How timely! I took a car to Midas last week for a brake job, and they gave me an estimate of almost $600 - machining rotors, replacing pads, changing fluid. It wasn’t urgent, so I took it to Les Schwab right after, to get their estimate. $330, including new calipers.
I like Les Schwab. They’ve always seemed to be one of those good-customer-service companies, like Bel Air (for you Californians).
If I did this, it’d be in the papers the next day:
Mr. Tacoloco was injured today in a bizarre incident involving brake failure. 
I leave all of my car maintenance to the pros.
My Dad…back in his day…was really something and he wasn’t a mechanic.
I still remember someone bringing a car to him once and explained that the car had been worked on by 3 different mechanics…had a bunch of work done on it and still wasn’t solving the problem. They all gave up.
He stood there with his knee in the bumper…hood of the car down (not up) with his elbow on the hood and supporting his head and he listened for a couple minutes as the car idled. He then said "I bet it’s the {soandso}. " he went to the part store, replaced it and the car ran fine.
I was pretty young at the time but my older brother (who was much more into cars than I would be) said he was a god among men at diagnosing problems.
In case you think it is just you.
For some reason my wife insisted on taking her car to one when we lived in New Jersey. Pretty much incompetent and a ripoff. And stupid - when her car got damaged she sold it to a mechanic there who thought he could fix it. He couldn’t. 
She got a good price for a worthless heap of metal too.
Here we go to a local garage who is scrupulously honest. They have screwed up once or twice, but they always make it better for free. And they usually come in under the estimate.
A lot of places turn your rotors as a matter of course. That isn’t necessary unless your brakes pulse when applied. Anyone who tries to tell you “it’s neccessary any time the pads are changed” is a scam artis or not well-enough informed to be allowed to do a brake job. A local Les Schwab almost ripped my mom off for uneccessarily turning the brakes, but we took the car to a trusted local business and had them do it instead.
I hate Les Schwab. My husband took his car in for one tire and an alignment. They told him his brakes were so dangerous they couldn’t possibly allow him to take his own car out of their shop unless they replaced his brakes.
His brakes that were making no noise, no grinding, no brake light activated on the dash, no indication at any point that the brakes were even starting to go bad, much less so bad that they had to replace everything. And I mean everything. You know how brakes are, they don’t squeel for weeks before they start grinding or anything so you know when they need replaced or anything. It’s all just a crap shoot because car companies don’t put lights on the dash that tell you when the brakes are going bad or anything.
Then of course they could sell him a tire and do an alignment.
We ended up with a $1200 service when we expected under $200. My husband is a bit of a push over and fell for it. 
This is the same company that told my sister she needed an $800 repair to her power steering. The car was an early Hundai that didn’t have power steering.
Don’t forget the blinker fluid. It has to be replaced as well. 
Back in 1978, I took my car into a Sears Auto shop for a new battery because mine was not holding a charge.
They diagnosed it as a bad connection, cleaned the terminals and charged me $1.
My first (and last) time at Midas was back when I was a young hothead. I had a minor exhaust problem that I wanted fixed (a hanger). The guy came out with a quote for an entire exhaust system. I said no thanks and prepared to leave. The “mechanic” told me that he could not allow me to drive my car out without the work, as it was a danger. I threatened him. He got my car down from the rack and I left.
Rotors are so inexpensive now I can’t imagine turning them for $600.
A Horizon? Them’s rare!
For those who live in Boston, Chicago, Delaware Valley, Puget Sound, San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, Twin Cities, or Washington, DC, I recommend a subscription to Consumers’ Checkbook. Essentially they are the Consumer’s Reports of local businesses.
I should have PAID THE REG. PRICE OF “$89.00” INCLUDES; Comprehensive brake system evaluation, INSTALL Lifetime guaranteed pads or shoes, LUBRICATE calipers sides or backing plates, RECONDITION rotors or drums- rotors/drums machined or sanded to provide a clean, smooth surface!! BUT I HAD DISCOUNT OFFER $49.95 brake service offer and paid $195.00, a nice over charge of $146.00
THANK YOU JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA FOR THE f-----------ING
Yeah, the auto mechanics on the Jax city council are the worst. I always drive mine to Palatka, where the zoning board takes pride in its work and won’t try to upsell you on a coolant flush.
I’m sure there are multiple Midas locations in Jacksonville, but I did go to one last year that did tell me that I needed 2 repairs that I didn’t ask for, but those were repairs that I suspected I needed anyway and didn’t even tell the mechanics about beforehand, so I agreed to them because we were obviously on the same wavelength.
I’ve gone to a Midas in Palm Bay that told me I didn’t even need new brakes.
I guess it all depends on where you live. The Kansas City Council won’t touch a brake job for under $400 but our Jackson County Commission will do you right. They even do Zombie oil changes for much less than brains cost.
I get my oil changes done in St. Augustine. They always look a bit confused about my horseless carriage but they do good work.
I have a local guy as well. If I need a bulb replaced, they do it on the spot and don’t bother to charge me for labor. I’ve gotten out with $7.00 bills for a part. I have an old Pilot for the teenagers with spongy brakes, I took it in to be looked at, they gave it back to me, didn’t charge me, and said stop comparing the breaks on a huge 10 year old SUV with your husbands Mercedes, the brakes are fine.
I have to say, the Midas near my house has always treated me fairly. They must be the exception. I used to go to them a lot and it’s very easy to walk home from; recently I started going to a local place (also very respectable) that’s also close but through a nasty neighborhood so I can’t walk home, which is a negative but I wanted to give business to locals.
But not every Midas is extortionate.
We also started going to our local independent guy a number of years ago. He had great word-of-mouth from our neighbors, and that’s what got us to go.
Bonus? We can walk there (or home again) in under 10 minutes.