Used to be a GREAT company, but the focus seems to be changing - Advertising Consultant Autotrader Employee Review

3.0
Oct 20, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great benefits and great people to work with. Advertising Consultants work from a home office and by bringing information, training and statistics to your dealers, you have the opportunity to positively affect the auto dealer's business.

Cons

Change in executive leadership in the last two years has resulted in changes in the overall focus of the company. The founder/CEO Chip Perry is gone, as well as Alan Smith, the developer of the consultative sales process they have used since around 2008. Both executives gave the impression of being extremely focused on the dealer customers and their AutoTrader.com employees. While the jury still seems to be out on the new CEO, sales commissions seem to be much smaller since his regime's arrival. The company now pays in line with other positions of this type, but they used to pay better for attracting the best available salesforce in the market. The work/life balance that corporate management so often speaks of is easier to achieve if you are in the corporate office, but barely exists in the sales arena. Before the changes in the monetary portion of the compensation plan, the lack of work/life balance was somewhat of a trade-off that could be more easily justified.

Explore other reviews about Autotrader

5.0
Jun 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great company to work at. excellent benefits and leadership. Lots of things to do and they like to promote from within

Cons

once you max out in your pay range you have to switch jobs in order to get anymore raises

3.0
Sep 12, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Generally the benefits are good, but are declining. The head of CoxEnterprises believes in employee empowerment and benefits. The values of CEI are wonderful and the reason I stay.

Cons

Current leadership over AutoTrader (CAI) prioritizes profits over all else so we have reorganizations every year or so making it an unstable environment. The company is now run by Finance and HR, so you can imagine the culture.

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