Woman Goes To Midas For Her First Oil Change Ever. Then They Give Her A $6K Estimate And A Lecture: ‘Do Not Go Back’

A woman going to Midas for her first ever oil change says she was quoted $6,000 by mechanics at the shop. She says they made her feel belittled and bullied about repairs they said her car needed.

Sydney (@itzmehsydney) posted about the experience online, writing in a text overlay in her clip that “mechanics are scammers!” At the onset of the video, she says that after she requested an oil change, Midas employees pulled her aside to inform her that her ride was “dangerously not in shape.”

Sydney claims they rattled off a series of issues that her car needed fixed. According to them, “everything was wrong,” with her vehicle, which prompted her to ask for clarification about what they thought needed fixing.

Subsequently, Sydney says she asked for an itemized list of her car's alleged problems. Being as this is the first vehicle she’s ever owned, she wanted to look over their recommendations, and was intent on just getting her oil changed that day.

“It's Not Safe To Drive”

Despite telling service techs that she was grateful for their insight, Sydney says their demeanor changed after she asked for a list of the recommended repairs. She says they then asked her how much she paid for is, which they immediately said was too high.

“You got scammed for sure. It’s all messed up, it’s not safe to drive,” they reportedly told her.

Sydney says the recommended repairs came to $6,000. “What kind of job do you guys think I have?” she poses hypothetically. “What do mechanics expect in that situation? I’m honestly just like dumbfounded at … the logic of that … and they were so [expletive] brain dead, sorry, I’m not gonna be mean. But I’m in there, and they’re like can you come look at this. Come look … this is all bad, this is bad."

Sydney was stunned by the experience. “I came for an oil change, I got berated, I got bullied, and I feel very small when I was in that room,” she says.

She adds that the visit to Midas didn’t exactly instill her with any confidence to return to the business. “I don’t feel like I’d want to go back to them because, of course, I didn’t like how … my experience was with my first time [in that] type of environment,” she said, echoing that they “made me feel small.”

Do Drivers Trust Mechanics?

Unfortunately, Sydney’s isn't a singular tale of automotive repair woes. She says that her mother and sister told her this is par for the course for women at auto shops.

In a survey of 1,000 car owners, Consumer Affairs found, “Over 3 in 4 (78%) drivers we surveyed said they don’t always trust their mechanics. But most respondents stated that it depended on the technician."

In the same assessment, just 17% of people who replied said that they believed they were “always charged fairly for repairs.” Additionally, 83% reported that they will often consult someone they know to assess mechanic’s recommended repairs.

Consumer Affairs' data further shows that many women believe mechanics engage in shady business practices. A study by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management monitoring the pricing practices of auto repair shops found that, after factoring in consumer demographics, particularly the gender of the customer involved, "auto-repair shops give women significantly higher price quotes than men when both sexes are uninformed about the going market rate for a particular service.”

Motor1 has reached out to Sydney and Midas via email for further comment. We'll be sure to update this article if either replies.