How far the truck goes, and how long it takes to get there
Distance is the only thing that decides whether a call is worth making, and nobody in this trade publishes it. Here is the radius, measured in drive time at the hour you are most likely to break down, which is not rush hour.
0 to 15 mi
Kearney, Holt, Excelsior Springs, Smithville, Liberty, the I-35 corridor from exit 20 to exit 33.
Rolling within the hour, most hours. This is the home ring.
15 to 40 mi
Kansas City north and east, Riverside, Platte City, Richmond, Lawson, Plattsburg, Cameron.
Ninety minutes to two hours. Mileage starts past mile 30.
40 to 90 mi
St Joseph, Chillicothe, Warrensburg, Sedalia, the length of 36 and most of 71.
Same day if the call comes in before two. After that it is a morning job, and we will say so on the phone rather than let you wait.
Past 90 mi
Columbia, Topeka, Des Moines and beyond.
Only on a scheduled repair for a fleet we already work with. Not for a breakdown, because you would be sitting for four hours waiting on us.
What is on the truck when it leaves
A second trip is the expensive part of a roadside call, so the question that matters is what gets carried as stock. This is the list. Anything not on it comes from a parts house, which adds an hour in town and three on a Sunday.
- Air system. Glad hands, gladhand seals, air lines, fittings, brake chambers, slack adjusters.
- Electrical. Batteries, cable, starters and alternators for Cummins, Detroit and Paccar.
- Fuel. Filters and water separators for every common engine, plus a primer and a lift pump.
- Cooling. Belts, hoses, clamps, thermostats, coolant, a spare fan clutch.
- Aftertreatment. DEF, sensors, and the software to read and clear the codes on the roadside.
- Tools. Torch, welder, generator, 1 inch impact, and a jack rated for a loaded tractor.
What a call costs, in the order it gets charged
There is a service call charge the moment the truck rolls, and it is not refunded if the fix turns out to be something you could have done yourself. That is what pays for a mechanic being awake.
$165 service call, 0 to 30 miles, any hour
$3.25 / mi each way past 30 miles
$135 / hr labour on site, billed in quarter hours after the first
$185 / hr labour between 10pm and 6am, and on Sundays
Parts are at cost plus twenty percent and the invoice shows both numbers. There is no separate diagnostic fee, no environmental charge, and no shop supply line, because those three are how a $400 roadside call quietly becomes $700.
What gets told no on the phone
Saying this now is cheaper for both of us than saying it in a gravel lot at midnight.
- Anything under the cab. A tilt cab on the shoulder of 35 is not a repair, it is a hazard. That truck gets towed.
- Engine internals, clutches, transmissions. Roadside gets you to a shop. It does not replace a clutch pack in a ditch.
- Tires. There are three tire services within this radius that do it faster and cheaper, and we will give you their numbers instead of pretending.
- Pickups and RVs. Class 6 and up, trailers, and yellow equipment. A 2500 with a check engine light is somebody else's Saturday.