You could run a used car buy here pay here lot. Poor people come in during tax season, almost pay for the car with their Gibs or neetbux down payment, then pay you $49 a week basically forever. Sooner or later they come up short and miss a payment. Then you get to take the car back, rinse and repeat.

How do they have a monopolies?
What if they mistreat it horribly?

On a side note, does anyone know if theirs some kind of business classes I should take?

Sleep well doggo

Try calling a car manufacture directly and ask about becoming a dealer.

Regulations on where and how dealerships can be opened.

I may have gotten my terms mixed up then, what if I just buy used cars and sell them on craigslist? Do I still need a dealer license?

You can email me if you want to get serious and we could talk but I'll give you some tips.

I've acted as GM for 2 small mom and pop dealers with 50-100 units. And once for a franchise auto group with 35 dealerships under its banner. Currently work as a sales manager for said same auto group at a different store.

Things you NEED to know. ASSUMING you have the start up capital already and or able to acquire it to start.

Most mom and pop shops started off as individual curbers in my area. Where at their high point had 15 or 20 cars on one or more of their properties that were eventually forced to get a dealers license by the watch dog committee in my Province. (In Canadaland btw)

So this is exactly how you should start. Selling cars as a salesperson is a grind. If you are unmotivated, lazy, non imaginative and lack ambition. You will drop out of this business within 2 months. Selling cars as an owner operator requires even more perseverance and determination.

You need to start off by first acquiring a few vehicles off of craigslist for as little as you can. Then seeing how fast you can turn them individually for as much as you can.

If you have the money now and don't feel like testing the waters in this manner. You can find out about dealer auctions open to the public. And go there and bid on cars being wholesaled or parted out by big boi dealers or auto brokers. If you start at this route you better hope you know what you are looking for and at. You need to know which vehicles are actually fast sellers and what can be snagged up for less and then refurbished and resold. If you purchase your cars in this manner you would still go about re-marketing them on craigslist until you get the ball rolling.

I can continue or answer any specific questions if there is interest OP.

There are no classes really that you can take on learning how to open, operate and manage a successful dealership. You can only learn by doing it yourself and getting guidance from those in the industry. What you can learn though is asset management, marketing, and salesmanship skills.

This is the ONLY multi billion dollar industry that individuals can rise to the top of their said organisations, making half a million dollars a year with no university or college educations.

I was 21 when I landed my first Sales Manager position in the auto industry. I was on a 80k a year contract with full benefits, demo vehicles and gas card. I only had a high school diploma at the time.