An honest review - Finance Manager CarShop Employee Review

3.0
Jan 31, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I will start off by saying carsense is overall not a bad place to work. You can be honest with customers and feel good about what your doing. They have 40 hour work weeks, so they do attempt for you to have a good work life balance even though its retail (still have nights and weekends however). Management does care deeply about employee retention as thats what Penske automotive cares about. What that means is that its takes a lot to lose your job. It would take many write ups before one would get fired, and it's a process for that to even happen.

Cons

1. They do try to brainwash you thinking its the only dealership you should be working at. Yes there are bad/shady dealerships out there that treat their employees poorly, however there are many good ones too! There are other car dealerships that you can feel good at what you do and feel good for the company your work for. 2. If your on the sales side of things, you must really work your pay plan to make decent money. Meaning you cant just sell cars, its selling warranties, hitting spiffs, doing "sell cars", selling multiple cars in one day (they call it a hattrick). You really have to multitask which is great for some, but for others it makes it very difficult to earn money especially if you cant move fast on a busy Saturday. 3. If you'r looking for a management position and know what the auto industry pays you'r going to be very disappointed. You do get a set salary so you don't have to worry if you don't hit your goal you wont get paid, however you will be making substantially less than you would at some other dealerships. 4. If your in the finance office you'll be judged on something you have zero control over. Since you have zero interaction with the customer your profit per deal is solely based on how the sales staff does. So if your warranty percentage is low thats your fault even though you'r not selling them yourself. That same sales person cant convince someone to finance. your fault! once again your not interacting with the customer at all. On the flip side you can be very poor at your job but if your sales staff is great then you look like the hero! 5. If you are looking to move up in the company theres alot of politics that go into it regardless of how your preform. In summary is Carsense a good company to work for, yes. However is it above and beyond any other dealership no. Its just another car dealership that has its pros and cons.

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CarShop Response
5y
I want to thank you for sharing your feedback, which is vital to our growth as a company and most importantly as a culture. In these difficult times of COVID-19, our associate safety and satisfaction is of utmost concern to us, and we want to hear about the challenges that any associate (past or present) encountered. At CarSense, we’ve always prided ourselves on being different. Our Culture & Values are what set us apart in the auto industry. Certainly, if one is pursuing a career in the auto industry, there’s plenty of other great dealerships to choose from. But our hundreds of CarSense associates who come to work every day are here because of the way we look out for each other and inspire each other. That’s what makes CarSense unique in the car business. We treat our associates like family and we want them to feel proud of their work. Most importantly, we want to ensure that they’re all excited to come back to work tomorrow. We appreciate all of the contributions you made in the Finance Office, which I’m sure were challenging at times. It’s not clear from your note if the multi-tasking was a struggle for you, or if you were speaking on behalf of another associate? Our Sales teams are constantly striving to be better so that everybody can win. And we as a company have always focused on paying fair and offering competitive industry salaries, and providing a nice work-life balance for all of our hard-working and dedicated associates. Finally, one of our Core Values has always been Opportunity Through Growth. There’s countless stories I could share about associates who started out at CarSense working on the lot who are now in key management positions. Those decisions are always based attitude and aptitude and have nothing to do with politics. We want the best and brightest leading our company into the future, and as we continue to expand as a company and build more stores, there are countless opportunities available for those associates who want to grow alongside us. Thank you again for sharing your feedback and for your contributions to CarSense. We wish you the best on all of your future endeavors.

Explore other reviews about CarShop

5.0
Mar 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

After completing my first full quarter with CarShop, I can confidently say this has exceeded my expectations on every level. What initially stood out during the hiring process was the level of transparency—clear communication around expectations, performance metrics, and growth opportunities. That honesty has proven to be consistent with the day-to-day reality of the organization. From an operational and cultural standpoint, CarShop demonstrates a strong commitment to both its people and its customers. The caliber of talent across the organization is impressive—experienced, collaborative professionals who take ownership of their work while supporting one another. There is a clear alignment between leadership messaging and execution, which builds trust and drives performance. Having worked in roles spanning operations, marketing, logistics, and management, I place a high value on consistency between what is promised and what is delivered. CarShop delivers on that alignment. The work environment is structured yet supportive, with a focus on accountability, continuous improvement, and results. Overall, I’m extremely satisfied with my role, my colleagues, and the broader organization. It’s rare to find a company where the hiring experience accurately reflects the culture and expectations you step into—but CarShop does exactly that and I couldn't be happier professionally.

Cons

My commute is about an hour each way and there is no hybrid option - working from my home office 2 days per week for instance. Overall this is a small "Con" compared to the amazing "Pros" of my position at CarShop.

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CarShop Response
1mo
WOW! Thank you very much for this terrific review. Your perspective as a recent addition to the team is really important. We believe the onboarding process goes a long way towards instilling confidence that you made the right choice to join our team. As you mentioned, it also gives us the chance to show that our commitment to culture and treating each other well is real! Thank you for being an important part of our team!
3.0
Jan 27, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The culture in this location is great. I’ve never worked anywhere where the people (on multiple departments) got along so well and don’t make you hate going to work. Very little cliquey behavior. If you make the effort to get to know the other departments, you’ll have an easier time.

Cons

The competition is on the lower side of the industry. In sales, you have to be available even on your days off leaving a less than desirable work life balance. The expectations for the Mount holly location are the same as the stores that see a larger volume of customers. Some days you will just be sitting there. Your base salary is like $10 an hour, and the only way to get paid more is getting up in tiers which is super easy at the 5 other locations, but you’ll mostly be in the lower tier at Mount holly. Not because you don’t do your job but because there simply isn’t always enough leads. Then there’s the fact that you get blamed when something mechanical goes wrong or there’s a spot missed during detail. Car swaps can be a double edge sword. If you want to get your foot in the door in cartels it’s a great place to start. Also they will expect you to clear snow during storms.

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CarShop Response
4mo
Thank you for your thorough review. The CarShop culture is the foundation for everything we do, so we're glad that it resonated with you as well while you were on the team. The sales profession does require some flexibility in schedule, but our teams are pretty great about working together to help make it happen. We actually see tremendous opportunity in Mount Holly these days! Leads are flowing and the team is taking advantage of the generous pay plan/tiers. Ironically, mutual accountability and fairness/equity are two of our core values. Thanks for voicing a concern. We'll speak with the team to understand more. Best of luck to you!
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