Working at Carmax: A Tale of a WRX STI & A Douchebag

"sellphones2493" (sellphones2493) 01/04/2015 at 00:05 • Filed to: None

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So I worked at Carmax during the summer of 2013. I'm in college and couldn't get an internship, but I could get a 'real' job selling cars at Carmax. I did pretty well there. What I didn't gain in experience and in money, I gained in stories. Here's a pretty good one.

I had a customer come in looking at a WRX STI. He was like 18 or 19 years old and came off as a douche (I was only 20 at the time, but the guy was pretty hard to relate to). He had me get his distastefully modded '02ish WRX in the mean time.

Per Carmax Policy, I had to drive the WRX STI off the lot, then we'd switch seats. I knew the kid was joyriding - mostly because a) he was 18 or 19 looking at a $36,000 Car b) it was like a Wednesday at 11am. I figure I'd let him go for it because it was a like a Wednesday at 11am (aka I'm bored shitless because nobody comes to Carmax on like a Wednesday at 11am).

While leaving the lot, he was paying a lot of attention to what I was doing, in terms of shifting and whatnot. He was saying that this thing probably has nothing on his WRX because of the exhaust he installed.

We reached the area where we switched seats. He got in the driver's seat (the car was in neutral), he removed the E-Brake, and put his foot on the pedal, then tried to throw it into first. The kid was fucking revving it and wondering why it wasn't going anywhere. He then tried to say it was broken.

I'll admit, I was a little slow, but I eventually realized this kid had no clue how to drive a stick. At the time, I had no clue they even ever made a WRX with a slushbox, which he evidently had.

I asked if he's ever driven a standard, and he said that he has (sort of in a douchey, condescending tone).

I was a little fed up with his doucheyness, so I replied by saying (keep in mind he's still trying to rev the thing to a start) "well you have to use the clutch".

He replied (I kid you not) "my old 'whip' didn't make you use the clutch". He then kept it running, and popped the hood (we're currently on the side of the road), trying to find issue with the clutch on the $36,000 nearly brand new WRX STI (because you'll find clutch problems in the engine bay).

I eventually said to him, "this doesn't seem like the car you're looking for".

We then turned around and I drove it back onto the lot. He angrily told me that the WRX STI we [attempted] to drive was 'wack' and that it should be parted off or sold for scrap.

So then I had to deliver his appraisal. I shit you not, his 2002 WRX had 11 previous owners, had been in 7 accidents (3 of which under him), and had odometer rollback.

Carmax offered him $2,000. He got pissed off, claiming he paid 35K for it, then left in a huff. I watched him leave - he reversed out of his spot, and slammed it into drive at like 10 mph.

That was the last I saw of him...

______________________________

I have a fair amount of other stories from Carmax, including a super sexy real estate agent who took me on a 120mph test drive in a Cayenne while wearing 4 inch heals, selling a $60,000 car cash to sketchy Russians, being threatened by a customer's family member because of a finance rate, etc. The list goes on. Depending how this goes, there may be more!

Dsscats > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:10

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Inb4 *Tale

Dsscats > Dsscats 01/04/2015 at 00:13

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But fantastically LOLworthy story

Toby F., Manager > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:13

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More pls!

Vicente Esteve > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:16

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Holy crap what a great story. I love that the world is filled with people like him, they make for great anecdotes.

Justin T. Westbrook > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:16

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I came extremely close to working as a salesman for Carmax. I just never felt confident or serious about it. I likely couldn't handle a situation like this. (I am currently 20, as you were.) I personally would love more stories.

Arben72 > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:17

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My Saabaru is an auto, for now... I might be a tad bit of a douche though, but I do at least know the arts of manuél.

Life and Times of Magoo: The People's Champ > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:18

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Good on you. Some clown tries to drive that expensive of a car with no clue about a manual and I would probably flip on him.

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:19

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I told my parents that if I'm not able to get an internship this semester that I really want to work at a car dealership. How did you get the job? How old were you? Just for some advice if I really want to do this eventhough my parents would rather me sit on my butt at home than sell cars.

sellphones2493 > Dsscats 01/04/2015 at 00:19

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FIXED. Thanks

Xyl0c41n3 > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:19

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Moar, please. I always love good customer service stories. ^_^

WhiskeyGolf > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:20

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That was the last you saw of him...

until passing him parked on the side of the road with the hood up.

scoob > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:23

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!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

jvirgs drives a Subaru > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:23

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I'd love to hear more. Currently shopping for a car through CarMax and could imagine the types of people that come in there.

sellphones2493 > Justin T. Westbrook 01/04/2015 at 00:24

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I'd do it if you can. It was a great experience in customer service, financing, and working for a company that takes micromanaging to another level.

You'll most likely do well because you don't take it too seriously. While most your coworkers will have mortgages, kids, and whatnot, you (being 20) most likely don't. You won't come off as desperate to sell a car, which customers like. Also, customers liked how I had a lot of product knowledge, and that I was in college (aka not selling cars my entire life).

I worked maybe 60+ hours a week that summer, lost some hope in humanity, became anti-social (when you work with people all day, you most likely don't want to hang out with people afterwards), but made a shit ton of money, given how easy the job was.

Burrito de EJ25 > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:25

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Keep Subarus out of bro-douche hands.

SonorousSpeedJoe > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:26

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Dat URL tho.

macanamera > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:27

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BRO I KNEW HOW TO DRIVE STICK I JUST FORGOT FOR A SECOND AND WHATEVER BRO FORGET YOU

sellphones2493 > Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna 01/04/2015 at 00:27

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Carmax's job selection is super intense (considering turnover is ridiculous there). It was a lot of survey's questioning my morals and whatnot. A few interviews, and me lying, saying I was gonna be there for more than a summer (I told them I was 'taking some time off').

It's a great experience and I'd recommend it. I learned a lot more there than my internship at an affluent investment bank in DC this past summer.

XJDano > Arben72 01/04/2015 at 00:28

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No shame in an auto.

SonorousSpeedJoe > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:29

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Great write-up!

I may not be 100% correct on this, but I believe the WRX had a 4-speed auto until it was updated for the 2009 MY.

I'm surprised Carmax gave him an offer at all - I'd stay the hell away from a car that had odometer tampering.

Arben72 > XJDano 01/04/2015 at 00:35

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Nothing wrong with it, if I had a manual I'd have to do a swap to an sti 6 speed as I'm making too much power. It's just that it's a 4 speed and that just sucks.

XJDano > Arben72 01/04/2015 at 00:37

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Once you buy a manual, you won't go back. Till your knees bust out in your 50-60's depending on how hard you are on them.

I would have bought a manual XJ had I known it was easy. I won't buy myself another auto.

PowderHound > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:41

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that's quite a surprising offer given the circumstances it seems.

kgcphoto.com > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:41

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My old automatic Subaru. :)

Even with a transmission oil cooler the temp light would still go on about 15 minutes into a 20 minute track day session at Road America.

Arben72 > XJDano 01/04/2015 at 00:44

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My Mini Cooper is a manual. I still like a good dct, but manual would be my preference over everything else.

mattc993 > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:44

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10/10 would have trolled further.

I Do It For Miatas, NC Owner > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:48

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I was thinking about using my borderline-useless wealth of car knowledge to make money by being a car salesman. As a fellow 20 year old in college, how hard is it to score a job at CarMax?

XJDano > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:52

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Good story. The just put in a carmax down the highway, I pass it every day and glance at what cars are getting transported in & out.

unclevanos (Ovaltine Jenkins) > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 00:53

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Did this douche have Oakley sunglasses and wore a flat billed hat crooked with monster stickers?

sellphones2493 > I Do It For Miatas, NC Owner 01/04/2015 at 00:53

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Applied for a full time position in April 2013 and was working in May 2013. About two hours in surveys, and about 1.5 hours in interviews, and role-plays. Drug testing, morality testing, etc. 3-4 weeks of training.

Applied for a part time position at another smaller store in a different state in September 2014. Despite having the highest customer satisfaction rate at my location of 40+ salespeople, and being within the top 5% of sellers at my location, I was flatout denied .

If you asked me before September 2014, I would say it's easy to get a job. But if you asked me now, I can honestly say I have no fucking clue how easy it is to get a job there.

sellphones2493 > I Do It For Miatas, NC Owner 01/04/2015 at 00:55

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Useless knowledge is great there. I saw a video on Youtube of a guy taking apart the interior of a Chrysler 200, showing how cheap and poorly made it is.

I took apart the dash of a Chrysler 200 in front of a customer interested in a 200.

He didn't buy a 200.

MountainRoadPhysicist > XJDano 01/04/2015 at 00:56

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Or if your feet have fascia problems that rear there ugly head at the most inconvenient times.

XJDano > MountainRoadPhysicist 01/04/2015 at 00:59

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Yeah, I have a coworker that wants a 4x4 tracker beater for work, and it's gotta be an auto because bad knees.

I feel for people that would rather shift, but their bodies don't allow.

Rico > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 01:11

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Great story. did you ever follow up with CarMax? I suspect the reason you were denied was likely an auto denial due to you working with the company the previous year.

roflcopter > XJDano 01/04/2015 at 01:16

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"Till your knees bust out in your 50-60's..."

Yeah right... my left knee is already shot and I'm only 23. If I drive something with a clutch for more than an hour or so I'm limping for a day afterwards... at least I have the slushbox for daily duty and only drive a stick when I'm wanting to.

AM3R shamefully returns > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 01:19

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tell me more about the real estate agent in the Cayenne haha.

You don't make commission right?

Stef Schrader > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 01:34

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I need a Cayenne.

Haha. Sounds like the WRX one of my friends somehow got stuck with. So riced. So much rice. I can't remember if she flipped it or parted it out because it was a poorly put-together turdbasket.

big eagle > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 02:22

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Having worked in the plant where the 200 is made I can attest that the ENTIRE CAR is that easy to disassemble.

JDMatt > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 06:03

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Tell us more about your experience as a CarMax salesman, I'm thinking about working there (or any car dealership for sales) over the summer.

sellphones2493 > Rico 01/04/2015 at 08:44

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I applied on a Sunday at around noon, and was denied within two hours. I'm pretty sure they just use some sort of algorithm for overviewing the profiles of prospective employees and mine just didn't match the keywords needed.

I never did follow up, mostly because I wasn't all that motivated to work there at the time. I just started a new semester and I wasn't able to gauge my workload yet. I'd hate to talk to my old manager, asking him to pretty much get me the job, then not accept the offer.

sellphones2493 > SonorousSpeedJoe 01/04/2015 at 08:46

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They buy anything that is considered a car. The lowest they would do when I was there was $300, but I think they now offer $200.

sellphones2493 > AM3R shamefully returns 01/04/2015 at 08:48

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You are 100% Commission.

But you make the same if you sell a 2005 Chevy Aveo ot a 2014 Audi RS5.

sellphones2493 > unclevanos (Ovaltine Jenkins) 01/04/2015 at 08:50

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He was straight up trailer trash. Probably 5'10, 220lbs, a few tats of dragons or whatever, and wore brands like South Pole and whatnot.

OPPOsaurus WRX > SonorousSpeedJoe 01/04/2015 at 09:34

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http://m.cars.com/vehicledetail/…

I thought they were all manuals until I looked. I think they did become all manual when WRX went from a trim to a model. The Sport then had a turbo (I think) with an auto. Now they all have the 6 speed

kincai28 > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 10:52

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I have a question. Let's say he did want the manual despite not knowing how to drive it (and let's say he wasn't a douche). How does Carmax handle such a situation?

sellphones2493 > kincai28 01/04/2015 at 11:35

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I'm not sure how Carmax would handle the situation, but here's how I'd do it.

I'd make him jump through a few hurdles first. That being an appraisal, and a credit app. Either of these can get people to leave pretty quickly. Then, I'd find him a car that has a forgiving gearbox (probably a cheapo Honda, Hyundai, or like a Cobalt - I'd avoid Euro Cars and tuner cars like a WRX STI, or MS3), and we'd go out on a ride at a nearby parking lot.

SonorousSpeedJoe > OPPOsaurus WRX 01/04/2015 at 11:54

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By Sport, do you mean the Impreza Outback Sport? Those could definitely be had with either transmission.

I think the WRX could still be had with an automatic transmission when the previous generation debuted in the 2008 MY, before they gave it a power boost and different suspension setup for the 2009 MY in response to complaints that it wasn't enough.

SonorousSpeedJoe > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 11:56

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Could they bring a car with odometer rollback to a dealer auction, or would they just part it out?

OPPOsaurus WRX > SonorousSpeedJoe 01/04/2015 at 13:07

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yea I think at 09 is when it became a separate model. I ment Impreza sport with the really bad two tone paint

sellphones2493 > SonorousSpeedJoe 01/04/2015 at 14:25

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Carmax hosts their own auction (dealers only). They can sell whatever they want there. Contrary to what a lot of people believe, they sell a lot of good stuff there; mostly stuff that exceeds their mileage or age limits (anything Euro w/ over 80K, Tesla's, GT-R's, and things with too much paintwork). Ultimately, Carmax can't sell anything that they're not willing to offer Maxcare on. At my location, it wasn't all that uncommon for a Bentley to come in for an appraisal. While it could be in pristine condition, Carmax wisely can't offer a warranty on it.

For anything that's a complete piece of crap (ie. a '98 Suzuki Esteem Wagon I received on trade for an ultra low-mile '04 Passat, which ended up being an even bigger piece of crap, given how often I saw it in for service), will be sold off to the scrapper for $400.

Rollback can be sold at auction, however. I had a customer come in for an appraisal on his '95 Maxima (that was a weird day - I had two identical '95 Maxima's come in for appraisal). It had like 200K, but it was a verified rollback not by looking at the Autocheck Report, but because the car sold at a Carmax Auction a few months prior with 300K.

The poor sap bought a car that had the odo rolled back 100k.

sellphones2493 > XJDano 01/04/2015 at 14:28

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That's always interesting. I had a paid transfer come in (2010 Lexus GS), I was talking to the customer on the phone as they were unloading it. As I was in the process of saying how clean it looked, a loose chain from the trailer came down, and shattered both side windows. :)

SonorousSpeedJoe > OPPOsaurus WRX 01/04/2015 at 14:44

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Yup, that'd be the Impreza Outback Sport - I did like some of the available two-tones on the OBS, but not all of them.

SonorousSpeedJoe > sellphones2493 01/04/2015 at 14:51

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I know that Carmax has their own auction; I was just wondering whether there would be any liability involved in selling a car with odometer rollback, even if the odometer fraud was done by a previous owner/dealer. It doesn't seem that way, based on what you described. Thanks.

44444444444 > sellphones2493 01/05/2015 at 19:47

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Nice writeup. Gotta let us know what happened with the Cayenne!

And here I am having purchased a manual R having only driven a stick once...

sellphones2493 > 44444444444 01/06/2015 at 01:15

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I drove stick the first time I test drove an R, which in the end became mine!

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > sellphones2493 01/06/2015 at 23:23

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I wanna know the sexy real estate agent story! :D

G35Driver > sellphones2493 01/08/2015 at 16:55

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Glad to know the CarMax I worked at wasn't the only one that got people in there like that

sellphones2493 > G35Driver 01/08/2015 at 16:56

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Where were you?

G35Driver > sellphones2493 01/08/2015 at 16:57

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Greensboro NC

sellphones2493 > G35Driver 01/08/2015 at 17:02

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I was at White Marsh in Maryland. Out of curiosity, how many cars would you guys sell a day in the summer, if you recall.

G35Driver > sellphones2493 01/08/2015 at 17:17

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on a good day...i'll say maybe 9 most people come on the lot to kick tires (as im sure you know). We were one of the stores in an area with lower credit.. so it was more on the side of getting an approval, not convincing them we're better than the dealer down the street.