I can't say enough good things about Midas on West Lindsey, and especially about Steve the manager. I'm a young single person with no nearby family and very little car experience as a new driver, and I absolutely have been cheated by mechanics who have taken advantage of my lack of knowledge--but not Midas. They've done right by me, every single time.
Let me give you a few examples:
-- The first time I visited in October, I showed up without an appointment for brake maintenance that I had already been sternly warned about at my last oil change and had been neglecting for about four extra months. Unfortunately, by ignoring it and letting the problem get worse, I had worn down all the way through the brakepads and into the rotors. While I was waiting for the repair, I texted my dad all the information I had learned about my brakes and my dad estimated the cost. My dad's estimate was within $8 of the actual price Midas gave me. That's how I knew they were honest.
-- In November/December I had an intermittent problem starting my car which appeared to be electrical. Sometimes it would start if I waited an hour, and sometimes it would be fine for a week and then fail every time I tried it for a whole day. These kinds of problems are maddeningly hard to diagnose, and the car happened to start normally the first time I took it in. They made a conservative, cost-effective choice to clean up my electrical connections and flush out my fuel pumps with cleaner. The second time I took it in, it happened to not be starting, and upon a more thorough look they were able to correctly diagnose and replace my starter. Steve the manager felt bad that it took two visits to make the proper diagnosis, so he wrote me a coupon for a free oil change.
-- Three days ago my accelerator and my Drive gear stopped working in north Oklahoma City. I had to make a choice between towing it to somewhere close or towing it 34 miles back home to Norman. I chose Midas in Norman (a $190 tow) and I'm so glad I did. It turned out to be the Big One: transmission failure. Yikes. My dad told me to be prepared to pay $2700-$3000 for a transmission rebuild by a specialist. I got a rental car and spent a night waiting for Midas's estimate of what it would cost in-house while they worked through a backlog of customers who got there before me (the parking lot was so full on a Monday at 8:30 am that some people were parallel parking around the building!). I went in the next day for the estimate and learned that, instead of a rebuild, they were going to use their connection to a junkyard that sells guaranteed used parts to replace the transmission. For a $1000 guaranteed used part and 8 hours of labor, my estimate was $1848. When I told my dad, he said I must have a guardian angel watching over me. I do have one! His name is Steve. read more
