apprentice automotive technician

mécanicien automobile

directeur des ventes

internet sales

receptionist

Go Auto

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 watching another agent do their job for about a day until you’re thrown on phones to harass people for payments. They have no formal training manual, which is a huge disadvantage considering the amount of acts and regulations collectors EVEN PRIVATE ONES need to adhere to. Not to mention the Lease Complete software that was being used was a prehistoric nightmare where again, without no set rules in place to train staff resulted in people’s payments getting pulled twice or not at all. 
Also good luck holding onto any of your payments agents are paid poor enough that sniping arrangements to meet thehe commission based rewards system will keep you too busy infighting to notice you haven’t gotten your 3 month review you were promised in over a year. Regardless of how much you ask.

Like I said, the pants flew with top speed there. 

If you’re lucky enough to land in repo or administration I suggest keeping your head down. Both “supervisors” (even though they claim everybody is on the same level) play less then fair. If you love being made to feel stupid or harassed in general by bullying tactics then administration is your place. If your a person that likes to be screamed at on the phone and have your supervisor slip away for 5-6 smoke breaks a day repo is your beast.

Now everyplace has its issues and you’ll never like everybody you work with that is understandable. But Go Auto Finance you keep yor head down and mouth shut. I went on multiple occasions to report the harassment in administration, not just about myself but how other new employees were being belittled for questions. I got “ that’s just how she is” each and every time. 

Further more I was taken out of my position I was hired for and constantly brought into closed door meetings with both managers to be given ‘secret projects’ which included building Excel spreadsheets to monitor every other employees work time and effectiveness. Someday it was to help the legal department, others repo. They had a large software change over I was told to spend hours writing “short codes” for that never were used because honestly the management ran in circles. 

Then came when I was given “my own department” to run. Oh boy I was excited all the putting up with the harassment and random jobs paid off. Ha.

Skip tracing was my new job, for anybody that doesn’t know. That’s where you use information to find someone or to contact them. It’s a bit of a black art in Canada considering how many privacy laws we have. 

Here’s the fun whistling blowing part of my review. 
I was instructed on how to apply their illegal techniques to locate customers that owned us money. Using fake social media accounts to stalk and sometimes friend ( only if I got permission though, got to be careful!) I as Monika Anderson an adorable brunette and sun glasses found many people, Who was I to say no? If they didn’t listen to my harassment claims why would I kick up dust about this. I had dont research on software and constantly suggested other ways to do these things but everything fell on deaf ears unless I found skips. Which I was also promised commission on but they never disclosed the commission system.

I sent several emails requesting meetings, guidance, and asking questions to ensure I was on the right path. 

I cracked finally after everything and complained again about harassment and when I was met with the standard reply I demanded HR. 

I was fired the following Monday for an inability to follow through and my inability to get along with other employees.

Let me be straight besides the management team and their friends in both departments every other agent and employee in that department are amazing people. They do the best with what they have and can have good attitudes even when they get side walled by change after change or a lack of answers and understanding. 

In my closing interview when I asked why I was never coached or had write ups or sit downs about my “shortcomings” in all the time I had been there I received silence. When I asked for my employment contract and employee file I was told they didn’t have them. Strange, no documentation for this supposed terrible employee I was. When I asked I had emails weeks and weeks old requesting help and meeting they went unanswered I was told “ well I send those to my boss and never get a reply. 

Listen I can’t tell you where to work, but I can tell you I was brought into the company on the message I would be heard and cared for. Instead i was sent home with the idea i was a failure despite my best effort. I went into work on egg shells avoiding the harsssment because i knew nobody would listen. I spent time with some of the directors all equally great people, but they seem to not know what’s going on there on the floor. My guess isn’t ignorance, just that management in that division gatekeeps things like that. 

So what it comes down to is this, you’re not going to enjoy being there, you’re not going to get paid enough to put up with how you’re treated or pushed to the side. So maybe try Auto Canada, they have an actual policy manual and take complaints seriously.

But hey, they have a fooseball table and you get red star chef made food everyday for about $10. If that rocks your boat then maybe this place is for you.

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 was always willing to sit down and talk, and help the newer salespeople learn how he managed to be successful in that position. Long story short, the managers were not the best, and I have a funny story about the lady near the end. Need much better leadership in the showroom. Speaking of showroom, the place wasn't the cleanest but it wasn't the dirtiest either. But every room the customers didn't see? Absolutely filthy.

So my first day, didn't do anything but learn about the cars, was told not to talk to people who came in, and not to make any phone calls, which you know, fair enough. I had sales experience in insurance and investments, not car selling. Second day I was sent to Go Honda for an orientation, and I got to meet the very polite gentleman who will in all likelihood reply to this review (and I mean that, he was a very nice guy). Orientation didn't teach much about selling cars really. Just talked about benefits and stuff like that. Second day officially working I sat down with some people, made some calls, nothing substantial. The week was very dry. People didn't come very much (the dealership I worked at was and is being killed by River City Hyundai, the company I now work for) and when they did, the people at the front got to talk to them right away. One thing I noticed was the rookies had a much tighter leash on them then the veterans. They could leave early, spend three hours out for lunch, do whatever they wanted, meanwhile a coworker and I got screamed at over the phone for test driving the vehicles (which we were told we could do, as much as we wanted for product knowledge) for thirty minutes. I didn't eat lunch most of the days because I was expecting they would tell me off for not trying to shove deals down peoples throats. Fourth clue.

I had come near the end of the month, so I was lucky enough to be able to get paid the $1000 advanced commission on the 1st. I was only paid $473.84. When I asked about it I was told they just had to put more info in and I'd get the other $500, which made no sense to me because why do you need to put more info on me if I already got half my cheque? What was so hard about putting another $500 on it? Still never got it. Fifth clue. 

In my first week, I had an appointment on a Friday, to sell our 2017 Corvette ($52,000) at 2pm. Hearing I'd only make $400 for that had already gotten me very thrown off about it, when the person I was selling it too heard he offered to personally pay me $4000 to at least make it fair (I declined and he didn't take the deal because I got fired hours before the sale was supposed to happen). The previous day I had let the female manager know that I would be missing a couple hours from my morning shift because I was to drive my grandfather to the graveyard so he could finishing designing his eventual headstone. Pretty sad right? Heres the kicker. I'm in the middle of the graveyard, paying respects to my late grandmother when I get a call from the exact manager I had told that I would be missing the first two hours of my shift. She informed me that my shift began at 8:30 (it was 10am at this point, and I wasn't going to rush my 90 year old grandfather) and where was I, what was I doing, all that. I try to explain to her I'm in the graveyard with my grandfather, and she tells me they don't accommodate for family time like that. Wow. If I hadn't been let go I would've quit after that. That just felt morally wrong. Then she proceeded to tell me that she didn't think things were working out, and that maybe we should part ways, before hanging up without me getting a chance to speak. I thought I'd just been broken up with!! So I called the guy coming for the Corvette and let him know that I was no longer a part of GoAuto and that I could point him towards multiple salespeople in the store who he could trust. He told me he didn't want to buy it from anyone but me, and to let him know if I ever have a Corvette for sale anywhere else I happen to work. So I called the GM at River City Hyundai (they'd been trying to get me to leave go auto and come work with them for a few days now. I hadn't let mostly because I wanted to see how it would pan out with the one I was at, and wow I should've listened to them. He offered me a sales position on the spot, with much better training and pay. Fired and hired in the same day. Crazy.

Anyways, to wrap up this very long review, I don't have an ill opinion towards GoAuto themselves. I think what they're doing is great, but they just haven't quite locked it down yet. There's still a lot of issues with the management at the different stores, and the way they treat newer people (and everyone who isn't in sales, but that's been talked about already). I sincerely wish the best to the people I worked with, everyone except the polite lady who fired me for not making my grandfather walk 15km's to the graveyard and back. Cheers everyone!

While I was employed with Peace river ford, management was great. encouraging, great leadership, and a great work environment. But when I switched to Chrysler it was as though it changed. There is no structure or organization with anything that goes on at peace river chrysler. Problems that do arise whether they be customers or coworkers, there is no resolving. There was no service manager or sales manager, there still isn't a service manager. I am the fifth employee in two months to leave, because of management and all the problems that they simply just do not care to resolve. I understand that all companies have their issues, but there is a certain point that they should be looked into. And with such a large turnover rate as both dealerships have, it's clear that something is not right. The amount of favoritism, and pettiness between management and employees is unreasonable, and if you simply have an issue with it, and would like to discuss it chances are you will be terminated. Nov 5th 2024 I was terminated without cause because I inquired about another job. I didn't even meet with the other employer before being terminated. I was asked to step into Peace River Chrysler's general manager's office and was told that we needed to "go our different ways" all because I inquired about a higher paying job. Was told that "you can wrap up everything you have on the go and pack up". Was talked to, fired, and cleared out in an hour. The environment is very toxic and leadership is condescending. I don't really know what else to say except that I am disappointed in this company. I came to this company with high hopes of good work, positive feedback, and opportunities for growth. Instead I was met with subpar training, no communication, no guidelines, no support, and no direction. I read go auto’s policies before I started. And the policies state “Go Auto is committed to providing a safe, healthy, respectful, rewarding, harassment and violence free work environment for its employees”. And I can tell you that it has been far from that. And on top of that I truly believe that there needs to be a change in management for the business to remain successful, as such behavior is not something that many individuals wish to work for. I would also like to add that upon termination I have not received a termination letter, I have tried reaching out to the VP of both peace river ford and peace river Chrysler,  And I am now being ignored, as well as I have no access to my paystubs both present or current. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
My time working as a service technician turned into an absolute disaster after we went through two service managers in less than a year. It felt like a revolving door  our journeyman left, other technicians followed, and morale dropped significantly due to poor management decisions. There were constant false promises, and clear favoritism between certain associates created an unfair and frustrating work environment.

We were regularly expected to work from 8 AM to 6 PM, and if anyone chose to leave early around 5 PM, we were made to feel as though we were not dedicated enough. The pressure and lack of support made the workplace environment far from ideal, especially considering that I consistently gave my absolute best effort every day.

I dedicated two and a half years to the company and, despite my commitment, I was never provided with any formal training. This was particularly discouraging because most organizations prioritize training for their employees within the first year to help them grow and succeed. The lack of professional development opportunities made it difficult to advance my skills and feel valued as part of the team.

To make matters worse, I was ultimately terminated for what appeared to be no valid reason, and I was told not to complain about the situation. This left me feeling disrespected and undervalued after years of hard work and dedication.

Overall, the experience was extremely disappointing due to inconsistent leadership, lack of support, favoritism, and limited opportunities for growth.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
False promises poor management and intense jobs to get done in the day with the lack of support or employee 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Money, hungry  and people fighting for their own pay

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Stressful focusing on how many hours I need to get . Asking support from a Journey Man that did not care about anything by himself .

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 poured my heart in to my job for 6 years. All I felt like in the end was a number. I never felt that way when we were in the dealerships.  Overworked, poor pay with no compensation what's so ever. It's all about who you know, who your bff is in upper management. Loyalty means nothing to them. With whose in the Driver's seat in upper management now it is all about cutbacks. The company used to be like a family but the driver has changed that. Makes me sad. Perhaps you should have a meeting with accounting and actually listen to their concerns when they bring them up. 

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 a number and they make you feel like it. Many of the stores will hire only female members for finance so be prepared to not get promotions and see new people off the streets hired for those positions. Once Jared priestner left the day to day operations it was all about cutting costs to the front line and you feel it 

Unless you desperately need a job stay as far away as possible, and brent if you can provide fact and stats to counter what I've written please share those instead of some generic prefabricated response.

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 my concerns were not heard. My character was questioned. I was resentful and anxious all the time... and instead of trying to lift me up... they did nothing... except break me down.

I ended up resigning... and after 6 years of employment, hard work, sweat and tears....they didn't even fight to keep me. I left angry, sad and under appreciated. When truly until Covid... I was happy and willing to do anything for the business and it's successes... 

They lost a loyal employee... I hope they realize that it was preventable... They just chose to do absolutely nothing about it.

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. Upon leaving I did let my management staff know of my observations by saying "When I started the culture was more of a what you know, not who you know environment and has flipped to the counter."
I closing. Unless you are willing to constantly blow sunshine up managements butt, and enjoy being a "yes" man don't waste your time with this place.

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 a tough industry that's not for everyone but if you're self-motivated and work hard you will most likely do well.

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.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Apprentice automotive technician 21 salaries reported	$117,500 per year
Mécanicien automobile 5 salaries reported	$40.40 per hour
Directeur des ventes 19 salaries reported	$44.49 per hour
Internet sales 8 salaries reported	$113,750 per year
Receptionist 1 salary reported	$16.00 per hour

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