Just wondering if any one of you used Midas to carry out scheduled service to your Magna to give me some feedback as I plan to switch my service provider from Phil Gilbert Mitsubishi about 10km away to Midas just up the road to service my TJ Magna. Thanks

lol i used to work 4 midas i wouldnt take a car there.

I have got my car serviced by Midas near me a few times (Lilydale) and I have been happy with the results, good work and bloody friendly and helpful service!...

look it is much of a muchness... I know that the Midas guys near me are very mechanically versed, but I could not say the same goes for all Midas franchises... try and ask the locals... ask around...

Sometimes dealerships are the worst place you could get your car serviced at (just cos it's Mitsu doesn't mean they know what they are doing or trying to do the best they could and not ripping you off!!!) My mother had her Festiva serviced at a big Ford dealership... they machined her brakes so much under the minimum that they became dangerous and warped... I should have gone down there and kicked there asses around the workshop!!! I only have one mother!!! Shame shame shame!

Wouldn't hurt to try Midas at least once! and don't forget they are a franchise and it is their livelihood to do right by you, not a big dealership with fallback money. Midas used to be only focused on Mufflers and exhausts but I believe they had to expand to compete.

Finding a trusty mechanic is bloody hard sometimes... I will drive a bit further for the piece of mind if I can be sure it is worth it.

Hope this has helped.

hyperTF can say that again. my local midas used to be really good but they changed ownership sometime late last yr and i went once early this year and swore never to go back again! :rant:

i've had my car serviced (albeit its a pulsar, getting magna very soon!), and it was great. they rang up and said my power stearing fluid was crap and they just got a new flushing machine that they could test on my car for only $100. i said not to worry about it, and just as i had suspected they'd already done it! so a normally $150 powersteering flush was free. very friendly, i'd recommend.

I took the TR there.. They tried to wrangle in a whole bunch of crap 'that needed to be done'

Flushing brakes, airfilter replacement and a few others.. All I wanted done was road worthy...

i've had my car serviced (albeit its a pulsar, getting magna very soon!), and it was great. they rang up and said my power stearing fluid was crap and they just got a new flushing machine that they could test on my car for only $100. i said not to worry about it, and just as i had suspected they'd already done it! so a normally $150 powersteering flush was free. very friendly, i'd recommend.

so they tryed to get $100 out of ya?? thats dodgy, i wouldnt trust them again

go to tafe a do a mechanics course so you can do small things yourself thats wat i did and its saved me almost $1700 in oil changes and spark plugs

You can usually tell a good mechanic by how long they been in business and how busy they are and the quality of cars they get in there.

We had a Midas in Mayfield who was very dodgy, was only open 12 months and went broke, but Midas in Newcastle City is awsome and does the best job. So bes thing to do is ask around the locals or just try them out.

when you take your car to midas they do a full inspection on your car they even measure rotor thickness even if you just came in for a muffler or a light gloge they write uf a full list of crap on ya car so they can try to make $1000s on every car if a tie rod end has a torn boot they will tell you it needs replacing trust me i worked there and left there ripping too many people off and fit the cheep and nasty crap

when you take your car to midas they do a full inspection on your car they even measure rotor thickness even if you just came in for a muffler or a light gloge they write uf a full list of crap on ya car so they can try to make $1000s on every car if a tie rod end has a torn boot they will tell you it needs replacing trust me i worked there and left there ripping too many people off and fit the cheep and nasty crap
Not trying to de-value your experience working for one branch, but that sounds like smart business to me! Given it is a franchise business they cant all be the same from one workshop to the next... and there are bound to be some dodgy ones out there... just like mechanics in general and dealerships etc...

The customer doesn't have to agree to it... it is like everything else... if you go to Harvey Norman (for example) to buy a computer they are going to try to sell you as much as they can regardless. If you went to me, with a small business I would try to get you what you wanted at the least possible price, but I would surely give you recommendations as to what I think you need or what might be better.

Problem is with mechanical work is that very few people understand a lot of motor mechanics so people take certain things for granted and say yes to suggestion because they don't know better or want to risk damage to their car (even if it is not likely)...

Even though I don't know much about it myself I look into it and know roughly what I want to be done and what to expect... then when you speak to them more confidently they are less inclined to attempt to take advantage of you... that is my experience anyway.

Edit: But the "cheap and nasty crap" would worry me too but I am sure they are not the only ones... I bet some mechanics would put a second hand something on if they could get away with it.

my mate took he's car to midas because the front left suspension was squeeking, he asked them to check it, they checked and then fixed the problem replacing lots of stuff $600 he picked it up got halfway home and it started doing it again, so he took it back and they sed are mechanics have gone home, so he drove home, then decided to drive to he's gf's house and turned into her house, got halfway down the street doing about 50kms and the front left wheel fell of and went under the car, the whole car was sliding sideways down the street, he got it towed back to he's house and called them up and explained what happend that they should have fixed the problem like he'd asked and they didnt want to hear about it.
everything that they had fixed needed to be re replaced.

naa there D***'s there they tryed to charge me $1800 to fix my power stearing in my old silvia. told my pop and he had a go at the guy and fixed the car and bought the part required for $150 and it took him just over an hour to fix.

Kmart Auto didn't do my wheel nuts up years ago and on the way home, thank goodness another motorist saw my wheel and beeped and pointed. I stopped noticed that my studs had almost snapped off and the holes where the studs poked through were now in the shape of Jelly beans. I called them from my mobile and they 'told me' to drive it back to them, I told them to get stuffed as if I was going to drive on it... I told them to get me a tow truck pronto and fix it!... they obliged.

I guess at the end of the day, don't judge all by a few, but in the same breath if you want to know how to manage your money and finances don't go to a butchers shop, they deal with meat. :nuts:

The Midas I am considering is at Concord at Parramatta Road diagonally opposite Burwood bus depot. Any comment on this particular branch?

Generally, is Midas or Kmart auto better? There's about $40 saving going to these places and the convenience of being close to work or home.

Thanks

I would never go there again, dodgy dodgy dodgy. Be carefull mate they can really find ways to rip you off.

service ur own car. it aint that hard. once u get stuck on something post it on here and someone will help, AMC peeps are friendly and helpful.

you cant say all midas are bad cos of an experience with one of them, and at the same time you cant say they are all good cos of one experience with one of them. They are a franchise so as a result, the quality of their work and their honestly really comes down to the individual franchisee. I would say take it their (gotta be cheaper then mistubishi!!) and see how it goes.

they tried to charge me $360 for a stock muffer would definitely not go there

mufflers... no fookin way peeps... i got stooged (young & dumb)

servicing.... infallable, cant complain... didnt take the car for a massive run (3km's)

right price, quick, nice bloke....

but they are all a franchise as was said above... the one near me is different to the one near you ;) ;) ;)

sad but true :doubt:

May I know how and in what ways they try to rip you off? Thanks


I would never go there again, dodgy dodgy dodgy. Be carefull mate they can really find ways to rip you off.

no not goin to midas n e more but im with ultratune now and i dont hav n e issues with them :cool:

they tried to charge me $360 for a stock muffer would definitely not go there
That's like going to your local GP to buy Panadol. :confused: What did you expect?

If you want to save on basic parts, go to a place that has 'em in stock on the shelf.

If you want your local Midas/Ultratune/whatever to send out their gopher to go pickup
the part then they install it for you... expect to pay for the convenience.

May I know how and in what ways they try to rip you off? Thanks

1) I went there a couple of years ago to get a rattle in the muffler looked at and they came back with a quote of $3800 from memory to fix heaps of stuff that apparently needed doing because the car was unsafe. I took the car straight to my local mechanic and he looked over the whole thing and said that they were full of sh*t and that it wasn't the first time this had happened. Midas tried to get me to sign up to there finance and said it all needed to be done straight away.

2) Unknown to me at the time my dad had something small done a couple of years before on his newish car and when he picked the car up the aircon wasn't working anymore and to they said fixing it would cost 1000-2000. It was working perfectly when he took it in and was suspicious so he took it to an auto electrician he knew and was told that the damage to the system wasn't normal, i.e. didn't look like it was wear and tear.

3) Someone I work with had a car serviced there and when it was done they said the muffler needed fixing. Unknown to Midas this person had been to his own muffler shop to get something done a week or two before so the car was taken back to the muffler shop and they said that it looked like it had been tampered with.

Enough for me to go elsewhere

Just wondering if any one of you used Midas to carry out scheduled service to your Magna to give me some feedback as I plan to switch my service provider from Phil Gilbert Mitsubishi about 10km away to Midas just up the road to service my TJ Magna. Thanks


How did you find Phil Gilbert Mitsu? i am supposed to take my KJ there for it's servicing, any feedback?

1) I went there a couple of years ago to get a rattle in the muffler looked at and they came back with a quote of $3800 from memory to fix heaps of stuff that apparently needed doing because the car was unsafe. I took the car straight to my local mechanic and he looked over the whole thing and said that they were full of sh*t and that it wasn't the first time this had happened. Midas tried to get me to sign up to there finance and said it all needed to be done straight away.

2) Unknown to me at the time my dad had something small done a couple of years before on his newish car and when he picked the car up the aircon wasn't working anymore and to they said fixing it would cost 1000-2000. It was working perfectly when he took it in and was suspicious so he took it to an auto electrician he knew and was told that the damage to the system wasn't normal, i.e. didn't look like it was wear and tear.

3) Someone I work with had a car serviced there and when it was done they said the muffler needed fixing. Unknown to Midas this person had been to his own muffler shop to get something done a week or two before so the car was taken back to the muffler shop and they said that it looked like it had been tampered with.

Enough for me to go elsewhere

sounds like that particular midas was run by a very dodgy franhisee.. it should have been reported to head office! i hope you did

Its unfortunate cos i know that there are some midas shops around who are run by fair and honest franchisee's and unfortunately they are given a bad name by these other people :doubt:

this is why i wont ever work for them again they will tell you every thing is worn out when all u wanted is your muffler fixed.

1) I went there a couple of years ago to get a rattle in the muffler looked at and they came back with a quote of $3800 from memory to fix heaps of stuff that apparently needed doing because the car was unsafe. I took the car straight to my local mechanic and he looked over the whole thing and said that they were full of sh*t and that it wasn't the first time this had happened. Midas tried to get me to sign up to there finance and said it all needed to be done straight away.

2) Unknown to me at the time my dad had something small done a couple of years before on his newish car and when he picked the car up the aircon wasn't working anymore and to they said fixing it would cost 1000-2000. It was working perfectly when he took it in and was suspicious so he took it to an auto electrician he knew and was told that the damage to the system wasn't normal, i.e. didn't look like it was wear and tear.

3) Someone I work with had a car serviced there and when it was done they said the muffler needed fixing. Unknown to Midas this person had been to his own muffler shop to get something done a week or two before so the car was taken back to the muffler shop and they said that it looked like it had been tampered with.

Enough for me to go elsewhere

this is why i wont ever work for them again they will tell you every thing is worn out when all u wanted is your muffler fixed.
i would rather be told that my car is about to crap itself giving me the choice as to whether i get the work done or not, then not to be told then have a ***** that they weren't good enough to notice that my car was in need of work and all they care about is one thing! I would almost class it as negligence.

Anyway, If I doubted what they said, I would seek a second opinion.

Start your own business and tell me how you go if you are not prepared to try to get extra work out of a customer. It is not just Midas that do this, you just seem to be a tad bitter about your experience which is fair enough... I will hazard a guess here in saying that there is a good chance that if it weren't for places like Midas, younger people out of trade school would find it harder to find a place of employment who would actually take them on... there is a bigger picture here. I am not going to try to guess your age but for all I know they gave you a stepping stone to advance your career, and learn good and bad practices in the process.

Just dont forget, we have the ability to say yes or no to additional work.

oil filter, airfilter, leads and plugs are easy as pie. alomst take them off and put new ones on. Brake pads, discs and rotors and fluid are just a step above. I must admit to a low mechanical aptiude but i still can do these things with a minimum of difficulty since i was 10! just buy a gregorys or similar for your car and read the instructions. well worht the money saved. things like suspension, gearbox and engine i cant do mainly because i have no garage driveway. I've seen the quality of most mech who work for dealerships to be absolute crap for the prices they charge. Buy a book and read, or conversly google the operation you want to do.

They are quite good and seemed to have the cheapest quote in service from neighbouring Mitshibishi dealers. I don't have any issue with them yet. Currently, all my car service goes to them every 15k and I have oil change only with Midas every 7.5k after service. They also provide free shuttle bus service to/from Lidcombe station for your convenience.


How did you find Phil Gilbert Mitsu? i am supposed to take my KJ there for it's servicing, any feedback?