CarMax Reviews

Pros

Time away policy for salaried employees, lots of people take anywhere from 3-6 weeks off. It's 8:30 or 9-5 for most positions. Few people have to stay late.

Cons

It can feel quite dull because the company is growing so slowly and it's incredibly PC. The salaries are also below average.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay your employees more before all the good people leave. Also, the culture is sometimes so relaxed that people become lazy.

Pros

Management takes a very concerned approach to staff and customers, and the ability to advance is great as well. Another great thing about CarMax is the chance to drve a variety of vehicles, learn about how to choose a vehicle, and avoiding the scams other dealers use. The no-haggle pricing makes the worry out of sales and allows complete disclosure to customers. I enjoyed being in the sales environment and also being able to sleep at night.

Cons

The pay is commission and on a draw, so if you miss commission then you get minimum wage that you have to have withheld on future checks. Very tough to make the love of the job outweigh the pay gap. If you live close and just want something to do for additional income, this is your gig. If your income is a secondary income, then this may be your gig. Great people, great cars, great concept, pay leaves more to be desired.

Advice to Senior Management

Push for a $10/ hr minimum, if commission is not met, and do not reclaim the amount from future commission. If you value your people, then the $10/hr salary will boost your employees productivity by reducing financial uncertainty. I love this place and will continue to shop with CarMax, so I want to help them succeed and help them allow their sales people to worry less about their pay and more about the customer. Want to make a huge difference??? $10/hr plus commission.... More money, but you will get the increased sales to offset the pay increase.

Pros

Most customers really like the no haggle pricing that CarMax offers. The sales process is easy if the customer has good credit. The dress code is really relax. This company is pretty good about working around your hours. A sales consultant at CarMax gets every 5th weekend off which is rare in retail sales.

Cons

Compensation for sales here is very small. If you want to make over $30,000 a year you HAVE to work at least 50 hours a week if not closer to 60. It is very easy to get fired, about 1 sales consultant gets fired every month. When I was hired I was told I had to sell a minimum of 6 cars a month to keep my job. That number has been moved up to 10 now. That is a store policy and not a companywide one. It is too easy to lose money at this place! Just because another sales consultant spoke to a customer within 3 days should not entitle them to half the commission! They think it is OK for Sales Consultant A to do 10 minutes of work and Sales Consultant B to do 3 hours of work and they get the same wage. That sounds like communism to me. WAY too many meetings! At least 1 a day and sometimes 2 a day. That is a lot of wasted time that you could be making calls or selling cars. They makeyou do inventory jobs that you do not get paid for every Saturday morning for an hour. They are really understaffed on Saturdays in inventory. Saturdays are the busiest day of the week! Why do they only have 3 or 4 kids prepping the cars. This makes the customer have to wait more time. The work atmosphere is so un PC it is ridiculous. That place is a sexual harassment suit waiting to happen.

Advice to Senior Management

Most companies have a meeting once a week. You don't need to meetings a day. You need to lower the amount of meetings you have. If your managers don't have anything to do but hold meetings then lower the amount of mangers you have. That will also lower your cost in the end. Have your managers involved with possible problems in your store instead of just trying to develop employees by listening in on their phone calls. Clean up the place as far as politically correctness goes. Did you really do a background check?

Pros

For a sales professional that wants hands off management this was a perfect job. It was next to impossible to get fired except for harrassment or other unexcusable acts. There was no real sales goals as in other sales organiztions. If you need a job where you can coast from time to time this is a good place for it. Generally speaking the top salespeople at each location were more successful and seasoned than the management team in the store.

Cons

When a salesperson overperforms they are not paid appropriately. When I was recruited I was promised a six figure potential for over performers. I was the top salesperson in a 13 store region for 2 of the 3 years I worked at Carmax and consistently in the top 1% in the company of several thousand nationwide and my top earnings year was just short of $80k. The pay structure / comp plan has not been increased for 10 years. Also the base pay plan was a minimum wage draw that you had to pay back when you made more than minimum wage.

The training and development plan was horrid for seasoned sales people. It was a complete and utter waste of time for any salesperson with experience.

Advice to Senior Management

The pay plan for "senior sales consultants" should be more lucatrive. Top performing sales people at a Fortune 500 company should easily make six figures plus. Also a development plan and training program for the seasoned sales people should be developed and they should not be managed and developed in the same manner that rookies are.

Pros

Successful company
Great business idea
Nice employees
Many locations

Cons

As a Salary Exempt employee, there is very little work/life balance.
Salary Exempt employees/managers are expected to work 60-70 hours/week.
It's mandatory to work a minimum of 11 hour days and normally that ends up being 13 hour days.
At least once per month you have to work 6 days/week without getting any other days off the following week.
They only observe 3 holidays/year so managers only get 3 holidays off each year. All other holidays are mandatory to work.
No accrual policy. It's communicated that it's on an "as needed" basis which means whatever upper management feels you should have. I've been there several years and I'm lucky to get 2 weeks off each year.

Advice to Senior Management

Daily hours should be 8-9 hours maximum or we should be working a 4X10 weekly schedule.
You need to adopt an accrual policy for your managers so it's not abused either way, by the employees or by upper management.
Every employee that works a holidy should receive a Floating Holiday for time off on another day.

Pros

fair pay, lots of training for any job title, lots of locations

Cons

Promotions from within are more aimed at particular stores

Pros

Great training system with management support. Plenty of one on one support. Easy sales process with plenty customer traffic. There is a great sense of teamwork. Associates work together to solve/avoid issues. The company is run ethically, so you never have to make decisions that are not in the best interest of the customer. You never have to compromise your personal integrity

Cons

Work tends to bleed into days off. When the managers feel pressure to perform it filters down to the rank and file

Pros

Lots of exposure to the used car business. The opportunity to learn all aspects of the business.

Cons

Limited long term growth unless willing to relocate. Must be very flexible with work schedule.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more honest about future opportunities.

Pros

Compensation and bonuses
Hourly associates whom are "bought in" are treated respectfully by management.
Great training!
Good focus on customer service.

Cons

*You need to fully drink the kool-aid and be "bought in" to be considered for any promotions.
*If you bring years of management experience to your position, you won't use it as you must become almost robotic in their beliefs and management outlook.
*If you challenge your superiors you will be remembered as someone who isn't "bought in" and will be used against you when you want to progress within the organization.
*As a manager you must also be a good politician!

Advice to Senior Management

Promotions should be based on merit and accomplishments and not by on how well you can act at being "bought in".
If you want to bring in quality experienced managers to the organization, don't discourage their ability to think out of the box.

Pros

good benefits, no advancement opportunities.

Cons

low pay, and no raise

Advice to Senior Management

too much chit chat and no performance