Culture or Cult ? - Manager CarMax Employee Review

2.0
Jan 8, 2016
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.

Explore other reviews about CarMax

5.0
Apr 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

a people driven company that sells cars

Cons

Inner network devloper compabalility is lacking

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

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