Office managers, also known as administrative managers or secretarial managers, ensure that a company's office runs smoothly. They keep the office supplies stocked, answer the phones and ensure all incoming calls, correspondence and visitors get to the right people. Office managers working in car dealerships earn their upper five-figure salary keeping car sales representatives and auto finance managers organized and administratively efficient.

Car Dealership Office Managers

The salaries of office managers started at about $41,420 per year or $19.91 per hour in 2010. Those at the top of the field earned a maximum around $135,300 annually or $65.05 an hour. Office managers at car dealerships represented 0.9 percent of the profession in that year with a mean or average salary of $92,510 per year or $44.48 hourly, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Industry Comparisons

Office managers fared well when compared to their peers in other industries. The most common industry for office managers, representing 7.8 percent of the market in 2010, was the local government with a mean salary of $80,560 per year. Another industry with high employment for office managers was hospitals where the mean income was $85,340 per year. Office administrative services paid a little more than that at an average $88,900 annually. The industry with the highest pay was petroleum and coal products manufacturing with an average $128,920 per year for office manager reported the BLS.

Location Differences

The state with the highest employment for office managers of all kinds in 2010 was California with a mean income of $91,890 per year. While this number is not industry-specific, it does reflect higher or lower salaries than the national average for office managers in the auto dealership industry. This means that an office manager in a California car dealership made a higher salary than a peer in Illinois where the mean income was $66,520 per year. In Alaska, the average income was $74,060 per year while those in Massachusetts earned $99,660 per year on average says the BLS.

National Ranking

In 2010, 240,320 office managers of all kinds worked in the United States, earning a mean salary of $84,390 per year or $40.57 an hour. Office managers working in car dealerships ranked in the third quartile or 50th to 75th percentile range of national salaries, according to the BLS, making it one of the better paying industries that year.