Midas

[mickeypat]

Spouses '99 Suburban, 138K miles, Service Engine Soon light indicates problem with exhaust system. Midas said that both catalytic converters were bad, quoted $700.00. No thanks. Took the truck to a local family owned muffler shop 10 miles away. Waited 20 minutes, $225.00 All is well, in fact, drives much quicker. Buyer beware.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

While Midas is a chain, they are indenpendently owned and operated, so one might be bad, the next good.

I've only had recent experience with one Midas shop, Columbus, Georgia, where I grew up. I had them replace the muffler on my '88 Jeep Comanche about ten years ago. A couple of years later I was rearended and the tailpipe was bent and the muffler damaged by the tailpipe being pushed forward. I took it back and told them to replace the parts. They refused to charge me for the muffler or labor on the muffler, just for the tailpipe.

More recently, about five years ago my '91 Ranger four cylinder needed a muffler, I went to them and they replaced the muffler and tailpipe full of holes. Just a couple of weeks ago, while changing the clutch I discovered the muffler inlet pipe was rusted loose from the muffler endcap. this is five years and right at 150K miles later, they replaced the muffler, tailpipe was fine. No charge, zip, none. The warranty says I have to pay labor to replace the free muffler, they said they don't charge the labor fee on warranty replacements.

Charles

 

[Der Bugmeister]

I stopped dealing with Midas when their "lifetime warranty" mufflers cost me $200 to replace every 3 years - shoddy material.

I also wasn't impressed when they diagnosed a client's VW Beetle (old Beetle) with needing a new muffler. To cut a long story short, I discovered it to be loose head bolts, nothing wrong with the exhaust system.

 

[wythors]

While Midas is a chain, they are indenpendently owned and operated, so one might be bad, the next good.

This is very true. Way back, I worked for a Midas franchisee as a store manager. Every store has different policies and different competence levels. You can't judge the whole company by one lousy franchise. I have a good friend that still works there and I can go to his store and have complete confidence in the work done to my car. In fact, he just recently replaced the shocks and radius rod bushings on my Bronco and aligned it. Great service and a good price.

 

[mike944]

Their "lifetime warranty" muffler is a friggin scam.. a muffler is like, what, $25? but, hey we need to replace $200 worth of pipes so you can get your free muffler.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Their "lifetime warranty" muffler is a friggin scam.. a muffler is like, what, $25? but, hey we need to replace $200 worth of pipes so you can get your free muffler.

Reread my post. On the Ranger the other day, I even stood there while the guy was fitting the new muffler and told him if the tailpipe was even slightly questionable, replace it, he couldn't find anything wrong and simply installed the muffler. Admittedly the new muffler was more "universal" than the previous one, no heat shield and about four inches shorter, but they made up a short adapter pipe and all fit well and tight. The only money I spent was gas to drive the 60+ miles to get to them. I did call ahead and veriify that they had one in stock.

Charles

 

[Der Bugmeister]

Like wythors indicated, there's a good possibility of different quality of service between outlets. The problem with being associated with a franchise is that people DO judge your store based on their experiences with other stores of the same name. It will take a lot before I have faith in any Midas dealer after my experiences locally - and it's quite possible that the local one is the exception rather than the rule...but I'm not going to chance it.

By the same token, it's hard to rate customer service based on how a friend treats you without knowing whether or not all customers receive the same level of service...

 

[wilbilt]

I have worked in franchised shops, and it's all about the ownership and management.

Some run things well, and others...get what they deserve.

 

[Uncle Buck]

When I was much younger I had my first set of dual exhaust installed on my old 72 Chevy truck. That was the worst exhaust work I ever had done on anything! I have not considered Midas since! Overpriced shoddy workmanship!

Nuff Said

 

[ZRX61]

A '99? Doesn't GM have an 8year waranty on their Cat's? I know my '03 S10/ZR5 does