Unrealistic commission examples when hired, poor company culture - Sales Consultant CarMax Employee Review

2.0
Mar 18, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company appears to be great to work for if you have a job in any level of management and fit in with the culture. Managers (both Sales, Business Office and Buyer dept.) appear to have great work life balance, excellent vacation availability and reasonable albeit lower than industry average pay. As a Sales Consultant the greatest benefit are your coworkers, if you're lucky enough to work in a location with a well functioning sales team.

Cons

As a Sales Consultant you are grossly underpaid compared to industry average, you spend a lot of time providing free appraisals where you only get paid if the customer sells the vehicle. If the car is used as a trade in, you only receive the commission for selling a car. As a part time employee you have to keep a close eye on your customer history as full time employees will often help them if/when you're not there. As a full time consultant expect to work a minimum of 60 hours a week to make something resembling a healthy annual income. Management is very inconsistent. Every Sales Manager have their own agenda and there's a strong level of favoritism happening at a consistent basis. It is close to impossible to advance within the company from the position of Sales Consultant unless you drink all of the Cool Aid and ask for some more. Managers will always point out something negative, even when providing what is supposed to be positive feedback. ("Good job, but here are all the things you could've done better") The Fortune 100 best companies results are a joke, there are annual, monthly meetings where you're coached on how you should think of and answer the questions.

Explore other reviews about CarMax

5.0
Mar 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Communication, acknowledgment, recognition, growth, benefits

Cons

Work life balance as a sales manager is difficult when you have smaller children

4.0
Jun 13, 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

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All