Sunnyvale’s mobile mechanic, answering at three in the morning.
From American Canyon, the southern boundary of the service area. Calls come off Highway 101, I-280 and the streets either side of them. With south bay industrial parks around town, the same handful of failures come up again and again. One call and Patrick is on the road.
- The southern boundary of the service area
- Open 24 hours, seven days
- No hourly minimum
- Cars, trucks, farm and heavy equipment
Everything we do starts from American Canyon. For Sunnyvale that means the southern boundary of the service area. Highway 101 is the way in, and knowing that road at every hour is what makes the window we quote worth something. Whatever is stopped in Sunnyvale, it gets diagnosed and in most cases fixed at the roadside, and where it genuinely cannot be you get a straight answer rather than an afternoon of hopeful attempts. Patrick has been doing this long enough to know which faults in Sunnyvale are a ten minute fix and which are somebody selling you a tow. Most Sunnyvale jobs are finished in a single stop, because guessing at the fault from a phone description is how people end up paying twice.
How we reach Sunnyvale
Most Sunnyvale work begins on Highway 101. That is the approach from our end and it carries the traffic that generates the calls.
We also work I-280 and I-880 regularly, and we pick between them by time of day rather than distance.
A shoulder is a bad place to do anything slowly, so the first thing we sort out on arrival is whether the vehicle can be made safe where it is or needs to move first.
Why Sunnyvale vehicles fail the way they do
What a town does for work decides what breaks in it. In Sunnyvale that means south bay industrial parks, and the failures follow from it.
With campus and facilities fleets on top, the vehicles here rarely get an easy week, and the wear shows up in predictable places.
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.
The regular spots
What we get called out for in Sunnyvale
Over a normal month, these are the Sunnyvale calls that repeat.
Plant and yard machinery
Forklifts, compressors and the machines a working site cannot run without, attended to between shifts where we can. It is a steady share of what Sunnyvale calls about.
Fleet vehicles on the yard
Scheduled maintenance and roadside faults both, timed around dispatch so trucks are not pulled out of service twice. With south bay industrial parks in the mix, this one repeats more here than it should.
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. It is a steady share of what Sunnyvale calls about.
Lockouts and keys shut inside
A short call that gets you moving again, and no reason to pay for a tow truck to do it. In Sunnyvale these come in off Highway 101 more than anywhere else.
Batteries that died overnight
A vehicle that turned over fine yesterday and does nothing today is usually the battery or a corroded terminal, and both get handled at the roadside. In Sunnyvale these come in off Highway 101 more than anywhere else.
Before it strands you
The emergency calls are how people meet us. The scheduled work is what they come back for in Sunnyvale.
Routine servicing, inspections and the catch-it-early repairs. The advantage of a mobile mechanic is that the vehicle keeps working while it waits for its slot.
Not sure it is worth a call?
People in Sunnyvale apologize for calling about something small more often than you would think.
There is no charge for the conversation. Describing the noise to somebody who works on these every day usually settles it in a minute.
Bigger than a car
Heavy equipment is where a mobile mechanic earns the description, because moving it to a workshop is the expensive part.
In practice that means excavators, loaders, skid steers and compressors, diagnosed where the machine is standing rather than after somebody has paid to move it.Which in this area means excavators, loaders, skid steers and compressors, and the awkward part is almost never the repair itself but getting a working mechanic to where the machine actually is.
Where Sunnyvale sits
Other towns on the same run
If you are just outside Sunnyvale, one of these is probably nearer to you.
If you are between towns, call anyway and describe the nearest junction. We would rather work it out on the phone than have you guess which page to read.
Or see the full Santa Clara County and the full service area.
The usual Sunnyvale questions
Short answers. The phone is faster if yours is not here.
How quickly can you get to Sunnyvale?
The southern boundary of the service area. You get a real window on the phone before we set out, based on what Highway 101 is doing at that hour rather than a number that sounds good.
Do you charge a minimum to come out to Sunnyvale?
No. There is no hourly minimum and no call-out block to pay for. You pay for the work that gets done, and you hear the price before we start. Plenty of outfits bill an hour whether the job takes ten minutes or fifty, and that practice is most of why people put off calling until a small fault has become a tow.
What hours do you answer?
Every hour there is. The late calls are a real part of the work rather than something we tolerate, which is why somebody actually picks up.
Can you work on south equipment?
Yes. Sunnyvale being south bay industrial parks 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?
No. Wherever it stopped in Sunnyvale is where we start, whether that is a roadside space, a work yard or a field gate.
What does an after-hours Sunnyvale call cost?
No. Nights, weekends and holidays are the same rate as a Tuesday morning. The hours when nobody else answers are most of the reason this business exists, and charging a premium for them would defeat the point.
What happens if it cannot be fixed in Sunnyvale?
We tell you straight. Some jobs need a shop, and knowing that with certainty is worth more than an afternoon of hopeful attempts at the roadside.
One call from Sunnyvale and we are moving.
The phone goes straight to the mechanic, whatever time it is. Tell us where in Sunnyvale you are parked and what the vehicle is doing, and you will have a price and an arrival window before we hang up.