car sales executive

automotive technician

automotive mechanic

counter person

lot attendant

Fred Beans Automotive Group

Prior to the coronavirus, I was unhappy at this job for many reasons, most notably, it was an office job that I worked at for a year and they never completed my office. My work space had been incomplete for a year with continuous promises that they would finish construction but the company never fulfilled their promise. It must have been easy for them to put this construction project on the back burner but for me, I was in a great deal of unnecessary, physical pain. I was working at a service desk for close to nine hours a day instead completing the required paperwork and computer work at a real office desk. 

I regularly skipped my lunch break because there was no one to fill in answering the phones if I went to lunch. My understanding is that most Fred Beans locations had more than one cashier but for some reason, my location only had one cashier at a time. I found that if I was not present to answer the phones, often times this led to the building ignoring the phones entirely even after I returned from lunch. Eventually, I found it was easier to just work through my lunch. 

Overall, the different departments(service, techs, parts, sales) are not good at working together. Predictably, this makes it harder to get work done. I always thought that everyone was overworked. Working six days a week(service) and working every Saturday(sales) is too much. The lack of balance can't help but add to the negative work culture. 

The health benefits left a lot to be desired. Expensive and not particularly helpful. The company also bragged frequently about offering mental health help but when I attempted to use it, the service was defunct, even though the company had advertised about the phone service recently.

I believe I had just 5 paid time off days but most of those days the company forced me to use before I could file for unemployment and this was true for most of the building. This worried me because what effect could this have other than encouraging workers to come in sick?

During the pandemic, I remained anxious about the company's mishandling of the crisis. The CEO and many in management sent out emails about the virus calling it the "general flu" and overblown. There was little to no acknowledgement about the real threat and I think this is because many people working there think the virus is a hoax. The company as a whole was not good about following CDC guidelines(masks, distancing, hand washing) and this created a moral conflict for me even as I voiced my concerns regularly. 

Towards to end of July, I found out secondhand that there were positive coronavirus cases at a building that I had regular contact with through daily deliveries. Later that day, a company wide email was sent out confirming that there were multiple positive cases and multiple Fred Beans locations. Based on the email, it was clear to see that the company was not following the CDC guidelines for positive covid cases. Later, I found out that the company knew about the positive coronavirus cases five days prior to informing their employees via email. 

At a time like this, it is important to be able to trust that an employer will be well-informed by medical professionals and that an employer will keep their employees informed in a truthful, timely manner. Fred Beans proved to be unwilling to do this in any meaningful way.  It's great that they give checks out to people in need but if they do not do their part to keep the coronavirus under control, all they are doing is making the pandemic go on longer and causing more pain to the community. Work carried out thoughtfully would be more helpful than the money Fred Beans publicly gives away. Often times, it felt like the company was just using the coronavirus as an ongoing PR opportunity. The money they were giving away was just money they are deducting from the salespeople's paychecks anyway. Gotta pay those millions of dollars on PPP money back if you want that tax break. 

First off Fred and Beth are great people. They really do care about their employees. So this review is just for the Ford store in mechanicsburg. First the general manager which is a super nice guy, but he’s not a leader in anyway. He avoids confrontation at all costs and and hides as much as possible. He will not hold anyone accountable unless HR is involved which creates a snowball effect with the service manager. The service manager is absent and also struggles holding people accountable. He is not a leader or a coach in anyway. He struggles to perform his day to day tasks and seems to delicate them to other people which creates anxiety and animosity. Why have no one to guide our service writers and and help them exceed with their daily tasks. The service writers is a revolving door and it’s because of lack of leadership and guidance from above management. This is exactly the definition of insanity!!! Continuing with the snowball effect with everything mentioned above you can see how this affects the technicians. With the constant service writer turn over it’s a continuous reset on the processes on how we do things. And there is zero accountability.  I’m a long term employee and these exact issues have been the same issues for years. With corporate being so far away they just rely the numbers and communication with the general manager. This place could be a freaking gold mine with the right leadership! The retail traffic is incredible, but we just manage to constantly over promise and under deliver. It’s time for change! It’s time to stop settling for ok and start looking for great!  

The Mechanicsburg Kia dealership work day typically starts with a random drawing to determine your place in the up system. Once the order has been determined, there are customer calls to make through the CRM system and trainings to take while you wait for your chance. The up system is used as a recruiting tool to create the impression that there is something like an equal opportunity to sell cars to prospective buyers. As time goes by, you will likely notice, as I did, that it is a useful device to keep you occupied with tire-kickers while all actual promising leads are channeled (discreetly) to the sales manager's personal friends who have worked there for years. The newer sales staff's only real strategic purpose is to handle overflow when and if it occurs after the in-crowd has been fed. This is overflow they are hoping for in a store that consistently generates less customer traffic and sells fewer cars than the other local  Kia dealership. You will, of course, be welcome to sell to your own customer base and make follow-up phone calls to past customers for all the previous sales people who have quit or been fired before you, as would be the case in every other dealership in the area.
The compensation package appears generous at first, but pales rapidly when stacked against the hours that must be worked and the limited opportunity for any real success. Management and staff are, for the most part, friendly and professional enough, but the only real future while the current culture remains in place is for those who already have an extensive past there.

If you're struggling with something in/out of work, the company may lend you a hand with things like the Employee Assistance Program or more...as long as you're on the company's good side. If you want to learn something new, you have opportunities to pick up new skills. You'll always have something to do at work because it's a very busy place.

Unfortunately, you have no good tools/resources to help you with your tasks, and if someone else breaks/misplaces your stuff let alone delays your tasks it's somehow your fault. Trying to get work clothes is a hassle, and almost takes 6 months to get the required clothing, which is why a lot of employees wear whatever to work. Teams hardly respect each other despite a few collaborations. It is very common to see 5-10+ people quit or get fired from the company on a monthly basis. Supervisors display favoritism, as employees get away with things even if they disrupt another team's work.

the head of driving division has got to be the worst manager i have ever met ! does not know how to talk to employee's. speaks to you like your trash, or like your a 5 yr old when you make a mistake. this also goes for managers above him, they care nothing about employee needs or idea's. i worked there for 7 years, and called h.r on many occasions to complain about head of driving divisions conduct , nothing happens. and there is no advancement if you work at the sussex crossdock. all trucks have issues,they only fix when truck breaks down. they throw drivers under the bus to customers,management is never wrong,its always the drivers fault. as for raises, you have to chase after them, i got 2 raises in 7 yrs ! and from $12 hr to $14 hr in 7 yrs !  worst career move i ever made working there. they just use you,dont care if you stay or go. hours, my start time was 5 30 am and they want you fully loaded and out the door by 6 00 am, i worked hard and fast and got back most days by 2 00 pm. but some drivers got back at 5 00 / 7 00 pm ! if you got alot of overtime they would make you take a day off unpaid , or make you use one of your days. if you have to work there just use them for a short term paycheck and move on , trust me!

I was a hot shot driver and lasted 4 DAYS!!! We agreed to a schedule and when I started, they changed it and said I did not sign the form.  No I did not sign the new form, I signed the one we agreed one  week before I started. I was told that deliveries were local with upstate NJ and New York deliveries "once in a while."  I saw the New York City skyline  every day of my short career.  They issue a phone that contains your route and directions to the customer. The phone never worked and continued to shut down.  I had to use my cell phone to navigate home every day!  I brought this to the attention of management.  They said a new battery was put in the phone one day before I resigned.  The phone did not change and continued to fail.  The pickup truck I was issued actually had WIND UP WINDOWS!!! There was no cover supplied and parts boxes were soaked in the rain. I actually had a customer ask about covering the parts. The truck bed was too short to accommodate longer parts like bumper assemblies.  Get the truck to 60 MPH and the steering wheel would vibrate out of your hands.  The hiring process took WEEKS and when I started I was to be issued a swipe card to keep time. They had plenty of time to provide the card  I never got the card.  You do not want this job.

management is a joke filled with temperamental children who will throw a fit when things don't go the way they planned. they will tell you that there is always work to do to gain hours when there isn't. The pay is terrible if you're flat rate because of how little each job pays out. management won't acknowledge any problems with their system or work availability differences and will play favoritism with employees. little to no training, no growth plans or cooperation, and HR is barely existent, (I was lucky to even be made aware that I have benefits such as a 401k and wasn't talked with about any of it until 4 MONTHS IN.) this place treats its customers terribly and will treat you even worse. to them, you are just a cog in the machine with no room for advancement or acknowledgment for meeting goals or performing better. the only way to succeed and make money in this company is to perform unethical work that barely passes as done and cheat your way to the top. 

The only good thing I have to say is if you're not in management we're all miserable here and we laugh about it. so yay funny coworkers!

I was passed up for promotions more than once even though they like to say they promote from within which is not the case. Upper management in the bodyshop is a joke, they have little to no experience with running a collision center, they only care about profit. Carstar as a whole is nothing but a marketing gimmick, they offer very little hands on help with little to no positive feedback for achieving or meeting goals. They expect more and more from each employee but take no time to recognize individual achievement. They take for granted good employees and sour them with their unrealistic expectations and goals. Carstar and Fred Beans are more likely to push away hard working employees then actually reward success. The benefits are poor to say the least, for such a large company you expect more. You are only a number, they think good employees fall from the sky. Carstar is the worst thing that ever happened to fred beans, they promise you the world and you get nothing for your hard work and accomplishments.

I was a parts deliverer out of the Swedesboro office, while I knew the pay was not the best I was told I'd get enough hours to compensate for the lack of compensation. I was told that most driver did between 9-10 of work. That was fine for me going along with the pay I'd be able to make a decent wage. However I was given a route that could be done in less than six hours and seen checks that were just laughable. I was told that the route stops would be increased to make it a more steady and beneficial route......wrong they did nothing to increase it. I was told that's why the last few driver left because of the mis-information regarding the workload. I eventually left the company because I found a better opportunity and Fred Beans has still yet to send me my final pay and now I had to file a complaint with Labor and Industry and the EEOC. Unless your a young kid or a retired gentleman do not try to work here for a living it is impossible.....Oh and did I mention they do not give raises here so if you get hired at the $12.50 they are advertising that's what you'll be making for the duration of you time there.......again unless your some young kid or a retired gentleman don't do it.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Car sales executive 225 salaries reported	$75,633 per year
Automotive technician 116 salaries reported	$77,996 per year
Automotive mechanic 30 salaries reported	$83,167 per year
Counter person 34 salaries reported	$50,059 per year
Lot attendant 23 salaries reported	$17.20 per hour

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