customer experience specialist

sales

automotive technician

automotive detailer

customer service representative

DriveTime Automotive Group

I was recruited by DriveTime from outside the automotive industry and took the position of CEG (sales representative) as a chance to explore other career paths. It's a great position if you're looking to learn something new. I learned quite a bit about effective sales strategies, underwriting, financial services and the automotive industry that will serve me well in future pursuits. My store managers were generally patient and encouraging and the team I worked alongside were motivated and helpful. Benefits are outstanding, but at the cost of work/life balance and relatively low overall compensation. Beyond the base salary, bonuses are tied to dealership performance on quotas, but don't expect six-figure OTE. Your total sales bonus is not likely to approach $20K/yr, even if you're hitting all quotas and KPIs. 

DriveTime functions in the subprime market segment, so most of the work in this position isn't actual sales as much as it is underwriting and solving problems for potential customers struggling with financing. Prepare to spend most of your time trying to collect paystubs and bank statements from people who struggle with technology or have unusual sources of income, explaining the basics of auto financing, and trying to set customers up with legally required insurance policies that they did not budget for. A lot of sales will fall through because customers can't get verified, can't afford down payments, or can't get insured. You'll often be staying well past close as customers struggle with validating documents, selecting a vehicle, or haggling with insurance agents. You'll be using a lot more of your patience, problem solving, and de-escalation skills than actual sales skills.

You'll also be the front line dealing with customer complaints--and lord, there will be a lot of them. The quality of vehicles coming out of reconditioning is quite variable, and you'll be facing down plenty of lot repairs, vehicle returns, and customers calling you a month after the sale with significant issues that the warranty won't cover. Most of them will not be patient or happy. A thick skin is required for this job, as you're the face of a company that doesn't seem to care about their product quality or customer support.

Management is the biggest issue I had with DriveTime. The structure is very top-heavy and dealership-level management is given a very short leash to effectively control their stores or support their staff. Understaffing is common, and salespeople are expected to fill roles typically performed by lot techs, service departments, receptionists, office managers, etc. atop their actual sales duties. Top-level management only sees the sales numbers and refuses to listen when dealership staff is overworked or facing difficulty. Rather than listen to the store-level employees' concerns about staffing, process, product quality, or market issues, they'll often double down on negative feedback about not making enough sales calls, not using the right sales language on calls, and not hitting KPIs. The blame always falls on the salespeople and burnout is common with the expected workload. Performance goals are always placed just out of reach, and even when met, are rewarded with promises of advancement or recognition that never come. Top performers are systemically discouraged from performing while simultaneously threatened with punishment for not meeting these lofty expectations.

Being a CEG at DriveTime is a good place to dip your toes into automotive sales, but it will burn you out quickly for little reward. There's little room for career advancement from the store level but a lot of pressure to perform at a high level and take on tasks outside the position's scope anyways. If you're looking to get into auto sales and can stomach frustration while juggling high expectations and a heavy workload, a CEG position might work out for you. If you're looking to develop high-level sales skills or make that six figure OTE, it might be best to look elsewhere.

The Company’s management comes across as distant and performative. The structure appears to value dashboards, timers, and automated nudges more than actual human leadership. What is presented as oversight reads more like a layer of software standing in for people who are rarely present when things start to go wrong.

Training feels shallow for work that is anything but simple. The systems involved strike as unusually intricate, yet the learning process seems rushed and improvised. That gap leaves employees to navigate complexity on their own, while being quietly judged for not mastering it fast enough.

What replaces real supervision looks like a reward-and-penalty mindset built out of metrics instead of mentorship. The constant automated reminders about status, queues, and availability feel like a digital version of presenteeism. They fire off so often that they blur into background noise, encouraging people to click, acknowledge, and move on rather than actually engage.

High performers appear, from this vantage point, to carry more than their share while others drift by under the same “team” label. Because daily activity does not seem to be observed in any nuanced way, the workload feels uneven, even though accountability is spoken about constantly. When service levels slip, the tone of the feedback reads more like scolding than support, even when it is packaged as coaching.

Scheduling has a way of feeling arbitrary. Shifts show up late, time-off approvals linger in limbo, and changes arrive close enough to the workweek to make planning personal life feel like a gamble. The absence of a clear, formal way to handle Saturday rotations adds to the sense that the calendar belongs to the Company, not the people living inside it.

Managerial responsibilities seem to drift downward largely because management is so rarely present. Support and escalation roles end up handling review-season conversations and feedback duties, not out of design but out of necessity, which leaves the entire structure feeling improvised and unstable.

Team meetings no longer resemble a place for shared problem-solving. They come across more like recurring complaint sessions from upper management about service-level numbers, leaving little space for discussing stuck tickets, broken processes, or what might actually help the work move more smoothly.

Compensation feels out of step with the level of technical complexity and cognitive load the role seems to require. The expectations suggest a highly skilled position, while the pay suggests something far more ordinary.

The hybrid schedule stands out as the one consistently positive element, offering a small amount of breathing room in an otherwise rigid environment.

This account is offered as a personal perspective on how the job comes across from the inside, with the hope that these patterns might be recognized and improved rather than simply acknowledged and filed away.

I really enjoyed this job and could see it as a career for myself. Then the higher ups in their infinite wisdom insisted on implementing the "DriveTime Way" which is just another way to use extreme micromanagement on all Customer Experience Guides. The DT way works in some situations but in a lot of situations it just doesn't. But that doesn't matter to DriveTime as they will punish you or fire you for not following  a unrealistic guidebook. It really shows how extremely disconnected folks in upper management when it comes to how things work in a dealership. DriveTime is a reactive company and is in no way proactive. For example if a majority of the company misses sales goals for a month they will dig in to every little aspect of the job to blame it on the Customer Experience Guides. Its never the analytics department fault, upper managers fault its always our fault. "Oh well you didn't make enough calls, oh your need to have a average call time that's 5 seconds longer, oh the second buy option you printed was wrong, etc" they will literally find any small thing to micromanage, and I mean literally EVERYTHING. They expect perfection at every turn and if you are not you will hear about it. The cars they sell are littered with problems. Not every car is a lemon, but most of them have many serious problems after the  sale and DriveTime's own warranty company does everything they can to deny claims. The managers at my dealership were getting in trouble just for creating too many repair tickets for the cars on our lot with issues because we didn't want to sell cars we knew had problems, god forbid. When it comes to the cars they buy at auction they go for the bargain priced cars, over price them at the dealership and then spend thousands to fix them and blame it on the dealerships, amazing. I feel about literally half the Kia/Hyundai cars I sold customers would call back with a matter of days to weeks to tell me their engine has blown.
DriveTime really needs to look itself in the mirror and stop blaming everything that goes wrong in this company on the sales people and look at their internal processes more, including the analytics' team. If the computer programs don't agree with something, once again its the sales people fault always.
And lastly something that rubbed me the wrong way is the need to tell people as little as possible on the phone to get them into the dealership. If you see they have low income or a bad approval you cannot tell them that you would recommend bringing a co-buyer with them or give them any useful information. You have to act like everything is great and to come in even if they have no ride, live hours away, etc. That's just plain wrong. If you told them the truth, don't worry you will be written up or fired because they listen to about every incoming phone call, again to make sure they keep their standards of extreme micromanagement and misleading customers.
If you enjoy being micromanaged and corporate caring more about what computer analytics say more than employees then this is the place for you.

DriveTime is a used car dealership that specializes in financing for customers with bad or no credit. The company has a strong focus on customer service and aims to make the car-buying process as easy and stress-free as possible. Here are some common pros and cons of working with DriveTime:

Pros:

Easy financing: One of the biggest advantages of working with DriveTime is the company's easy financing options. Customers with bad credit or no credit can still get approved for a car loan, which can be a major hurdle when trying to buy a car.
Wide selection of vehicles: DriveTime has a large selection of used cars, trucks, and SUVs to choose from. Customers can browse online or in person to find a vehicle that fits their needs and budget.
Excellent customer service: Many customers report that DriveTime has excellent customer service. The company has a team of knowledgeable and helpful salespeople who are willing to answer questions and guide customers through the car-buying process.
Cons:

High interest rates: While DriveTime's financing options can be helpful for customers with bad credit, the interest rates on these loans can be very high. This means that customers may end up paying significantly more for their vehicle over the life of the loan.
Limited warranty options: Some customers have reported that DriveTime's warranty options are limited compared to other dealerships. This can be a concern for customers who are buying a used car and want to ensure that they are protected in case something goes wrong.
Limited locations: DriveTime does not have as many locations as some other car dealerships, which can make it difficult for customers who live in rural areas or areas without a nearby DriveTime location.
Overall, DriveTime can be a good option for customers with bad credit who are looking to buy a used car. The company's easy financing and wide selection of vehicles are definite advantages, but the high-interest rates and limited warranty options may be a concern for some customers.

I worked at DriveTime, specifically the Online Experience Team for a few of months. While there were some talented colleagues who made the experience more enjoyable, the overall work environment was extremely micromanaged, making it difficult to feel trusted or empowered in my role. Management frequently gave backhanded compliments, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere and making feedback feel more like criticism than constructive support.

Clocking in every day felt worse than a prison sentence, as the oppressive culture drained any sense of motivation or fulfillment. Break times were another point of stress—going even one minute over the allotted time was met with unexpected scrutiny and belittling remarks. On top of that, management often failed to communicate effectively with each other, leading to unnecessary calls and messages that disrupted workflow and added to the frustration.

I constantly felt like nothing more than a body to fill a desk and take back-to-back calls. When working on the dialer, the calls were so relentless that you couldn’t even take a sip of water before the next call came in. This environment was dehumanizing and exhausting.

Additionally, the work-life balance was virtually nonexistent, with expectations to work long hours and minimal flexibility. This relentless environment took a significant toll on my mental well-being. Overall, this experience was horrible, and I would not recommend this workplace to even my worst enemy.

For the company, I would strongly suggest fostering a more supportive and trusting culture, improving internal communication, and providing transparent, constructive feedback. For prospective employees, proceed with caution if you prioritize a positive, balanced workplace.

Typically my day starts out making my daily phone calls; I complete anywhere between 60-100 calls a day. When a customer comes in looking to get a car, we go through the process from our get approved form, to bringing back the information to management to finalize the approval. After this we take the customers on a test drive till they select their perfect vehicle. We contact the insurance companies with the customer present so they vehicle can get added. After that all paperwork has been signed and they drive off. 
    I have learned a lot about customer service. You deal with many different walks of life and you learn to adapt to every situation.
   My management team can be hit or miss. There are days we work very well together but then their job titles seem to get to them and they treat you like you will never succeed to their level.
   My co-workers are the best part of my job. We interact very well, both on a personal level and a work level. We work off each others strengths and weaknesses to improve our daily goals. We not only work hard, but we get the chance to play hard as well. My co-workers are my second family.
    The hardest part of my job is the lack of work/life balance. We work very long hours and we work weekends. It's very rare when I get to see my family and friends. I don't get to see my home in the daylight and I don't get to see my niece and nephew who I feel are growing up too fast. I can't take family vacations during certain months because of tax season and PTO is prohibited. 
    The enjoyable part of my job is the fact that I'm very good at what I do. I never thought I would be great at selling cars but it comes easy to me. I make very good money and really enjoy helping people get a car they need.

I enjoyed the company when I first started. I am able to put up with a decent amount of micromanaging and also I know I, as an employee always have something to improve on, but after 2 years of working there, enough is enough. The work life balance promised and often referred to does not exist, management does not understand the human side of their employees. Overall a business is a business. I understand the customer comes first and there are sacrifices every employee makes to make this happen but the reality is the managers micromanage every little detail of your work life, even some of the smallest aspect which do not pertain to success at DriveTime. For example, if you are friendly with another employee, they continually talk to you about perception. Everyday something changes with what they are doing to make the dealership successful with a "sky is falling" mentality many times instead of training etc. they are just rehashing the same old instructions you already know. The hours are literally horrible to the point where you should actually not plan anything within 2 hours of your shift end time. The management even want you to stay late if the store is not busy to the point where you feel bad leaving close to on time. There are too many things to list of the negatives, every employee aside from a couple managers at my dealership want a change of job, some cant afford to, some are working on it, I believe it is 60% management and 40% company policies. There are some positives, a good paycheck at times, at select times a laid back atmosphere, the occasional free lunch.  

I began in Mandatory (High Delinquency) collections, managing a portfolio of DriveTime loans that were typically 60-120 days past due (dpd). We used a propriety system which I had to learn, but it was relatively easy to adapt to. I was successful in this role, and eventually was asked to move into the mid-0range department (30-60 dpd) of accounts to help the department have a more stern action towards their collections efforts, where we experience growth and high numbers that topped the prior years rankings by quarters. for the last 6 months of time, I have been in a specialized department called the Redemptions Team, and we oversee all repossessed DriveTime Vehicle Accounts and seek to work with the customer to redeem the loan and put the customer back into the unit, whether the account is active, new, or even charged off. I developed my skills with the customer in being more direct, conveying importance and even showing customers a benefit to managing their credit obligations. This helped me to strengthen my empathy and cooperative skills with the public, as well as helped to develop problem solving skills and conflict resolution in situations where people had been in collections for several months and there had been no resolution. I also had to be a multi-tasker, and address many issues and calls at once, and bridge from account notes to conversation quickly and effectively. I spoke with clients, repo agents, auto auctions, and management.

Not worth working for a dishonest company like DriveTime. I worked at their IC in Sanford Fl, and I honestly never hated a job in such a short time like i did with this one. They buy their cars from the auction and is like they get the crappiest cars from there. Also not only do they get crappie cars, they love not fixing them and selling them like that. I had car that came in with oil leaks and there rule is if is leaking and there is no drops at the moment of inspection the car is good. So the car needs to have a severe leak in order for them to fix it, other than that brake clean would do. Also you get two 15 minutes break and a 30 minute lunch, they spec for you to use the restroom within those times because if not they already looking at you with a face. Another thing is that they want to picture you that their company is about team work but is really not. The way it works is a car comes in and go through a process and if you miss something but someone else finds what you missed, they go running to the manager and complain on how you miss something. Lastly they expect you to take the same amount of time in every car regardless of brand and model, so if you get a truck they expect you to take the same time to do the work on it as if you was doing a little car. What else can i say, there is so many negative things about this place that i could just keep on writing. 
Dont waste your time in working in their Inspection center, at their interviews they want to picture you such a great place to work and have team work but when you work there in less than a week you see their true faces.

The company has changed its direction and is trying to sell cars to more credit worthy folks. However, the name "DriveTime" is tarnished by high interest rates, bad service and bad cars.

Like selling cars? Great. Hopefully the customers don't return it when it breaks in 2 days! Because you'll be giving your commission back. Happened ALL THE TIME.  I was the top producer in my store in 2016 and was laid off if that tells you anything. The managers will split up the "good" leads. Why? If you sell more cars, you get paid more per car....be good at selling, just don't be THAT good at selling.

Many manager have been demoted to simply sales staff and company is hiring outside to get new blood. My friends that still work there are miserable....but it does pay their bills.

Company having hard time selling cars bc they were in the sub-prime maket.... LOST A LOT OF MONEY, and now want to sell to prime customers.....but the prime customers don't like you DriveTime. There's CarMax for that....They must've heard about your high rates and shotty cars.

Btw, many employees were doing unethical things for purchases to clear underwriting. Company found out and couldn't sell many of the loans....this is what happens when you have unrealistic budgets and you cut peoples salary by 30%. You forced you own employees to cannibalize your own business. TREAT THE EMPLOYEES RIGHT, THE CUSTOMERS RIGHT, AND KEEP PLENTY OF OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE....and stop laying off your top producers even if they ARE unhappy working for you.  At least they are/were selling cars.

Good luck.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Customer experience specialist 74 salaries reported	$50,448 per year
Sales 78 salaries reported	$54,218 per year
Automotive technician 105 salaries reported	$26.90 per hour
Automotive detailer 56 salaries reported	$15.90 per hour
Customer service representative 2 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour

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