UK car dealerships are hiring. The problem is, they’re struggling to fill the roles.
Across the industry, vacancy rates have remained stubbornly high. Sales Executives, Vehicle Technicians, Service Advisors, and Business Managers are all in short supply — and the competition to attract and retain good people has never been more intense.
This post looks at why the motor trade is facing a recruitment challenge, what’s driving it, and what progressive dealers are doing to get ahead of it.
The Scale of the Problem
The automotive sector has faced a structural talent shortage since the disruption of 2020–21, when furlough, redundancies, and a wave of career reconsideration prompted many experienced motor trade professionals to leave the industry.
At the same time, the industry is undergoing its most significant technical transformation in a century. The shift to electric vehicles is creating demand for new skills — EV-qualified technicians in particular are in critically short supply — while also making some existing skill sets less relevant, creating a mismatch between available candidates and available roles.
The result is a market where:
• Good candidates receive multiple offers simultaneously
• Average time-to-hire has lengthened considerably
• Counteroffers have become routine when staff hand in their notice
• Dealers are increasingly competing for talent from outside the motor trade.
Why Candidates Are Harder to Attract
The Perception Problem
Ask most school leavers or career-changers what they think of working in a car dealership, and the answer tends to be shaped by outdated stereotypes — pushy salespeople, long Saturdays, and a relentlessly target-driven culture.
The reality of modern dealership life is often very different, but the industry has been slow to communicate that change. Flexible working, structured career development, manufacturer training programmes, and genuinely competitive earnings are rarely part of the public narrative around motor trade careers.
The Saturday Problem
For many job seekers — particularly those with families or caring responsibilities — the expectation of Saturday working is an immediate dealbreaker. Dealers who can offer flexibility, job sharing, or compressed hours are accessing a wider candidate pool. Those who insist on rigid weekend rotas are fishing in a shrinking pond.
The Pay Transparency Problem
Low headline basics put people off before they’ve understood the OTE. Advertising a car sales role at £16,000 basic will deter candidates who don’t understand commission structures, even if the realistic OTE is £40,000+. Dealers who lead with OTE and explain the earning model clearly attract more and better candidates.
The Career Path Problem
Candidates increasingly want to know where a role leads. If a dealer can’t articulate a clear path from Sales Executive to Senior Sales, Business Manager, or Sales Manager — with a rough timeline and what’s required — candidates will choose an employer who can.
Why Staff Are Harder to Keep
Retention is the other side of the recruitment challenge. Every time a dealer loses an experienced team member, the cost is significant — not just the recruitment fee, but lost productivity, team disruption, and the time it takes to get a replacement to full performance.
The most common reasons experienced motor trade staff leave include:
• Better pay elsewhere — in a mobile job market, a £3,000–£5,000 OTE improvement is enough to move most people
• Poor management — studies consistently show that people leave managers, not companies
• No sense of progression — experienced staff who can’t see a path upward start looking outward
• Changing lifestyle priorities — particularly post-pandemic, work-life balance has become a more powerful motivator
What Progressive Dealers Are Doing Differently
Writing Better Job Adverts
The best-performing motor trade job adverts are honest, specific, and candidate-focused. They lead with earning potential, describe day-to-day reality accurately, highlight training and development, and explain what the culture of the dealership is actually like.
Generic adverts that list duties in bullet points and end with “must have a full UK driving licence” attract generic candidates.
Using a Specialist Recruiter
The motor trade has its own rhythms, its own language, and its own candidate landscape. A specialist automotive recruiter with an active database of qualified candidates can dramatically reduce time-to-hire — and ensure you’re seeing candidates who are actually suited to the role, rather than everyone who happened to see a job board posting.
Looking Beyond the Motor Trade
Some of the best Service Advisors come from hospitality. Some of the best Sales Executives have never sold a car in their life — but they’ve spent five years in high-end retail or financial services. Opening the aperture of where you look can surface exceptional candidates that a purely automotive search misses.
Investing in Onboarding
The first 90 days determine whether a new hire stays. Dealers with structured induction programmes, assigned mentors, and clear 30/60/90-day performance milestones see significantly better retention than those who throw new starters in at the deep end.
Addressing Pay Structures Honestly
If your pay plan hasn’t been reviewed in three years, it probably needs reviewing. In a rising market, a comp structure that felt competitive in 2021 may now be below par. An annual benchmarking exercise — against the market, not just against your own history — is good management practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it typically take to fill a Sales Executive vacancy?
In the current market, three to six weeks from advertising to offer is typical for a standard search. Using a specialist recruiter with an active candidate database can reduce this to one to two weeks.
Should we hire someone from outside the motor trade?
For customer-facing roles like sales and service advising, yes — attitude, people skills, and resilience can be more important than product knowledge, which can be taught. For technical roles, relevant qualifications are generally non-negotiable.
What should we pay a recruiter?
Automotive recruitment fees typically range from 10–15% of first-year salary. A good recruiter will save this many times over in reduced time-to-hire and better candidate quality. Always check what the guarantee period covers.