A Woman And Her Car . . .

May get the experience of a mechanic trying to rip them off, badly. 

Tash's car did indeed need an alignment after getting new tires. 

She took it to an alignment / repair shop that is a chain that goes by the brand name of a king who had the ability to turn everything he touched into gold.

Well, at Midas, they must have thought they struck gold when seeing her bring her car in for an alignment.

They performed a free inspection, then refused to do the alignment and claimed the car was unsafe to drive and needed $11,000+ in repairs, complete with a nice detailed scary report with pictures.

She properly flipped out and decided to take it to our own mechanic that we trust to get a second opinion.

Unsurprisingly, No, it does NOT need $11,000.00+ in repairs.  

But, it does need a couple repairs - new rear struts, power steering reservoir is leaking, and it needs a new gasket for the transfer case and some new front brakes which are actually going to be repaired as a warranty as the brakes are replacements and still under warranty, and the total is not even close to the $11,000 quoted (which is more than the car is worth at this point - but it's paid off and overall reliable transportation) -  it is $1,800 to repair everything.  He is not seeing any evidence of most of what they are quoting as problems and is in fact seeing the opposite of their claims. Our mechanic is furious at Midas for trying to rip her off, as are we.

Now to be fair,  they'd probably pull that on me as well, but I suspect they pull it more readily on women even more due to the stereotype of women not knowing anything about cars or car repairs.  Shame on them for pulling this nonsense.

So yes, if you get a repair quote at Midas, you'd better get a second opinion.