Midas

I am from out of town, and my car broke down on I94 with me and my 2 children. The cop that helped us asked the tow truck driver to take us somewhere close, and I called the Midas and was told they could help me right away. The manager started up my car and could not get it to overheat again, and he told me it could either be a bad thermostat, cracked head or leaky head gasket. He knew I didn't want to spend a lot of money on an old car, and he ordered a kit that would tell him the exact problem so I wouldn't waste money making unnecessary repairs. As it turns out, it is a cracked head or leaky gasket so my husband came from IN with a car trailer and picked it up. While we were waiting for the kit my husband called and wanted to make sure we were not going to be overcharged for the diagnostics. When I asked the manager how much this would cost he told me, "I'm not charging you anything yet". He was true to his word, and when my husband arrived I asked how much we owed him and he told us nothing, My husband gave him $20 anyway for his work and also for the fact we had to spend the entire day in their waiting room with a 4 year old and a newborn. I also saw the manager try to talk an elderly man out of repairs to a car that wasn't worth it, and repeatedly tried to ask the man if there was anyone to call to pick him up, trying to find a friend or relative that could verify the man understood the car may not be worth he cost of repairs. After getting home and doing research on the test he performed, I found stories of others whp were nickeled and dimed to death on their vehicles trying to fix the problem when they could have performed this simple test. I feel the manager saved us a ton of money by being aware of this test, and he didn't even charge us for it even though he had to order it specially just for us. more

I took my car in to the Midas location on Roosevelt Road in Chicago. I needed my brakes repaired as well as a new tire. I called ahead to make sure they would be able to service my car on a Friday. I dropped my car off (at the time I had requested) and was told I would be called after the estimate was ready. By 4pm, I still hadn't received an estimate, so I called and was told it would be ready in a half hour. Still no phone call and the shop was to close at 6pm. At 5, I called again, and was given an estimate, but told that my car wouldn't be ready until noon the next day and my tire would be fixed. Fine by me. My husband and I went to the shop to pick up the car on Saturday. It still wasn't ready. We waited in the shop for 3 more hours before the car was ready, but I was told then that the tire couldn't be fixed. In the end, my car was fixed, but I had to go to another shop to get a new tire. more