Midas

I'm sharing my personal experience with Midas in Ithaca, which has been very positive from a female college student perspective not from the Ithaca area. I would highly recommend this branch if you're an out-of-town university student who needs to have any car repairs because of their reasonable prices and customer service.

I have an old car (20 years this year) and I thought I needed to have my drum brakes replaced because of a weird sound they were making. I think it might have been David(?) I saw; he seemed very nice and professional and didn't talk down to me as a woman in a car shop or anything. They said they'd take a look and I signed this paper saying I had a right to a written estimate before they did any work which I appreciated. I left it overnight and then called the next day asking if they had looked at it, and the person on the phone said that they had looked at it and there was just a lot of dirt/rust inside the drum brakes and that they were fine and didn't need replacing. They said they cleaned it out for me and I could pick it up tomorrow.

Now normally car shops would charge a fee to have a car looked at and cleaned, and I was expecting to pay this when I picked my car up, but Midas charged me no fee for their inspection and cleaning. I am very impressed with their customer service, and know that if I had brought it in to the last place I went to in Ithaca they would've charged some sort of something. So I was very grateful as a college student with not a lot of money for not having been charged anything. I will definitely be coming back if I have a future problem as this experience shows me they are honest people and I won't be taken advantage of.

I know Midas has had some bad reviews in the past but from what I understand they are under new management. I know my personal experience has been very positive and I will be going back.

Eeny, meeny, miney, moe! These guys just replace things one by one, charging you as they go, until they get it right--or not! $784.87 (replace struts) didn't fix the problem I specifically brought it in for, "a vibration at 60mph," so I brought it back a month later after being promised on the phone, "We'll make it right for you." This time I was charged another $103.98 (replace tie rod) only to drive away with a car that still vibrated (I even took the Asst. Mgr. for a ride so we could share the experience together.) So they refund me the $103.98, they say I need a new steering rack, and they'll do it at the discounted price of another $500. It didn't make sense to me that a steering rack could cause vibration, and when the manager sensed that I wasn't going to play this game anymore he became mean and told me to go somewhere else. So I went somewhere else--Google--where I learned that vibration can be caused by bad brake rotors. I spent $71.26 at a parts store for two new rotors and after a couple hours under the car I was driving around at 60mph with no vibration! It cost me $784.87--and if I hadn't smartened up in time over $1284.87 (because the new steering rack wouldn't have fixed it either)--to learn "Ithaca Midas is a money pit!"