Job outline for Used Car Photographer (if doing in-house)

[digital_specialist]

I am someone that does this task, plus other labor and was curious what the average rate of pay for someone of this position. It is a somewhat touchy subject in the sense that I am the first person to do this job at my place of work, so I am just seeing if anyone else has a guy like myself at their dealership.

The responsibilities that I have are:

- Photography of each vehicle
- Cleaning the photo booth
- Custom vehicle comments/descriptions (website)
- Photoshop each photo for maximum quality (average of 30 per vehicle)
- Posting vehicles to Craigslist
- Web banners (slideshow on homepage)
- Print ads and all other graphic design within the business
- Coordinating with TV advertisers (graphics/logos)
- Stationary design
- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube updates
- Basic IT trouble shooting in the sales dept.
- Window stickers
- Occasional online pricing updates
- Customer assistance when all sales reps are occupied
- Website maintenance (Dealer.com drag and drop style)
- Video uploads to our website
- Updating online specials
- Creating Excel charts
- Web traffic analysis
- Autotrader and Cars.com maintenance
- Test leads within Dealer.com website
- Washing vehicle exteriors if they are dirty before photographing
- Misc. tasks

I typically do about 30 vehicles per week and work 50-60 hours. What would somebody like myself typically get paid?

Thanks.

 

[flosho]

I am someone that does this task, plus other labor and was curious what the average rate of pay for someone of this position. It is a somewhat touchy subject in the sense that I am the first person to do this job at my place of work, so I am just seeing if anyone else has a guy like myself at their dealership.

The responsibilities that I have are:

- Photography of each vehicle
- Cleaning the photo booth
- Custom vehicle comments/descriptions (website)
- Photoshop each photo for maximum quality (average of 30 per vehicle)
- Posting vehicles to Craigslist
- Web banners (slideshow on homepage)
- Print ads and all other graphic design within the business
- Coordinating with TV advertisers (graphics/logos)
- Stationary design
- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube updates
- Basic IT trouble shooting in the sales dept.
- Window stickers
- Occasional online pricing updates
- Customer assistance when all sales reps are occupied
- Website maintenance (Dealer.com drag and drop style)
- Video uploads to our website
- Updating online specials
- Creating Excel charts
- Web traffic analysis
- Autotrader and Cars.com maintenance
- Test leads within Dealer.com website
- Washing vehicle exteriors if they are dirty before photographing
- Misc. tasks

I typically do about 30 vehicles per week and work 50-60 hours. What would somebody like myself typically get paid?

Thanks.

A pretty good amount!

It pretty much sounds like my job description, except I don't detail the cars and it is a bit slower process.

If you were paid on a per car basis, maybe $50 to $100 you would make a decent amount of money.

If I was on the pace you were i'd be making well over a quarter-million dollars!! LOL.

 

[gcomvid]

Pro videographer/photographer writing from Danbury, CT. I was exploring use of video in car dealer sites, and was SHOCKED at the poor quality of used inventory photography. Apparently this is usually done by services that mainly manage placement of images and data on sites like AutoTrader, eBay, etc. I see that most of these services offer a D-I-Y version where dealers do the photography. In talking with some dealers, they don't seem to be able to get their salesmen interested in doing the shooting. I'd love to try offering this service to local dealers, but can't seem to get a response from most. Any advice how to approach these people? My work is MUCH better than what they're getting, but I would obviously have to charge a bit more than they're paying.

 

[flosho]

Pro videographer/photographer writing from Danbury, CT. I was exploring use of video in car dealer sites, and was SHOCKED at the poor quality of used inventory photography. Apparently this is usually done by services that mainly manage placement of images and data on sites like AutoTrader, eBay, etc. I see that most of these services offer a D-I-Y version where dealers do the photography. In talking with some dealers, they don't seem to be able to get their salesmen interested in doing the shooting. I'd love to try offering this service to local dealers, but can't seem to get a response from most. Any advice how to approach these people? My work is MUCH better than what they're getting, but I would obviously have to charge a bit more than they're paying.

I would suggest printing out a few 'average' ads in color and then make up a similar ad using your photos and description to show a side by side comparison.

You have to be able to show the value in what you provide.

The other thing is when the dealerships get new cars in, detailed,etc.. it only takes them 5 minutes to walk around the car and snap a few pictures... They can photo 50 cars in a day. You will not be able to. So keeping up with the demand they have will be difficult. If it is a smaller dealership it would be easier for you to keep pace and have outstanding quality.

 

[joe.pistell]

Any manager that has BAD INTERNET PICs never looks at them, so why pay more for yours?

Offer the decision maker a challenge.

"Mr Decision Maker, we all know a picture tells a thousand words, roll with me on this.... Lets pretend that you've decided to upgrade your landscaping. You know its going to be expensive, you get 2 referrals and go to their web sites, this is what you see..."


#1

or #2?

WHO ARE YOU GONNA CALL? #1 or #2?
WHO IS GONNA GET THE GROSS? #1 or #2?
WHO HAS TO DISCOUNT TO GET THE SALE??


Game... Set... Match.
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