automotive technician

customer service representative

automotive detailer

locksmith

auto body technician

Car-Keys-Express

Pros- Company vehicle, cell phone, up to date equipment on hand to do the job. The hours are mon-fri and typically 9-5, and car keys are easy to make and program. Co-workers are great to work with, even though you will probably never meet them. Some account managers make great money upwards of 70-80k a year, and job isn't physically taxing. Also full benefits kicked in right away.

Cons- Can be a slow start at first. It is up to dealers to give you keys, starting salary is okay but then starts to decline. The hope is you do more keys. Inventory on keys can be an issue (this affects your pay), if you cant get to the minimum requirements can be the most miserable job of your life. Feeling like a pest asking dealers to make keys for them, when they don't have any keys that need made. Competitors are matching, if not beating car keys express' price points. Also the market for locksmiths who can do car keys is flooded with locksmiths. Mostly a sales job for the first 1-2 years in some cases 3 years until route is built.

The Truth-
Dealers are under no obligation to give you keys to do. Just because they have agreed to use car keys express, does not mean they will give you keys to do every week. As an account manager you will have to go from dealership to dealership or auction making car keys on a route. Your pay as an account manager is dependent on making keys with every stop. The requirements are 12 keys a day and $1000 a day of sales (at least as of Nov 2018, they are known to change pay plans all the time, not sure what it is as of 2019). The goal of an AM is to sell the dealer on total lot coverage which is making sure there are 2 keys on every vehicle on the dealers lot. The AM's who make good money have enough dealers in their area that have bought into the program. Dealers in some areas will not buy into the program (regardless of what car keys express tells new hires in new areas, it does not matter how many times you stop, some dealers just simply wont buy into the program). Your pay as an AM is up to you I can't say that enough.

Advice to new hires-
If you get offered a position as an account manager, do some research in your area first. Look up how many locksmiths are in the area, how many dealers are in the area, and how many auctions are in the area. Plan on stopping at all the dealers and auctions every week. You have to be motivated and patient to build your route. Dealers have many companies stop in every week to try and sell them something. This is anything from paint protect-ant, ding repair, and even other locksmiths. So you may get dismissed and you will have to keep stopping in. Your pay will suffer if your start is slow. If you are taking over for another AM in a good area you are one of the lucky ones. Keep in mind unless the AM who had a great route has died or moved, they probably wont leave the company at all, due to the great pay (because of the high volume of keys they do) and the hours. 

3 stars because of the hours and benefits, but can be the worst/best job of your life, so be careful taking a position as account manager.

I've been working for this company for just a little over a year now & in the short time I've been here, I've had nothing but good experiences. I started off working in the production building on the build line, where I learned a lot about different types of keys & the many ways to program & refurbish them. I had great training and my supervisors were always happy to answer any questions & show me any tips/tricks. After about 5 months on the build line, I got moved up to a new position where I helped fulfill the orders for our out of state drivers making sure they had the stock they need. Sure enough I ended up getting moved up to another position just a couple months after that as well & focused solely on our new drivers & making sure they had their entire stock. Shortly after being moved into that position I was approached by my new supervisor who offered me another new position that would actually take me out of the production building and into our retail location, where I actually became the manager of the retail store. Once I joined the team in the new building, that's where I really began to learn a lot more about the company & was taught many new great skills when it came to cutting & programming keys to vehicles. So with that brief walk thru of my time here with the company, it's obvious that if you can show up to work on time, & efficiently do your job, that there are plenty of opportunities to grow within the company. I also have personal friends within the company who have moved up in ranks as well, so it's evident that CKE likes to promote from within, which is for sure one of my favorite things about the company. I also love the fun stuff the company allows us to do like bring our dogs in on Fridays, or the company outings or events we have like lazer tag/bowling nights, ping pong tournaments, chili cook-offs, and other cool things like that.

The job itself, isn't bad. For the most part, you work by yourself. The home office is in a singular location and you work whatever territory you live in. The pay and the benefits are decent. And for the most part, as long as you do your job and reach your numbers, they'll leave you alone. However the company itself is one of the worst companies I've ever had to work for, as far as employee relations. They're constantly implementing new policies that make the job much harder than it needs to be and to take money from your paycheck. Your pay directly relies on the amount of products your able to sell and service, yet they often don't provide you with enough products to reach the numbers they've set for you. Even with their decent pay and benefits, a large number of employees continue to quit and they have a hard time hiring and maintaining new employees. When you have decent compensation and benefits, yet people still don't want to work for you, especially in this current job market, that's a clear indicator of poor employee relations. 

Interview was easy. A quick zoom call for 5 minutes and then an in person meeting for orientation. No questions about previous experience asked. Was told I’d get $800-1000 a week to start, then $1200-1500 a week. This is not true. You’re lucky if you get higher than minimum wage most weeks due to the way their commission system is set up. It’s pooled together and divided among all workers based on hours worked, but they hire more people than needed, so it’s spread thin. Market is saturated so sales aren’t as high as they were a year ago. Opportunities for overtime are there and typically expected. 5-6 days a week including weekends, 40-60 hours a week. No benefits whatsoever, no raises or bonuses when you reach higher tech level. And you’re expected to run your own van in a different state/country after training is done. Not good fit if you have a family that isn’t able to move with you. Expect to travel 1-3 hours away from home for one week at a time every 1-2 months in a shared Air BnB. Mostly a sales job. 

I've been at CKE for a year and it's been a great fit for me so far. I love the fact that upper level executives and directors are easily accessible to meet and collaborate with. I don't feel micromanaged and because of that, I've grown professionally in this type of environment. I've also seen employees work their way up into better positions and it's nice to know that they promote from within. I like the people I work with and that seems to be the consensus. I enjoy the projects I've gotten to work on and I've learned a lot, not just about the industry, but skills that will help me moving forward in my career. 

The work/life balance is great. When they say you get off at 5pm, they mean it. There are certainly days I'll stay after 15-20 min to finish up, but for the most part I'm out of here by 5. I've worked places where you're judged by coworkers for leaving on time but it's really not like that here.

I have worked at Car Keys Express for almost 8 years in the field. 
This company has proven itself time and time again to be focused on taking care of us in a way that ANYONE else cutting/programming keys in the field only wishes!
Because we can build and grow our own route, It's been a steady raise in compensation each year and since they like to promote from within, there is always an opportunity to move up in the company... which means the world to me!

Yes, inventory has always been an issue for availability, but any position that involves tons of different and constantly updating overhead would have difficulties with this. 

I want a place to call home for years to come and Car Keys Express has proven to me that this is the case.

I have worked here for over 4 years. I enjoy the job and the people I work with.  

Car Keys Express provides the ideal work life balance for its employees. 
Moving into this work from home position has allowed me the ability to apply the time that I previously spent commuting, to accomplish more work and feel far more productive overall. It also provides me some flexibility in the event I need to use my lunch time for personal things, which has become very important to me.

Car Keys Express has some of the best people I have ever worked with.  I have worked at two other medium sized business over the past 11 years and the people here are incredible. Everyone is helpful and works as a team to ensure goals are well aligned, and met. We all feel very connected, as all departments communicate multiple times per day to ensure decisions are not made independently. 


Pay is good job its self isn't to bad. But if anything goes wrong you are on an island by yourself!!! No one at the home office returns phone call's or emails. Support is one thing they pitch to you during interview. And that support is not there after the first month on the road. My territory manager will flat out ignore me. I have never talked to the person. After multiple phone calls and emails just to introduce myself I received a text telling me to contact my OSR for support. I am your employee I just wanted to introduce myself. Training is great and will 100% set up up to WIN. Inventory will NOT. It's hard to get the keys you need. It's hard to keep a customer when week after week you telling them you don't have they key. Order the keys all you want you won't get them.

The environment moves fast and there’s always something needing attention, but the bigger problem is how often expectations and priorities seem to shift without enough communication, so instead of building momentum and feeling productive, you spend a lot of time adjusting to changes that could have been clarified earlier, and over time it becomes frustrating because even when you’re trying to stay organized and proactive, it still feels like you’re reacting to last-minute updates or unclear direction more than actually working toward something stable.

You will be promised lots of things, it wont be true. You will have to keep track of, complain about and argue to get ANY of what you were promised. Upper management has 0 respect for their everyday people going out there. I was told repeatedly that we were just trained monkeys easily replaced.
ANYTHING they promise you make sure to get it in writing or it doesn't exist. Somebody's word means nothing with this company. They will lie about anything that could benefit them.


Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Automotive technician 172 salaries reported	$71,150 per year
Customer service representative 40 salaries reported	$45,000 per year
Automotive detailer 8 salaries reported	$16.00 per hour
Locksmith 1 salary reported	$62,440 per year
Auto body technician 17 salaries reported	$62,647 per year

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