Go Auto by far is one of the companies I work for that seems to be the most detached from their company culture.
I worked for the “Go Auto Finance” division. Now cheerfully renames “Yes Plan Finance” as a last ditch effort to remove themselves from the stigma of the rest of the company. Rest assured they’re still under the same umbrella company Go Auto.
For starters,
I was hired as administrator, I started on the opposite on a payroll week which as many people know means I’d be waiting a total of 3 weeks to get my first pay. This wasn’t the issue, my first red flag about this company should have been when one of the women in payroll emailed me a day before payday and said she had forgotten to submit my information and I wouldn’t be paid. Like many people that wasn’t going to fly I had bills to pay and in 3 weeks “forgetting” to submit my information was unacceptable. When I asked for a cheque to be cut I was simply told to tell my land lord I’d be late along with my other bills. It took several emails and having to play phone tag with a bunch of members in the office as well as me being on the verge of tears for fear of missing payments until they finally got a cheque together.
The work atmosphere is fine if you like flying by the seat of your pants. The management team was comprised of two indivuals that either chose not to, or lacked the ability to listen to their staffs concerns all together. If you end up in collections enjoy a crash course in awkwardly watc
Managers are rude, terrible work life balance, no training and favouring the experienced sellers.
I worked at a Go Auto dealership for a couple week before I was let go, but lets get into that at the end. My first sign should've been the four different people who I had interview, three of them asking me to sell them a pen (a tip; just use the concept of supply and demand. Take the pen and ask them to write down their name on a piece of paper, don't have a pen, you have a pen to sell, boom sold). I only got to meet two of the managers who worked there, whose names I will not disclose as I do not want to give them any sort of negative review, as they were both honest, hard working guys who I could tell wanted to see me do well in the business, rather then sell cars to make them a lot of money.
After I finally got through all the interviews, I was offered the position, a package full of forms to fill out, and told to come in on a Wednesday. I came in, and got given a desk all the way at the back of the showroom, not near any of the doors. That should've been my second clue, as it made it very hard to talk to anyone who came in, as the experienced workers were all in the front at the doors. I was introduced to the other managers, a man, a women and the GM of the store. The GM was nice enough, but had a very short temper and got annoyed at you if you did anything incorrectly. The lady was very similar to him, and was quite pushy when telling me and a coworker how to talk to clients. The other gentleman on the other hand was very nice and my favourite manager there, as he w
Wow, where do i begin. It was great for the first year. Then they centralized accounting. Which ok that's fine I understand what they are aiming for. Unfortunately when they centralized accounting they laid off all the staff from the out of town stores and put the pressure on Payables and Receivables to take that on. Sometimes it came down to us having 7-10 stores each on our plates and expectations to have everything done by end of day is draining. I did not take holidays because I didn't want to burden other colleagues in the department with my 7 stores alone on top of their 7 or more stores. That's not fair. In 6 years there i received 1 yes that's right 1 raise, and that raise was extremely minimal. I barely noticed it on my paycheck. My wage covered 1 dealership not 7. Everytime we talked about raises it was always the same thing. "There's not enough money in the budget to give accounting raises" But there's enough money in the budget to continue to aquire new dealerships in BC and Ontario and put more pressure on accounting. Hmmmmm sounds a little fishy to me..... There's enough to buy dealerships but there's no money in the budget to pay your accounting team. Then COVID-19 hit. I was officially laid off end of August 2020. When i came to clear my desk i noticed the people that were called back and was floored by it. People who had less experience than me and who were with the company for 1 year or less were called back. Just shows you how loyalty means nothing. I pou
I'll start by saying the year and change our store went through 4 pay plan changes all for the worse, for COVID they let go a ton of staff which is understandable but instead of supporting those still working with danger pay, they SLASHED it to the ground. When they called back staff they started with managers and forced them to come back, those that didn't return when asked coincidentally were either let go or forced to a different store in a junior role. During new employee orientation you will be asked to leave a 5 star review after they make the place sound like the perfect place to work instant red flag....
Be prepared to work 7 days 60+ hours a week for 40-60k a year, of the cars you do sell 75% plus of the deals will have a ton of heat attached due to greed and finance dodging your customer calls and emails. Cold calls, massively flooded floors, all of the used cars they don't fix anything just inspect them and most the time they're garbage, and you're selling a vehicle that already has issues you just aren't allowed to tell the customers, the entire open floor punishes you for taking a day off because so many people come to work on their off time to make a living.
The good, the lunch program is exceptional, I met some friends that will probably be life long, some of the training is decent. Staff deals on cars are great
The bad, leadership aren't leaders, they're finger pointers and will throw you under a bus anytime, the place is all about money, you're just
Loyal employee of 6 years...Then Covid had to ruin everything...
I started with Go Auto over 6 years ago. I was super happy within my role. I had clear expectations, and was very happy to come to work everyday. I was very lucky to have an amazing team and close relationship with management. I was very comfortable to speak my truth, challenge my superiors if I had to, and for the most part felt heard, and appreciated.
Covid hit.
We lost 90%+ of our staff... we were overworked and got our wages SLASHED without any warning. Made it seem temporary... when in reality it's still slashed after 3-4 months in. Management changed suddenly, and communication went silent. Leadership? Non-existent. Thanks from corporate?...HA! one email over the course of months.
No one stepped up to MANAGE the staff. Staff needed guidance and in my eyes, it seemed that the management they had come in didn't care. I spent a month trying to figure out my place, where I stood, and where management wanted the business to move towards (especially within the Covid climate). I had ideas... no one wanted to listen... I had the drive to do the work... management told me "you have higher expectations than what we have of you"... Their response to getting our wages cut "we expect business to slow... so just do 25% less..." --- this isn't me. I wanted to fight for the business... I wanted to see this through... I was used to giving 110% everyday... But everyone else seemed to do the absolute bare minimum.
I sat down multiple times with new management, and each time m
Unless you are great at kissing backside, don't waste your time
I have worked for 2 separate Go dealerships in Edmonton and With the exception of a few absolutely fantastic co-workers it was a giant waste of my time. Was promised to move up in the company by my department manager prior to a new GM taking over. When the time came for me to move up the new manager brought in one of his friends from his former dealership and handed him the job I was promised. His friend had no experience in the position he was given and as a result ended up costing the dealership tens of thousands of dollars in lost customers and revenue. Said employee was written up on three separate occasions in less then three weeks for the same offence and was still able to keep his job because why...You guessed it. GM's little buddy. So this went on for about a year. Then one day I have the Sales manager come to me screaming to go and apologize to a customer because I had "scared" them while parallel parking a vehicle. I said no because I did nothing. The sales manager became borderline irate with me because I would not bend. I do not feel it necessary to apologize to someone when I did nothing wrong. Within a week I was fired from the company with no verbal warning or write up. The management staff at Go Auto may say they have your back, but if your lips are not firmly glued to their backside don't expect anything. That being said there were a couple management staff that I did work with that were nothing but a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dreary work environment.
When I started in the industry, I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my career. I never done sales before and with great training provided by my management team, I found early success in selling cars. It wasn't easy as the hours were long, I'd have to sometimes come in on my off time for appointments and deliveries, customers can be hard to deal with but they weren't all bad. The managers help you through the difficult ones and everyone in the store ends up being like family with all the time you spend there.
After a year of consistently producing good numbers, they put me in charge of all the leases that were maturing, customers that qualified for rate reductions and new credit applications for people that had limited or challenged credit. When we did our yearly reviews, I let my GM know that my ultimate goal was finance. He laid out a plan, told me what he wanted to see and after 2 years of hard work I reached my goal, I was a finance manager!
With Go Auto, they provide you with more training then just how to sell cars, they teach you cool things like reading social ques, emotional management, building teams and leadership skills. You also get great benefits like a gym membership, 3 weeks of paid vacation (which they encourage you to use), a lunch program that's affordable and more.
Go Auto is a big company, not every dealership is the same, not everybody has the same experience but they certainly try their best to take care of their employees. It is also
ProsPotential to make good money, fun environment, good benefits, opportunities to advance
ConsHours can be long, customers are sometimes unreasonable, 100% commission is not for everyone
Poor pay plans, always having to fight for the right amount on your pay (if you even get one that is) management doesn't care--they just want profit, profit, profit.
Always feel like one is under the microscope, or about to be fired.
Very low morale in all depts., people are stressed and tired of walking on eggshells day in and day out.
Flooded shops and sales floors, a total revolving door scenario.
NO proper staffing allowed in budgeted in depts that don't have a commission only plan, like parts and and lot attendants for example.
Used to be good, but since the platform VP plan rolled out--HORRIBLE place to make a living, its only all about them and making $ ...you're just a 100% replaceable #...that's it
3 weeks vacation? OK?!!...cant take em!!...one week here and one week there if you're lucky. not enough staff to cover when one is ways too long, so? what good is it? there are some with over 10 weeks banked? because they cant get vacations approved.
Poorest managed dealerships in the industry at GO...pretty sad, time to head back to the small employers, they actually care about people and their staff.
Saturday lunch?? NOT always, only if the GM is there...if he/she is away NO lunch---fend for yourself we are told by a sarcastic, don't give a hoot so called GSM that cares only about himself, and has ZERO communication skills.
If that what the upper echelons of management like, then that's what they have to a T.
Great hours & decent pay but deteriorating work environment with no leadership
Working in the kitchen at Go Auto was amazing at first. Great hours (Mon - Fri, 7am-3:30pm) with decent pay/benefits, great staff/team. But over the years, things started going down the drain. Cuts to the kitchen, core staff leaving, general disorganization and severe lack of management/leadership in the kitchen. The Executive Chef over the years got super lazy, became dishonest and unmotivated. Always taking vacations and extended time off due to "injuries". Didn't take the time to train/discipline staff members properly. Eventually took advantage of staff members by not wanting to do certain tasks (daily bread pickup, working Saturdays & overtime, delegating his personal kitchen responsibilities to other staff). The hardest part of the job was staying motivated. The only thing that kept me motivated were the great staff members who were the true heart and soul of that kitchen. No matter the workload, short staffed, events, buffets & prep, the staff were the true engine making sure it was all done. The 3 kitchen core values were; consistency, quality & effort. Sadly all three of those values went down over the years and never fully recovered. Lack of inventory control, handling of staff members, lack of a proper recipe database, consistent quality control and disorganization all stifle the full potential of the kitchen & the staff.
Great career company with unlimited opportunity for advancement
Go Auto is a great company to work for. They provide the right training to give you the tools to succeed, the right coaching, huge rewards programs for performance, and unlimited opportunities for advancement. If you work hard and show that you are a winner, you will go places with this company. As a perk, Go Auto also hosts events such as the Oiler's Skate and Sign for Staff, where my kids got to meet Connor McDavid and get autographs from him and other Oiler's in a private setting away from the arena. Go Auto is a company I see myself being with for a long time to come.
I started as a lot attendant 15 years ago, and spent some time in all departments helping where help was needed. Once I realized I wanted to go the distance with this company I got serious and started my real career in Sales. I moved into the Finance Office after one year, and then Sales Manager, I am now a General Manager, running a store that helps people solve their problems and we have fun doing it.
Go Auto came as a highly recommended company to me, and I am so glad to be part of the success. Go Auto genuinely cares about all of its staff and really works hard to take care of its people. We work hard, but we get to play hard too. I wouldn't want to work anywhere else.
ProsHuge earning potential, far greater than any other industry
ConsTakes hard work, which means working long hours. But, it is worth it.
If you are considering sales in this day and age, don't do it...
...unless of course you want to slowly lose your soul, social life, family time, health, hobbies or even just a day off without calls from 'work'. Ask a seasoned sales person when the last time they had a true day off, they'll chuckle and stare off. If you look into their eyes you'll see a person whom once had a soul, dreams or aspirations to do anything else other than to sell a car.
Work life balance is non existent if you want to do 'well' or possibly be considered for management positions. You essentially live there until you are promoted or burn out. If promoted you live there even more.. but with actual structured days off.
Do you enjoy days off without thinking about work? Well that will no longer be something in your life if you choose to move forward in this career. Think about having a nice dinner or enjoying some time with your significant other AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN you get a call that the vehicle you sold days ago needs to be delivered in 30 mins. You either drop whatever it is you are doing and get to the dealership OR you can have a partner 'help'. Be real, your sales partner honestly will not give a <insert bad word>. They ain't spending an hour to go over all the features of the vehicle some strangers bought from you. Your partner needs to sell a car and pay the bills too. This seems to be the trend with all dealerships, finance department doesn't give a <insert bad word> if you are off or not. If they can pull some approval out of their behind, it
Questions and answers about Go Auto
What are the perks offered by Go Auto?
Asked Sept 1, 2017
We need the gym membership in bc
Answered Oct 25, 2022
Some of our perks include the following: advancement opportunities; health and dental benefits; 3-5 weeks of vacation per year, HUGE discounts on vehicles, insurance, and more; Health Spending Account; gourmet lunch program; employee referral program; employee investment program and much much more.
Answered May 11, 2020
What benefits does Go Auto offer?
Asked Sept 17, 2020
Dental, Medical
Answered Jun 5, 2023
Disability coverage, cheap insurance, discount on phone plan with Telus
Answered May 1, 2023
How has Go Auto responded to the COVID-19 outbreak?
Asked Mar 24, 2020
Mass temporary layoffs that have become permanent layoffs for most.
Answered Sept 9, 2020
In response to Go Auto's answer...
"In response to the recent COVID-19 situation, we have taken extra precautions to ensure our dealerships meet the highest standards for hygiene and sanitation." --- it was only recently that our dealership received hand sanitizer stations... 3 MONTHS after the pandemic started (regardless of countless reminders to management) They do not account for customers safety and the handling of customer vehicles. Advisors should wear masks (they don't) technicians when doing road tests should wear masks (they don't).... Steering wheel covers only lasted the first month... haven't seen them since.
"Thorough floor and surface cleaning of all public areas twice a day" ----- not enforced my management, and staff shortages don't help....
"Sanitized wipe down of all surface areas every few hours in public and employee areas
Strict Employee procedures and protocols to ensure there is no risk to employees and customers" ---- all nope.....
Instead of keeping their staff and customers health in the forefront, they delivered MASS LAYOFFS (90% of their staff....) and the staff they trusted to keep the ship afloat.... they provided them WITH PAY CUTS (what a way to say thank you.... more like a slap in the face) and a total lack of communication from upper management....
So thanks Go Auto. You did a fantastic job in your response to the COVID-19.... not....
You failed us.
Answered Jun 28, 2020
What is Go Auto holiday leave policy? How much holiday leave do you get per year?
Asked Jun 18, 2019
3 weeks
Answered May 1, 2023
Very generous, 3 weeks per year to start. Most places make you work up to that for 2-3 years.
