parts technician

commissioner

salesperson

automotive technician

installation technician

4 Wheel Parts

I worked there shortly after the undercover boss episode came out. They made it seem like an incredible place to work! I helped them open the new store here in Chesterfield Va and was having a great time! Then the corporate guys showed up. 
The first warning sign should have been that everyone from the store manager up would tell you to do something in a completely different way. They weren't interested in hearing any different either.
Then the store opened, of course a lot of the corporate guys hung around for a while. It was expected.

The second warning sign should have been the monumental amount of turnover in the sales and service departments.

After the newness wore off the pressure started. It became more and more clear that your only mission there was to make them as much money as possible as quick as possible. If you weren't willing to sacrifice your family and life for them, they were going to shove you right out of the door. You're useless to them.

The goofy regional service manager was the worst of them all. He pretty much walked in the door and decided he didn't like me. He forced the shop manager to have a woodpile chat with me about how I need to work faster or get out. Mind you this was still just a month or two after opening a brand new store. We were still learning how to make it all work and get the shop into a flow. None of us were working up to speed! Him and the store manager were the primary reasons I left. I would likely still be there today if those two had not been there.

They have wasted a great opportunity to have a fun company to work for with gearheads and not just corporate "yes men". It's not 1955 anymore and it's isn't normal to belittle and remind your employees that you lord over them. If you foster a fun and welcoming work environment money will be pouring in through the windows because employees would be bringing it in out of the love of their job. Not because they risk losing their job as soon as they don't meet the sales numbers they're expected to bring.

The benefits are awesome however. Their house brand products might as well be free for employees.

Since I left the entire store has turned over from top to bottom except for one. That should speak for itself.

Starting off with the company was great and I thoroughly enjoyed working there. Polaris took bought out the parent company and after a couple years, things seem to have gone downhill. While the company is hitting record numbers, you don't see anything additional pay wise. If you are thinking about wanting a raise, you'll just be told to sell more. The store manager is a fantastic manager and did everything he could to help out all the employees. His manager did what he could to help as well. The downfall is that corporate ties all the mangers hands from being able to actually be a manager. You couldn't do anything without having the approval from the manager above you. It seemed like every month corporate office set down yet another tracker or spreadsheet for management to keep up with. The store manager went from being able to actually manage the store, to spending a good part of his time filling out trackers and reports. And prepare to be understaffed on a regular basis. The store I was in has been understaffed for going on 2 years.

The parts discount is great, especially on house brand parts. Majority of the guys I have worked with have been great and I have developed personal friendships with a couple of them. Morale took a dump a while ago and it shows.

If you want to work at a place that corporate controls every move, that requires you to work every Saturday, come in early and stay late all the time and want to miss doing things on the weekends...then 4 Wheel Parts is for you. 

Could be a fun environment, but upper management makes it impossible to relax, and techs not well trained, so sales guys constantly take the blow from customers for poorly executed work. We were there late constantly, atleast 2-3 days a week, waiting on techs to fix something or finish a job. Upper management is not well structured, so it seems like you have to chase down answers to questions that should be common knowledge. It always felt like it was very easy to get in trouble for something stupid and little as well. And finally the pay scale sucks. They pay you a low hourly wage, and the commissions fluctuates based on items, brands, days of the week, you name it, they had a reason the change the commission, so you can never count on a consistent paycheck, and on top of that, they have a minimum amount of sales that you have to reach to even get your commission, and coming from an experienced salesman, it was hard as a new guy to even reach that amount. Luckily I signed a guaranteed 3 month commission agreement, or else all 3 of those months I would have fallen short of the mark and not gotten commission to pay my bills with.

Great climb the ladder corporation, they tend to promote with in, so you can start at the bottom and work your way to the top. Fun culture, great perks to the job.  Unfortunately the job comes with some major down falls, hours are long especially near end of month or end of year during Thanksgiving, and Christmas time.  The company is fully focused on Money and if your on the bubble or below numbers, you are expected to work 12 plus hour days 6 days a week, and most likely come in on Sunday.  For a single person, it never bothered me, then I got married and had kids, I missed the first 4 years of my sons life, and first year of my daughters life.  I made a personal decision to back off the work train and focus on my family more.  This only upset the Regional Manager and he began to Micro Manage and really mess up the great team work atmosphere that was going on.  This ultimately made my job less enjoyable and forced me to leave.  I can say that I met my best friends from this company, a lot of great people, and had life experiences that will never be forgotten, I even met my Wife here, she was a customer. I owe a lot to this company, but eventually the straw will break you.

I opened up the new store in glen burnie MD. Worked there for 2+yrs as the top salesman. I made the least hourly but took home more than management because I can do my job right. Management in this company is out for themselves only. If your great at sales you’ll never move up cause you make them money.  Other salesman will stab you in the back to steal a sale from you. They say we are all 1 team yet everyone is payed as an individual.  Out of the hundreds of people I dealt with in the company only 3 were worth there job title regional service director, store manager of richmond and the man  in charge of opening new stores “my mentor” promises all the time and management never follows thru. Took everyone’s raise this yr due to Covid yet they projected way more profit then last yr. all they want is money.  Plz don’t transfer to another store they will screw you big time.

A typical day at work- Answer phones, greet customers, makes sales. 

What you believe you learned? Learned a lot, but also learned that the growth does not mean you'll get paid for it, poor salary compensation, their moto "sell more,get paid more but the percentage for the commission is low". Not to mention they also start you out with low hourly pay. What I learned the most,. corporate just sees employee numbers not the people who put in their time. 

Management? Depends on the location, mine was a great one but a s@#$ regional and only worried about himself and numbers. 

Workplace culture,- fun, high paced. 

The hardest part of the job? Inventory hardly any or to long to get which affects your sales goals, computer system not user friendly.

The most enjoyable part of the job- building and delivering trucks that customers appreciate and enjoy.

I’ve been in the automotive business most of my life, i was mostly in tune with old school, custom low cars, i worked in tire shops and dealerships as a mechanic before i was brought on board at 4wp, my experience with lifted vehicles is vague, they were willing to train but you have to catch on quickly because this company has a lot of people that have been doing this stuff for 10-20 years and expect you to stay on your toes with it because if you don’t they won’t hesitate to let you go. the shop vibes were cool, all the techs work individually but the shop manager helps techs as needed other than doing other jobs of his own, management is another story, they won’t hesitate to throw you under the bus or make you feel crummy based on your experience, the money & hours are good but that’s all i can say good about this company.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Good communication, friendly environment, always busy 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
New drivers, sloppy workers, refuse to follow step-by-step work environment 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Work environment always busy and friendly good communication with a professional culture

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Typical day 10 to 20 stops delivered off-road parts deal face-to-face with customers fulfilling customer needs always keeping positive professional attitude , fulfilling, different shifts as different situations arise within the company always keeping direct contact withsupervisor or management

Greeting customers and assisting them in selecting products and services. Don’t forget to offer warranties! The store manager is top notch and very knowledgeable of the target market and customer wants. I’ve learned that customers have budgets in mind and have specific wants and needs. The hardest part of the job is dealing with the constant snarky emails from the regional manager. Most enjoyable is when a build exceeds expectations and the customer realizes their dream. 

My personal experience at TAPS involved management of caring at all about issues presented in departmental teams. No regard for employees personal time constraints in other words, if they tell you an hour before your shift ends that you have to stay mandatory overtime... you will get written up and councelled or layed off, if you don’t. If your team doesn’t care to help you in a situation in which you NEED help, then you’re Out of luck  to complete your task til you can try and get management to pull their heads out of their a** and get production up. Depending on your department, you can either deal with relaxed management or unacceptable management.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Parts technician 1 salary reported	$25.00 per hour
Commissioner 24 salaries reported	$37,753 per year
Salesperson 20 salaries reported	$38,065 per year
Automotive technician 6 salaries reported	$27.83 per hour
Installation technician 1 salary reported	$70,000 per year

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