i am glad that i am moderately mechanically inclined. a co-worker of mine has a 93 dodge dakota 4x4. his brakes went this morning. took it to the nearest midas shop on his way...and after front brakes.....$710!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they initally quoted him a full $1000 to do the work, and then dropped it almost $300 when he said he could not afford that. they said it would be the same job as initially quoted, but they could save him some money. needless to say, the invoice for the final job ($710) is for 2 reman callipers, 2 rotors, and front pads! needless to say..he didn't get the bottle of ky they used on him. poor poor bastard!

lesson of the story? do and learn all you can about your rig! oh yeah! and learn how to read so you can look over your invoice too! haha

 

Actually i dont think they used ky for that one.

wade

 

Hmmm.........NAPA rebuilt calipers with premium pads $67 ea LIST
New rotors........NAPA $92 each list

Labor.........$380?????!!!!!!!!!


Guess the KY is what they deducted from the job to "save" him $300

Was the employee lot filled with exotic vehicles?

 

you know something...i think i may have to ask him about that one! haha. why someone would even stand there for an extra second for them to get another word in after a quote of $1000 is beyond me. but then to listen to them say they can knock $300 off the top like nothing....clueless. i guess he got what he paid for.....

 

Calipers $40 for pair
Pads $24.99
Rotors $26.99
total $118.97
Not doing the 1 hr's worth of work yourself and getting hosed $581.03 by a shop I wouldn't take my bicycle to........
PRICELESS

 

he is on the phone with midas regional right now. i just printed and handed him the price lists you guys posted. i am sure he will be saying thank you to you all, so allow me to do that for him. you guys rock! i failed to mention $115 to replace the rear brake line. my appologies. anyone know what that goes for as well? it was about $15 for the part and $99 for the labor. the one thing that sounds right. but yet they didn't touch his rear brakes... i am tempted to go and crawl under to see if they even did replace that.

 

yeah, so here is the analogy given by midas regional...

you pay for the quality you get with midas. it is no different than buying a steak at shaw's, or going to get a nice cut at a restaurant.


wow! i had no idea midas was all about the high quality, but oh well. i guess that was one expensive lesson to be learned by him. haha. better him than me! thanks for the replies with the prices and all. i showed him, and i think it truly set in that the guys here weren't yanking his chain when we laughed at him for spending double what the job should have cost.

 

So we all know what the prices are....

Anybody got a Chilton's labor manual to see what book times are as well as the actual shop rate.

Would be interesting to see the times added up.

It's been 15 years since I looked up the numbers but from the top of my head, rebuilding a front brake system to that extreme was like 10-12 hours. At a $45 shop rate, that gives you about $450-530.

Now on add on top of that, they charge actual RETAIL price for the parts, instead of Jobber or Wholesale.....

You can describe it as one thing....

YOUR GETTING HOSED.

One of the biggest reasons I insisted on learning how to fix my own stuff. The stuff I do take to the shop is because I don't want the warranty issue stuff or will tie stuff up for too long for me to do it.

 

10-12 hrs on a brake job was that a union labor manual

 

No, just using te Chilton Labor and Time manual.

Add in EVERY component you change or repair, and add everytime up.

Brake rotors are one charge, each caliper is another charge....

.4 hours for one, .5 hours for another...

times everything by two for each side.....


Your gonna get hosed.

 

it is a shame seeing how he made it to work around 1pm. so...say they open at 8, started at 8:30, finished at 12, he pays and gets to work at 1. i say 4 hours labor, give or take a few.

 

just for a comparison, my parents and i got screwed when we took in my truck to get all the brakes replaced - $864. That includes an oil change and new fuel line/filter, and a new mass a/f sensor. They quoted us around $400, so we were a little pissed, but still had to pay. Moral of the story, learn how to do everything yourself, anyways thats what I am trying to do.

 

Midas is known for this kind of bull, my guess is he only needed half of the job or less done. My first and only time at Midas was the same ˟˟˟˟˟. It was an ordinary brake pad job, Midas called me and quoted $1100 repair saying this car was very unsafe to drive I would need: pads, rotors, calibers etc. I said it sounded strange if they could give me a better quote and I got $150 lower price. I said no thanks, when I picked it up they claimed it would be unsafe for me to drive off in it. I took it to a local dealer in stead, and was quoted around $130 for the replacing pads and checking the rotors, nothing else needed to be replaced! Heck the dealer even new of this Midas scam.
I filed a complaint with MIDAS headquarters I doubted they did anything.

 

Trust the Midas Touch......


Someone is getting all that gold....

 

Well, once upon a time, I got to Midasize Midas!
Took my wife's car in because the brake light was on. Ask them to do the full diagnostics. They came back with an estimate of $785. Not today, thanks. After I got home and read the 'report' it became clear that they hadn't hooked the vehicle up to ANYTHING, other than the cash extraction machine. Boom...I'm right back down to the shop. Spoke to the service manager and asked him to show me just how they did a diagnostic ($25 charge) and didn't manage to issue me the electronic report. Turns out that the tech never bothered, he just 'eyeballed' the problems and charged me for the electronic diagnostics. End result...Midas does ALL the work I had speced...FOR FREE! And I even had the nerve to tell the service manager that he was just MIDASIZED!