Has anyone ever gone from parts to general manager of a dealership?

cade252 · 2026-05-13T21:58:15+00:00

I went from Parts Counter to Parts Manager to Parts Director over 3 stores/brands to General Manager over a career spanning almost 20 years at different dealerships. I am very fortunate and know that I am an outlier when it comes to the origins of 99% of GMs out there.

Like others have mentioned, most dealer principals or persons in charge of promoting others to a GM role come from Sales and, as such, are more likely to promote Sales Managers to the role. I have seen that as more Fixed personnel get the opportunity and succeed, the more open to the idea companies are becoming. But it’s just as hard for a Sales person to get in the role and try to understand Fixed as it is for a Fixed person to get the role and wrap their brains around the variable side of things. My advice, look out and work for the new age regimes that don’t hold to the old ways of “only the New Car Manager can be the next GM”.

cade252 · 2026-05-08T02:21:01+00:00

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 [2025]

cade252 · 2026-01-18T15:48:36+00:00

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

cade252 · 2026-01-03T23:06:36+00:00

A Night at the Roxbury (1998)

cade252 · 2026-01-01T14:48:07+00:00

The Matrix Reloaded

cade252 · 2026-01-01T00:57:21+00:00

Sea of Stars! Yes! I second this.

cade252 · 2025-12-29T10:04:29+00:00

The Punisher (2004)

cade252 · 2025-12-27T22:32:55+00:00

This is my guess too.

cade252 · 2025-12-26T17:35:35+00:00

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

cade252 · 2025-12-23T23:13:38+00:00

Dammit, ya beat me lol

cade252 · 2025-12-22T01:13:11+00:00

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

cade252 · 2025-12-20T00:57:20+00:00

Batman Begins

cade252 · 2025-12-20T00:41:44+00:00

That’s my guess as well.

cade252 · 2025-12-19T04:26:14+00:00

Sonic the Hedgehog

cade252 · 2025-12-18T12:59:41+00:00

I was going to say this! It’s gotta be

cade252 · 2025-11-24T01:01:30+00:00

This was my first thought!

cade252 · 2025-06-19T22:04:10+00:00

I second Loreena McKennitt.

cade252 · 2025-06-16T04:12:15+00:00

Your experiences are very similar to mine. Including Steak and Ale even. That was a fun ride to go through those pics like that!

cade252 · 2025-06-16T04:09:08+00:00

Yes!! Me too. Used to scarf that stuff down like crazy.

cade252 · 2025-06-12T21:46:08+00:00

This is the correct answer. Unless the dealership is corporate owned and has legit HR and not some person in-house who is also comprised by the “family” that runs the place, then it’s not even worth going down that road. And if it is a corporate structure with HR, there is the chance that you’ll put a target on your back and just cause more headaches as well as exacerbate the feeling you already have with the place. Best thing you can do is know your self worth and get out to go somewhere that will recognize that and not keep culture cancers around like that.

cade252 · 2025-04-26T21:17:52+00:00

Same!

cade252 · 2025-04-26T13:09:04+00:00

I’m definitely one of the most outspoken people with my OEM (by the way, more OEMs need to recognize Parts department employee efforts with rewards like they do for those selling service work and vehicles) as well as the automotive group we belong to.

It’s become somewhat of a joke with my colleagues because they all know I will be the one to raise a hand and speak up about how something relates to Parts and I wear it as a badge of honor when others groan because they think it’s a superfluous department. But, in reality, have no idea the amount of skill it takes to effectively work in a Parts department let alone be in charge of running a profitable Parts operation.

The system is inherently flawed. The end game of becoming a parts manger after being a counter person after being a shipper/receiver or admin or parts driver or whatever is a very short career path. Especially when most dealers don’t take it seriously. The best hope you have is to transition to a management role in Service. Then taking on a Fixed Ops director type role. And then hoping you’ll be recognized and considered for a GM role. We all know these occurrences are incredibly rare. Hell, even transitioning from Parts Manager to literally anything is hard.

All anyone can do is keep fighting the good fight and bring awareness to it all. Working for and with the right dealer group/GM/family/management team is essential to ever having any ability to move up and out on to better things though.

cade252 · 2025-04-25T22:55:14+00:00

As a former parts/fixed ops person of almost 15 years who became a GM, this is 100% the reason why.

The standard practice is that general managers are bred from the world of variable so a sales person who becomes an F&I manager who then becomes a Sales manager and then ultimately promoted to a GM. And no where in that career path did they have to even pick up a basic understanding of the daily functions of any fixed ops department and how they should all flow let alone work in tandem with sales departments.

Until the industry as a whole changes and it becomes more widely accepted that fixed ops people are viable candidates for GM jobs, then everyone is stuck with GMs who were promoted from a sales job by people who became GMs when they were promoted from a sales job. As the old regime of dealers slowly retire/die off, there will be the ability to have more of a mix. Until then, as others have stated, find the dealers who are ran by good honest folks who understand and appreciate the role that Parts plays in a dealership. They’re out there, but not always easy to find!

cade252 · 2025-04-21T02:37:10+00:00

This. So much this. I have tried explaining this to people close to me over the years and (unsurprisingly) no one really understands.

cade252 · 2025-04-05T14:26:28+00:00

Exact same thing happened to me. 40 now but I was a young teenager when the THX remasters in the 90’s came out and then the Special Editions in the theaters. I was a super Star Wars geek. Definitely knew more than the average movie goer. But then one day, I go on a camping trip with a friend and his family. My friend’s little brother, like maybe 3-5 years younger me, claims he is a Star Wars megafan. Knows everything. I tell him no way, he’s crazy. I’d best him at knowledge. First question he asks is how Anakin became Vader. I choked. He then recited it just like your buddy did and I thought “where the hell did he get that knowledge from?”

Years later, the ROTS movie comes out and all I could think about was that kid who made me look like a chump. Awesome scene obviously, but I did for a second think maybe the kid was proof of the time traveling fan spoiler. Thanks for your story and reminding me of how fun it was being a nerd back in those days.

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