CarMax on Thursday expanded the number of store closures amid the coronavirus outbreak to 19 locations in California, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
Earlier this week, the nation’s largest used-vehicle retailer temporarily shuttered five of the stores in California under county shelter-in-place requirements. The company now has 10 stores temporarily closed in California, four in Nevada and five in Pennsylvania.
CarMax said the majority of its 215-plus stores remain open nationwide and that it has implemented several precautions for employees, according to a statement on its website. The safety protocols include going “handshake-free” with customers, enhanced cleaning and sanitization, instructing employees to stay home if they feel ill and requiring employees to report any diagnosis of COVID-19. Attendance at large events and conferences has been prohibited.
The company has also established new policies to help keep shoppers safe, such as allowing customers to test drive vehicles alone.
CarMax said it will continue to pay employees who work at closed locations or who need to be quarantined for up to 14 days.
“We will continue to actively monitor developments and governmental guidance and will take action to reduce the spread of the virus,” the retailer said in a statement.
Separately, a spokesman for Penske Automotive Group, the second-largest new-vehicle retailer in the U.S., said stores in Puerto Rico have closed. Penske Automotive’s website lists four stores there.
