CarMax reviews

3.5

60% would recommend to a friend

(8,202 total reviews)
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Keith Barr

55% approve of CEO

50% positive business outlook

CarMax has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 8,202 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The CarMax employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

8K reviews
2.0
Jan 31, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

you can make as much, or as little as you would like in terms of commission.

Cons

~YOU ONLY GET PAID $160-$300 PER SALE (if not split) You can have a schedule, but you'll be at most customers' mercy. By this I mean you'll sacrifice plenty of time off to come in and (HOPEFULLY) sell a car. Also, you'll have to make sure nobody else in the store does ANYTHING with your customer (test drive, pull up order, ANYTHING) or you may lose half of your commission, or even all of it.

2.0
Jan 8, 2016

Culture or Cult ?

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great co-workers, decent hours dependent upon your position. Benefits are good but expensive. Vacation time is good but you are sometimes made to feel guilty for taking time off.

Cons

Good ole boy network is alive and well. If your not a buyer you have no chance for any significant advancement. Micro management at its finest. Carmax has created a generation of BS artists that can talk a great game but can't actually do anything productive. It's doesn't matter what you do or how good you do it If you can't talk the talk you aren't going anywhere. This was once a great company, truly deserving of their 100 best places to work label but now that is just the result of a very active PR campaign. Gallop Compass ratings are a farce as you are "encouraged" to take the survey and fearful of the impact of negative responses. Could go on and on but by now you should get the point.

1.0
Oct 15, 2015

Business Office Associate

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

It's a job. Part-time and low-pay, but at least they're willing to train new employees.

Cons

When I got hired I was asked what my availability was, and I said seven days a week. So now I have to keep 12 hours a day Monday-Saturday and 9 hours on Sunday open, even though I'm only scheduled to work 12 hours a week. The days I work change every week...it could be morning, evening, half day, full day, no hours at all. I won't know until Wednesday or Thursday if I'm working on Sunday. Then I'll find out the schedule for the week, but nothing further than 9 or 10 days out. I can't even plan a day to clean my own house each week because I don't know if I'll be working or not. I can't be on a committee at church. I can't volunteer unless it's through a Carmax scheduled charity. Here's an example of how I live: Halloween is two and a half weeks away, and I don't know if I should spend the money to buy candy to pass out because I don't know if I'm going to be home to pass it out or be at Carmax. That's a really crummy way to live! I don't want to put in "RO"s because I don't want to be seen as not being a team player. They told me in the interview it was "retail hours", which to me means evenings and weekends, but to them it means they won't tell you your schedule until the last minute. That's really weird, and not at all considerate to the employees. I worked at the mall for five years (which is retail, "retail hours", yes?) and I always worked the same days at the same time. What surprises me most is that Carmax brags about "great work-life" balance. I think they mean lots of part-time employees and no paid overtime for the full-timers when they say that. It certainly doesn't mean you can plan ahead to go to the movies next weekend. My anxiety is way too high to live this way. And it's embarrassing to be an adult and not be able to give an answer when another adult asks to meet for lunch. I just feel so stupid for not understanding what they were implying. If I had known, I wouldn't have taken the job. I've only been at Carmax a few weeks, but I think I'm going to have to leave. A 12 hour a week job is not worth putting my whole life on hold.

Viewing 151 - 153 of 8,202 Reviews

Glassdoor has 8,371 CarMax reviews submitted anonymously by CarMax employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if CarMax is right for you.