In short, don't ever apply. If you really must, insist they have to pay for everything, including rental car/airfare/etc.. all up front, or good luck ever getting it back.
Garmin was apparently really wanting to hire people, as various people I know there were asking if people were interested in applying. So after being requested to apply and interview, because Garmin really needs experienced avionics engineers, I quickly got an interview. I drove 5 hours to get there, and the next day had interviews with all the managers of their avionics division. Interviews seemed okay. Drove back, and waited... and waited...
It took Garmin a month to tell me they were not interested, which at that point, I didn't particularly care. However, they still hadn't paid back my travel expenses. Even by their standards, which are below business courtesy rates, they owed me several hundred dollars. Their HR personal would not reply to e-mail or phone calls, or even indicate what I needed to do to get reimbursement. The only reason I finally got it was because I know people who work there, who made sure the HR people understood they had to do it.
An expense check finally showed up after 3 months. However two co-workers of mine who gave up, still haven't been reimbursed after more than 1/2 year. Based on this I would recommend never to interview/apply/work for Garmin, as I have never seen a company so lousily treat applicants. Even places that did not make me an offer always promptly reimbursed me travel/interview expenses incurred on their behalf.
