Pretty bad culture, even worse pay - Sales Consultant CarMax Employee Review

1.0
20 Sept 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Long lunch break, flexible schedule

Cons

Mandatory weekends, for someone who has spent more than 10 years in sales, having to start at the bottom truly sucks. That's a mild compaint... No one knew what was going on, they were implementing a new customer service call center to field sales, but my managers and fellow salesmen didn't know how it was getting implemented. And then it just sorta happened and people were still confused. I was still training and then I finally got on the floor and three days later was furloughed for two months. I had just moved to the state for this job, and I wasn't covered for unemployment by either state. They did not help keep a paycheck and they did not help me file for unemployment. I struggled so hard and when they finally brought me back I had to relearn some of my training and was thrown out on the floor with literally no cars I could sell because the pandemic had kept shipments from coming to the store and everything was already put on hold so walk-ins were a complete bust. I had been given a payscale for commissions and it changed by the time they implemented the call center, but what I agreed to originally would have been slightly more that what I was getting at my previous job. However, when they opened the call center, each commission gets cut in half if the call center talks to the customer. low and behold everyone walking in now has talked to the call center. So I felt misled and unsupported. Everyone else wasfeeling the same way, so it felt toxic and frustrating to even be in the building. Theres no way to just quietly do your work and help customers. I always felt like I was bugging someone if I had a question because they were either too busy to talk or they were bored out of their minds and perpetually annoyed. One of the last customers I had was a rediculous situation in which I had the joy of telling them that they were too far into debt and couldn't buy a new car without a ridiculously high deposit. The persons parents came to yell at us, and while this is stuff that happens, I was very acutely aware that I didn't get paid a cent for it. The day was so slow and that's all I got to deal with, while other people are selling several cars because they had a rollodex of current customers they had been working with... now that pandemic was in full swing, I had been off for two months so I had no backlog, and there were noticeably less people coming in. The biggest detriment was the paltry amount of cars that were delivered to the store. And as soon as there was a shipment they were all put on hold, ensuring that walk-ins would get frustrated and walk away without looking for transfers. There's a lot of people that talk up the company, but what these people talk about didn't exist at the location I worked at. The nicest people were in the bussiness office, not the salesmen which was an awkward bro-culture... I don't fit in with that at all. So I felt very isolated, and all in all it was just a terrible experience.

Explore other reviews about CarMax

5.0
4 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Amazing benefits with 6% 401k matching and tuition reimbursement.

Cons

Highly reliant on the quality of management at the store location.

4.0
13 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The perks of working at CarMax are quite extensive. Associates are offered an aggressive 401k program, Stock Purchasing Plan, in store discounts on sales and service, access to the CarMax Wholesale system, excellent healthcare, plenty of PTO, and at my location we are given as much OT as we want. My coworkers are generally good people, that I enjoy being able to work along side day in and day out. Management is very understanding in regards to calling out sick family emergencies, and schedule requests.

Cons

Despite doing the work of 5 people, and very politely asking for a raise management will not give me more than my 3% annual raise which is the single biggest let down. The bonus change of 2025 being labeled as "exciting" was straight corporate gaslighting unlike anything I've ever seen. Since the start of 2026, as of this review being written we have lost 7 associates largely due to pay, and I am soon to join those associates. Management from the store level up to corporate needs to understand that to retain their top performers they need to be compensated like a top performer. Some members of management are cliquey and moody which is very frustrating to deal with. Quality of Management varies wildly from store to store as well

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