DriveTime Automotive Group reviews

The hours are horrific. I was initially working a 45 hour week with 2-3 closing shifts (til 9pm). Things were fairly flexible and I usually got to leave by 5 or 6pm on one of the weekend nights. After an upper management change we were bumped up to a 50-55 hour work week and had to work until 9pm every Friday and Saturday night. The company made several changes that made it more difficult to approve customers. Increased down payment requirements, lowered max payments, raised pti guidelines, and required more documentation at the time of sale. They also stopped a program that paid sales associates at competing dealerships to refer in customers they could not get financed (this accounted for 20% of Drivetimes business). With all of these changes and a challenging economy as well, they increased the budget in my dealership by roughly 10% over last year! The entire company is tracking roughly -15% and we are being held accountable for not attaining a budget that is way out of reach.

Teams are expected to handle nearly every aspect of dealership operations—selling 60–100 cars per month, cleaning and prepping vehicles, light repairs, shop transfers, title paperwork, audits, lot maintenance, calls, metrics, and staff development—often with a lean staff of 4–7 people. Pre-COVID, locations were staffed with 8–14+ people for similar work with slightly higher sales volume. Budgets and incentive programs change frequently and are difficult to achieve, while promotions are limited and sales compensation can exceed management pay. Vehicle program benefits are highly restricted. The removal of AGM roles concentrates operational and compliance responsibilities at the GM level, which negatively impacts culture, work-life balance, and overall sustainability, with only modest pay increases (around $7k–$12k). Overall, expectations continue to increase while internally attempting to move closer to fully automated systems with a lean staff, high metrics, and heavy oversight from management will inevitably lead to poor outcomes. Lastly removing AGMs is going to be a huge load on GM and a blow to the team It will reduce real-time coaching and preventive oversight. GMs often sell car a few time a month due to limited staffing already so that while also managing operations, deals, compliance, etc.. Concentrated responsibility increases hidden underwriting and documentation risk, with issues surfacing post-sales. Stores will become more reactive and difficult to sustain in high-volume, especially in locations with higher deal exceptions. It’s just a bad idea. I foresee lots of turnover of good people that have worked with this company a long time. They are probably banking on people leaving and also utilizing the economic conditions to take advantage of staffing changes. Used to be a great company to work for. Stimulating and growth based. A company for the employees! I like how customers enjoy our process more but there is a huge imbalance in how employees are valued. And little things like “win a few shirt, shoes, or $15 gift cards this month” dosent make up for increased staffing issues, removal of lot techs, no OA’s, less agents, no AGM’s, driver restrictions, no company trips, less dealership funds, increased monitoring, etc..