Rodeo calls get a person, not a queue.
Straight over the Carquinez. Most of what we answer in Rodeo is on or near I-80, I-680. This is refinery row at Rodeo/Martinez country, so the faults have a pattern to them. One call and Patrick is on the road.
- Straight over the Carquinez
- Open 24 hours, seven days
- No hourly minimum
- Cars, trucks, farm and heavy equipment
Everything we do starts from American Canyon. For Rodeo that means straight over the Carquinez. The route in is I-80, so an arrival window we give you over the phone is a real one rather than a number meant to keep you holding. Cars, trucks, trailers, farm machinery and heavy equipment all get worked on where they sit in Rodeo, which spares you the cost of moving something that was never going to need a workshop in the first place. Patrick has been doing this long enough to know which faults in Rodeo are a ten minute fix and which are somebody selling you a tow. The van is loaded before it leaves, so a Rodeo call is usually one visit rather than a diagnosis today and a repair on Thursday.
Getting to you in Rodeo
Most Rodeo work begins on I-80. That is the approach from our end and it carries the traffic that generates the calls.
We also work I-680 and Highway 4 regularly, and we pick between them by time of day rather than distance.
Roadside work has one rule before any diagnosis: get the vehicle and the people in a position where traffic is not the biggest hazard.
The work behind the breakdowns
Rodeo runs on refinery row at Rodeo/Martinez. That shapes the call list more than anything else.
Add delta agriculture east to that and you get vehicles that work hard on a schedule somebody else set, which is exactly the situation where a breakdown costs more than the repair.
That is why we ask what the vehicle does for a living before we set off, because a truck that runs loaded every day fails differently from one that sits five days a week.
Pickup points and regular stops
What we get called out for in Rodeo
If you want to know what we spend our time on in Rodeo, it is this.
Commute-hour breakdowns
Vehicles that fail on the way to work, where the priority is getting the driver moving rather than a perfect repair at the roadside. It is a steady share of what Rodeo calls about.
Contractor and plant vehicles
The trucks and equipment working refinery sites, where access and timing get planned before we roll. With refinery row at Rodeo/Martinez in the mix, this one repeats more here than it should.
Flat and shredded tires
Changed on the spot where there is a usable spare, and where there is not we can talk through the next step before anybody calls for a tow. Most of them reach us from I-80 or the streets feeding it.
No-starts with no obvious cause
Starter, alternator, fuel delivery or something electrical. We test rather than guess, which is what stops you paying for the wrong part. With refinery row at Rodeo/Martinez in the mix, this one repeats more here than it should.
Brakes that started making noise
Pads and rotors get done in a driveway or a yard as readily as in a shop, and we would rather look at it early than after something seizes. We carry the parts for it because Rodeo asks often enough.
Booked work, not just breakdowns
The emergency calls are how people meet us. The scheduled work is what they come back for in Rodeo.
Oil and filter services, brakes, batteries before they die, inspections, and the small faults that are cheap now and expensive later. Done at your house or your yard, at a time that does not cost you a day.
The call is free
People in Rodeo apologize for calling about something small more often than you would think.
The call costs nothing. If it is something you can safely drive on, we will tell you that and you can get on with your day. If it is not, you have found out before it became a tow and a much larger repair.
Farm, fleet and heavy work
Farm machinery is where a mobile mechanic earns the description, because moving it to a workshop is the expensive part.
That covers tractors, gators, sprayers and the implements behind them, diagnosed and repaired on site.
The Rodeo map
Around here
Same trip, different exit. These towns sit alongside Rodeo on our map.
The drive from Rodeo to any of these is short enough that one call usually covers a second vehicle at the same yard.
Wider still, the whole of Contra Costa County and the full service area.
What Rodeo callers ask
Short answers. The phone is faster if yours is not here.
How quickly can you get to Rodeo?
Straight over the Carquinez. You get a real window on the phone before we set out, based on what I-80 is doing at that hour rather than a number that sounds good.
Do you charge a minimum to come out to Rodeo?
No hourly minimum. A ten minute fix is billed as a ten minute fix, which is the whole point of the way we work. The alternative, charging a block of time regardless, teaches people to wait until something is genuinely broken before they pick up the phone.
What hours do you answer?
Round the clock, including the hours when Rodeo has no other option. You get a person, not an answering service taking a message for the morning.
Can you work on refinery equipment?
Yes. Rodeo being refinery row at Rodeo/Martinez country is exactly why we carry what we carry. Cars and trucks are the baseline; farm machinery, heavy equipment and fleet vehicles are the rest of the week.
Do I need to get the vehicle somewhere first?
Not unless the repair genuinely needs a workshop. Paying to move a vehicle before anyone has diagnosed it is the most common way people overspend on a breakdown.
What does an after-hours Rodeo call cost?
There is no night surcharge. A two in the morning call is billed like any other, which is the only arrangement that makes sense when the whole promise is that somebody picks up.
Do some jobs still end up at a garage?
Then we say so plainly and tell you what the real options are. You are not charged for a repair that was never going to work, and you will have a clear diagnosis to take wherever it goes next.
Get somebody out to Rodeo.
The phone goes straight to the mechanic, whatever time it is. Tell us where in Rodeo you are parked and what the vehicle is doing, and you will have a price and an arrival window before we hang up.