You really shouldn’t ask for free legal advice on here.

But I did work as a grease monkey while I was in college.

If you’ll keep all of your receipts and take them back in, they will have a process for filing a claim — the individual shop probably won’t handle it. They should at least pay for fixing the car. If you’re firm and raise hell, they may pay for your hotel stay, especially if you can provide a paper trail that shows that wherever you stayed was not your ultimate destination.

If you’re looking for those “pain and suffering” types of things, I think you’ll have a pretty hard time since there was no physical injury.

That’s the way things used to work back in the 80s. It might give you a place to start.

from what ive heard of midas this doesnt surprise me. i knew someone who took their car there for brakes and the emergency brake failed a few days later and their car rolled down a hill.

Would you classify this case under a product liability? I have no idea what kind of lawyer to look up.

I feel like we’re hiafex just being taunted now.

what were you driving?????

i have NEVER worried that i would lose a wheel on any of my cars for the last 21 years of (legal) driving.

am i just lucky???

Settle out of court. They’ll do it just to avoid you going on websites talking about. You will not get a lot of money. Repairs, tow bill, and a little extra would be all I’d expect.

I deal with Midas quite a bit, but not as a customer. It’s worth noting that some of their stores are independently owned and some are corporate.

I hope you got photos of everything that happened and still have the studs.

I think it’s more likely for the studs to shear if they didn’t torque the lug nuts down. With the wheels spinning, they eventually loosen and the wheel will vibrate like all hell. This is the third time I’ve heard of this happening…in the other two cases the lug nuts were loose. I’m not an expert but I don’t think that a regular impact wrench could torque the lug nuts so tight that it would cause the studs to fail. If the studs failed because of tight lug nuts then I would imagine there was a defect in the steel, but who knows. Either way, your goddam wheel should not fall off while going down the highway. They’re the last people who dealt with it and should be held accountable to some degree, I would think.

Anyway, I’m a very litigious person and if this were to happen to me I wouldn’t get a lawyer straight away. Go back, and if you find out that the shop is independent, speak to the owner. If it’s corporate, get in touch with their legal department but be very tight lipped and careful about what you say. If it were me I’d start out by asking for the cost of the actual repairs and towing, plus $1,000. It can’t hurt. See what they counter with and go from there.

I am obviously not a lawyer, blah blah blah.

Good luck to you.

The Texas Hammer.

Your predicament is the basis of several hypos I’ve used to study for my final.

On the legal responsibility involved. But I have a question. Who suggested replacing the studs and lugnuts? There are times when a store manager (Midas?) or employee (untrained muffler mechanic) will suggest parts replacement (commonly correct but often unnecessary) to a naive (young woman) customer, in order to make the job worth the time (labor cost). I have had a wheel come off (of a 7 year old car that checked out OK in terms of wheel balance, braking, etc). As mentioned above, aftermarket parts are about the #1 point of failure when high stress and wear items fail and they aren’t old. Did you examine the studs to be sure they were “new”, and would base wear indicate they were properly installed in the wheel proper? You’ve clearly described what happened, but very little info on why. And why is the crix of any possible liability.

Midas is going to reimburse us for everything (or so they say) and they’ve already fixed the car even though she wanted to get it fixed elsewhere. I guess that’s the end of the saga. Thanks to everyone who took time to read and comment.