technician

parts advisor

apprentice automotive technician

receptionist

car sales executive

The 401 Group of Companies

This is a job that gets me out of bed in the morning, and I think that's important. It's a work-hard play-hard environment which I love. The perfect balance of productivity while still having fun. Everyday is exciting and filled with laughter. This company is really about their people. They see your potential and invest in you so that you can be the best you can be. Finally a job where your efforts are recognized, taking initiative, coming in early, staying late, going above and beyond with your clients, it's all worth it. I've had jobs in the past where I exceeded expectations and put in the time and shouldered the workload of my colleagues and I was treated the same as someone who always called in sick or didn't carry their weight. Here, I feel like I'm on a team, everyone has a common goal, everyone wants to win. It's like a family, they don't let you fall or falter. If you need help, if you're struggling, someone's always got your back. Management is the best I've ever experienced. There's an great balance of support and trust. They continuously encourage you and take steps to help develop your skills. My manager motivates me like nobody's business. The feeling of someone in your corner rather than someone looking over your shoulder truly makes a difference. I've never felt more respected and reassured in the workplace. He puts in time with each and everyone of us, all while remembering every detail. They have an open door concept which promotes flowing communication and lets everyone feel heard. Owner knows everyone in every location by name, remembers important things about you and checks in to ensure you are doing well and taken care of. 

Bottom line: Fantastic place to work and grow. You are continuously learning. Everyone helps each other out. Fun environment. It's a sales job, put in the work and you will reap the benefits. If you're a bare minimum type of person, this job is not for you.

I had the worst work experience of my career here at 401 Auto. I have never seen a workplace with such a high employee turnover, no job security, poor management, and a horrible culture. I was at 401 Auto for a short time and only 6 of the 18 people I started working with are still there. Also the salary is horrible. Minimum wage with a horrible commission structure. The commission is based on monthly sales, but this specific department only scheduled the appointments for the sales reps, so essentially the employees in this department had no control over their commission. If you want to work here, be prepared to work weekends and to have a different schedule every week. Your shift times are not even the same from week to week. 

The job culture was also toxic. We were encouraged to compete with each other. Co-workers were always arguing with each other and talking behind each other's backs. If you are the type of person who avoids workplace drama, this job is not for you because it is everywhere in this company.

Also be ready to receive a horrible salary, pay for your own benefits, and have no work life balance while the owner of the company drives to work in his Lamborghini or Ferrari everyday and walks around the office with a huge smirk on his face.

The management in the Business Development Centre is actually the only bright spot of this job. The manager will look after you and will help you in anyway possible. I give props to such a good manager for putting up with this company for so long. But, the management for the Business Development Centre can only go so far as everything else about this company is absolutely horrible.

I was extremely lucky to leave this job by quitting because most people are fired. I would suggest going to work at the Tim Horton's down the road or staying unemployed before coming to work here.

Profit focused, yet contradictory processes. As a sales person, you will only make money if you sell a vehicle, yet, you are inundated with meetings and micromanaged about appointments, while desking managers are also tied up in meetings preventing you from proposing numbers to respective clients. You are unable to be productive because, even after a year, you are unable to even build a deal to present to your customer. Software of choice will send messages and emails to clients, posing as you, telling clients about non exiting approvals and making promises to clients before they set foot in the door. Quite disturbing. 

I have had 4 different GMs in under a year, reflective of how 401 operates. I had never worked in such a stressful environment, evidence of such poor moral is shown by the amount of people resigning. Pulling resources and delegating those jobs to remaining staff, withholding comissions for processes outside of your employment contract responsibilities, changing comission payment dates, and the list goes on. The other things that sabotage your income are "Customer Care" $985 and "Theft Benefit" $1,299 charges to a customer, making your administrative charges nearly $1,400 higher than your competitors.  Overall, 401 operates with one soul function: profit. Employees and customers are just numbers. This location had plenty of potential, unfortunately 401 mentality reduced this locations reputation to a shady used car dealership.

I quit and walked out faster then I walked in due to how uncomfortable they made me feel in a very short time.  I sat in a corner for 3 days watching videos of Kia with no one on one or actual training for my job title. Every question I had was unanswered or asking it made me feel like I was bothering them. During this time i did get the plessure of listening to service manager complain and talk about other staff negativly with the service employee upfront where customers are. Not something to do at all. Let alone up front and from management! 

Company profit seems to be top priority and  work/home life balance is at the bottom of the list. It was quite obvious right away it would be an absolute waist of my time and not something I'd like to be apart of. 

They have what seems to be little clicks and alot of ME people (as in not team players). I learned of many staff leaving or being unhappy at this establishment. I was told stories that matched exactly what I was seeing and the vibe I was getting from the service department. It's bad when other departments had to keep comming over to service asking me if I was doing okay! They could clearly read how uncomfortable and bothered  I was. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
I was given some nice projects to work on which was a motivation to get up and come to work everyday. Outside of that, there was many things that didn't sit well with me.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I felt we were overworked and there was often lots of stress in the overall work environment. There was a lot of turnover which can be very unsettling not knowing if your co-worker will be there when you arrive Monday morning.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
They like to think they have a great work environment and culture but it's far from it. It might be that way for those in management but for anyone else, it's not the case. It becomes clear that everyone is scared of the owners and management - it so surreal, in my opinion. Everyone walks on eggshells, scared that they may mess up. There are days when you don't feel like coming to work.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Come in, do you work to the best of your abilities but don't expect too much praise or encouragement for a job well done - especially from those on top. I did get to meet some nice people which was a plus.

I think its clear from the amount of job postings they constantly have out that this is a bad place to work. You're nothing more than a working number to them, and the fact that they call everyone there a family should be an alarming tell at how they either treat family or are willing to lie to you about being family. You will go without pay sometimes with no explanation other than work harder (I mean $0...for the month or more. Like not even minimum wage), you will be questioned that if you needed the money so bad why did you take your day off. But even so, they fire top performers and management routinely so you're never safe anyways. 
A fun game to play: go to their staff page on their website, take a screenshot of it today. Then at the end of the month go back and see who made the cut and who got let go. The number is always staggering and sometimes its even people with positions who would typically safe barring MAJOR problems.

I have been with 401 Auto for almost 3 Years and I can honestly say it is the greatest career move I ever made.
I started as an entry level employee and in the last 3 years I have been able to learn amazing skills that have allowed me to advance in the company very quickly.

Management at every location I have worked at have done nothing but help me train, learn and make work fun again. When you love what you do not one day feels like work!

We have a great team environment that is based on giving everyone the tools and opportunity they need to climb through the company and make a fantastic living for themselves and their families.

Do we work long hours sometimes, of course but I am also compensated very well for my time and effort. It feels amazing to finally feel like I'm paid what I am worth to a company.  There are stressful and challenging days just like in any other job but I have never had anything but support from my team and my management when needed.

This job requires a strong work ethic, dedication and a passion to succeed, but I promise you if you show up, learn, pay attention and show the willingness to succeed you will find you have a long and prosperous career at 401 Auto!

This place is less of a workplace and more of a corporate casting couch! Except instead of awkward auditions, you’re just getting screwed over daily without so much as a callback. From day one, it’s clear the only thing management values is profit, and they’ll happily sacrifice their team to get it.
Micromanagement is so extreme you’d think breathing without permission might trigger a write-up. Leadership is a masterclass in deflection: quick to snatch up any praise and even quicker to shove blame downhill when things go wrong. It’s easier for them to throw you under the bus than it is to take responsibility and with how often it happens, they should consider installing seatbelts in the break room.
If you enjoy being under appreciated, over scrutinized, and used as a human shield for managerial incompetence, this is the dream job for you.
And those overly positive 5-star reviews? Take them with a grain of salt. They feel more like PR efforts than genuine feedback—likely written by current employees encouraged to “boost the rating” with the promise of free lunch.

Worked at 401 for awhile. As stated in the summary, don't believe the high review. They expect their employees to provide high ratings and reviews for all their locations that they own.

The pay rate is average. The training is atrocious. You get maybe a week of "training" and then you're expected to know literally everything and management will often contradict the "training" provided and blame you for that. There are a few managers who resist corporate's influence and their sites work much more smoothly and efficiently however corporate doesn't like this and still tries to extend authority on such locations and employees. Witnessed multiple employees let go without cause days before their 3 months. Another worker was let go after bringing up safety concerns with covid. Many of the supervisors are definitely poorly trained but nepotism plays a large part here and these supervisors also play huge favourites.

All in all, the work is a lot and deadlines are tight for low pay, and it feels like you could be on the chopping block at any time. I'd avoid working here in the future if possible.

My coworkers were great and I enjoyed what I was doing. I was hired and had a start date on a Wednesday. I get there at the set time and had to wait for almost an hour for the manager to come greet me. I then filled in some paperwork and thats it. No orientation like was scheduled. Never get shown how to clock into the computerized system. Get to work right away. Told by the coworkers that they are glad I was there as they really needed the help due to staffing. Things go fine that day and for the rest of the week. Friday comes and the manager comes to see me at 4PM telling me there was a "communication error within the company" and that they'd be letting me go for no fault and that they'd be "going a different direction". Basically I wasted 3 days.  I told the people I worked with what had just happened for them to be disappointed they have to cover what I was doing again plus their own jobs, they also mentioned that communication errors within the company were common. I will never spend money with this company at any of their locations and I suggest you don't waste your time with them.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Technician 51 salaries reported	$33.82 per hour
Parts advisor 21 salaries reported	$45,595 per year
Apprentice automotive technician 25 salaries reported	$20.52 per hour
Receptionist 21 salaries reported	$18.29 per hour
Car sales executive 9 salaries reported	$122,500 per year

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