Parts Salespersons

Low pay & highrisk
Moderate Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

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Why it fits

Plausible purchasing path using vendor quotes, part specifications, orders, prices, and delivery follow-up.

First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers
32% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better More jobs
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Why it fits

Advancement path using counter staff, service quality, sales targets, scheduling, inventory, and customer issues.

Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products
44% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Pays better Higher growth
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Why it fits

Uses demand patterns, vendor selection, pricing, inventory levels, product quality, and resale economics.

Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products
47% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Pays better More jobs
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Why it fits

Strong sales move using product knowledge, customer needs, pricing, availability, orders, and account follow-up.

Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products
32% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better
27.3 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Weaker but realistic for sellers of technical parts who deepen specifications, applications, and account sales.

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
3.4/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

59% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): This occupation may be meaningfully affected by automation. Some parts of the role may be suitable for AI, software, or robotics, while others still rely on human skill, judgement, trust, or real-world context. People in this range may benefit from building skills that complement automation and reduce replacement risk.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

Communicating with people outside the organization

Very important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
Jobs that also use this strength

Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Persuasion

Quite important
Why this matters
Influencing people to change their minds or behavior through conversation, trust, and negotiation.
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Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
Jobs that also use this strength
Show 1 more strength

Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
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What users think

Based on 46 votes

72% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's probable this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 59% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Parts Salespersons will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

View sentiment trend

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Parts Salespersons was $37,440 ($18 per hour).

The median annual wage for Parts Salespersons was 24.4% lower than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Moderate growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Parts Salespersons' job openings is expected to rise 3.1% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 265,060 people employed as 'Parts Salespersons' within the United States.

This represents around 0.17% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 581 people are employed as 'Parts Salespersons'.

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What people are saying (5)

Leave a comment
GFY (Low)
19 Feb 2026 16:28
The manufactures can't even make a reliable parts catalog. Like a dart board and luck the PDC pulls the correct part. At least 25 wrong parts a week and half of its wrong listing and other half the Robots pulls it wrong or damaged from the trash roads
Chuck (Uncertain)
30 Nov 2025 21:30
Most people coming into a dealership have no clue what they want or need. Parts people have to "fish" for information. Currently, AI cant make a sandwich vs getting people what they need. Also the general public calls things one way and professionals call it another
Joel (Uncertain)
21 Aug 2022 17:41
Half the reason you have parts people is to protect the inventory.

Also, anyone can look up parts, but being aware of nuances is another thing.
Tim (Highly likely)
15 Jul 2019 18:21
Because with 3DPrinting spare parts will be less likely to be sold in brick & mortar & in the future all the data needed for the part will be distributed online just like sites like thingiverse,youmagine,pinshape, cults3D , MyMiniFactory & various others & will be available to make at home or where there is a 3DPrinter & this parts are available anywhere with internet which saves money on shipping & can cut on border duty & collaboration is worldwide and if a part breaks it can be remade without needing to buy a new part & a lot of those parts are free though some are paid design , but the designs are unlimited similar to downloading music
Joshua yammer (Uncertain)
25 Jun 2019 16:05
There’s a couple thought processes I don’t think a robot could achieve
Leave a reply about this occupation
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Job description

Sell spare and replacement parts and equipment in repair shop or parts store.

O*NET-SOC code: 41-2022.00