My daughter had a vehicle which would not pass emissions. She was told by a friend of hers (not an auto mechanic) that she needed to have her catalytic converter replaced in her 1991 Honda and then it would pass emissions. She is living with us with her disabled son, and is unable to work, so we needed to pay for her repairs. Midas told us (during a "free" inspection) that they would do the catalytic converter, and that the vehicle also needed a LOT more work to be considered safe to drive. They assured us that by replacing the converter the car would pass emissions. They also wanted to do a LOT of brake work, including replacing the "safety proportioning valve, " which was quite expensive. I called several other mechanics, as well as Auto Parts' Stores, and they all assured me that the "safety proportioning valve" was something that virtually NEVER went out on a vehicle. The only time you might have to replace it is if the vehicle was in an accident. That's why they only sell it at dealerships. One mechanic friend told me he had never heard of anyone he knew ever replacing one - they usually last the life of the car, and the vehicle would give out before that particular part.
We were quoted $1,300.00 to do the brakes, just to get them to where they were "safe, " and this was with a $200.00 DISCOUNT! We let them to the converter (at a cost of $385.00), which later turned out was not at all necessary for the car to pass emissions. Because her vehicle was older (1991), all she needed was for it to be smogged to get her tags. We then took the car, after being treated extremely rudely by Midas, to a local mechanic we use frequently. He did the brake work for around $300.00, MUCH cheaper than $1,300.00, and told us we wasted our money on the converter.
It is sad to say that Midas tried to take advantage of my daughter and me simply because we are women, and they thought we were clueless about cars. However, my husband knows EVERYTHING about cars (he just doesn't have the time to work on them), and he told us we had been totally scammed.
We will NEVER go to Midas again for any reason. They are disrespectful to women, making them believe they are going to be driving an unsafe vehicle unless we let them do approximately $1,500.00 worth of TOTALLY UNECISSARY work. Take your business elsewhere, have it done right, and for much, much less than at Midas! They are scammers and cheaters!
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