Automotive
Midas Franchise
An automotive maintenance and repair franchise (a "Midas Shop") offering exhaust, brake, suspension, tire, battery, and general vehicle maintenance services. One of the oldest and most recognized names in automotive aftermarket repair, tracing back to 1956 and historically known for mufflers before broadening into full-service repair.
Disclosed in the FDD's litigation section (Item 3)
The FDD's Item 3 discloses three concluded matters: (1) a 2019-2021 AAA arbitration with a former Hawaii franchisee (VieRican, LLC) over a disputed termination -- the arbitrator ruled the termination itself was justified, but found Midas improperly assumed the location's lease and required Midas to pay $203,362.67 in a subsequent settlement; (2) a 2018 stipulated judgment in Napa County, CA Superior Court after a Midas franchisee was accused of Auto Repair Act and Hazardous Waste Control Act violations and false advertising -- Midas paid $210,000 combined in penalties/customer-restitution funds without admitting the underlying allegations, fully satisfied by 2024; (3) a 2015-2016 Ontario, Canada franchisee lawsuit resolved via a Cdn $414,359 payment. The Napa County matter is a real district-attorney consumer-protection action disclosed in the FDD's own Item 3, not a franchise/securities regulator finding -- California DFPI itself shows no actions or orders on file for this entity.
Every franchisor has to file a document called an FDD before they can legally sell you a franchise. Buried in it are the two things a sales rep won't volunteer: what you'll actually spend to open, and whether existing locations are opening or closing. That's what's below, pulled straight from Midas's own filing.
What it costs to open
From the filing's investment breakdown -- not a "starting at" number a sales rep quoted you.
Franchise fee
$35,000
Total to open
$385,450–$940,050
Ongoing royalty
Not a %-of-revenue fee -- see FDD
What you'd actually spend, over time
The upfront cost is only part of it. Plug in what you expect a location to bring in, and see the real total once royalties over a few years are added on top.
Defaulted to a rough automotive industry average, not a figure from Midas's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Startup investment (royalty not included -- see below)
$385,450 – $940,050
Midas doesn't charge a straightforward percentage-of-revenue royalty -- its FDD describes a different ongoing-fee structure instead. That cost isn't included in the total above; check the FDD directly for the real terms before using this figure to compare against other franchises.
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. Midas's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical automotive profit margin (~12%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general automotive industry benchmark, not a figure from Midas's own filing -- this is a starting point to adjust, not a promise about what franchisees actually make.
At that profit, you'd break even in about
4.9–12.1 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: Midas is currently losing locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is Midas actually growing?
Franchisors have to report, every year, how many locations opened, closed, or changed hands. Most franchise sites never show you this. Here it is:
Locations opened vs. closed, by year
ShrinkingFrom Item 20 of Midas's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 971 | 972 | +1 |
| 2024 | 972 | 975 | +3 |
| 2025 | 975 | 889 | -86 |
Most recent year (2025): lost 86 franchised units, ending the year at 889 total.
What you're actually signing up for
The cost and growth numbers above are only part of the picture. These three FDD items are the ones a prospective franchisee tends to weigh most heavily once they're past the sticker price.
Training & ongoing support (Item 11)
A 3-part Operations Training Program spanning roughly 4-6+ weeks: an initial regional-manager meeting plus a week of in-shop observation, then a minimum 4-day instructional program (plus 4 more days for the required point-of-sale system) at Midas's Palm Beach Gardens, FL training center, and an optional 5 additional days of supervised on-the-job practice. Midas must spend at least half of collected royalties on system-wide advertising.
Territory protection (Item 12)
Grants NO territorial protection at all -- explicitly "does not in any way grant, confer or imply any geographic area, market or exclusive territorial right." Midas can place another Midas Shop, or a co-branded/sibling-brand location (Mavis Tire, Tuffy Auto Service, Express Oil Change, all under the same corporate family), directly next to an existing franchisee with no compensation owed -- the least territorial protection of any entry in this dataset.
Renewal & termination terms (Item 17)
20-year initial term with one additional 20-year renewal option -- one of the longest term structures in this dataset, reflecting the brand's age. No termination-without-cause provision. Disputes go through mandatory arbitration in Palm Beach Gardens, FL (the franchisor's home base), with both parties waiving the right to a jury trial for any claim that can go to court.
How Midas compares to other Automotive franchises
Across the 3 automotive franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $383,550–$690,133, with royalties averaging around 6% of gross sales (based on the 1 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty). That's still a small sample -- treat it as a rough starting point, not an industry-wide benchmark.
Where this came from: Sourced from Midas International, LLC's FDD filed with the California DFPI (App ID APP00005052), Registration Renewal filed 4/17/2026, effective 5/21/2026. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed April 16, 2026. None of this is investment advice -- get the franchisor's current FDD and talk to a real attorney or accountant before you sign anything.
If you see a different unit count elsewhere: franchisors only have to refile their FDD annually, so the numbers here can run 6–18 months behind a franchisor's own real-time marketing claims -- which often aren't independently verified, and sometimes count signed-but-not-yet-open locations. A gap isn't necessarily an error on either side; it's two different snapshots in time from two different sources.