Cheda’s Garage in Point Reyes Station has discontinued its towing services and will sever ties with the American Automobile Association, putting an end to AAA’s oldest-standing contract with a family-owned business in the country. The changes are effective immediately, though Cheda’s contract with AAA will run through January to reach its 100-year anniversary with the service.
The garage is making other changes, too. Roadside services will be limited to business hours, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and new service boundaries will be drawn around the Point Reyes area, though Cheda’s has yet to define the specifics.
Owner Hilary Cheda said the contract with AAA had become a burden on the operation. In addition, the garage’s remaining tow truck no longer meets the requirements set by the California Air Resources Board—the last straw in her decision to dissolve the contract.
Ms. Cheda, who has run the shop since 2011, said she feels like the contracts were generally a one-way street with AAA, which she said was unwilling to increase its payments to Cheda’s. “Being in contract with [AAA], they set the parameters of the contract: when you’re available, what types of insurance you carry and needing a tow truck, of course. It’s just not working for us anymore,” Ms. Cheda said.
Last week marked the final compliance deadline for trucks and buses in California to meet air quality rules that require all heavy-duty diesel vehicles to have a 2010 or newer engines. Diesel exhaust is responsible for 70 percent of the cancer risk from airborne toxics, according to the California Air Resources Board.
Cheda’s phased out its three other tow trucks over the last five years. Ms. Cheda said they are hoping to sell the remaining truck, a 2009 Dodge Ram 5500, but that they don’t expect a high bidder given the vehicle’s high mileage and the state of the market.
“The regulations have impacted tow services across the state,” Ms. Cheda said. “Every one of the states bordering us, which is where these trucks are usually sold, knows that everybody in California is having to offload these. It’s not profitable.”
During business hours, Cheda’s will still have a pickup truck to respond to vehicle lockouts, flat tires, dead batteries and motorists who run out of gas. The garage is working to define smaller service boundaries closer to Point Reyes Station; until it does, it will evaluate calls for assistance on a case-by-case basis. Previously, Cheda’s assisted drivers as far north as the Marconi Conference Center in Marshall, east to Nicasio and the Tocaloma area, south to Bolinas and Stinson Beach and west through the seashore.
The changes at the garage have been in the works for some time. In 2019, Cheda’s dissolved its agreement with AAA as the association’s primary provider for the majority of coastal Marin. Under its subsequent contract, Cheda’s was an auxiliary site that would only serve as backup when other services weren’t available, and it could refuse service if it didn’t want to provide it. But Ms. Cheda said the garage was still treated by AAA as the primary provider when other garages weren’t responding to late-night calls.
“It’s been a long time coming,” she said.
John Treanor, a spokesman for AAA Northern California, said the company will service the area with its own fleet of tow trucks operated by the association’s employees based in San Rafael.
Last week, when a car spun off the road in the seashore, Valley Towing & Recovery sent multiple trucks to retrieve the vehicle. Cheda’s has not been responding to similar wrecks for years, towing only vehicles that could be repaired at its garage. The San Rafael-based Valley Towing does not have a contract with AAA, and although AAA members can get reimbursed for service, driver Ramon Cruz said motorists who don’t have AAA or an equivalent pay the company’s rate of $308 per hour.
For non-AAA calls, Cheda’s charged $150 an hour.
Bill’s Towing in Petaluma, a AAA-contracted garage, has not responded to many tow requests in West Marin in the last few years. Owner Steve Barnes said it hasn’t ever made financial sense to do so, adding that AAA does not pay them for mileage on their way to vehicles.
“I assume after this change, we’ll be headed out to that area a lot more,” Mr. Barnes said.
A representative from Nave Motors in Novato said their trucks rarely make it to West Marin, unless accidents are involved and the California Highway Patrol or sheriff’s office puts out a request.
Tim Bunce, who has driven Cheda’s tow truck for the last 18 years, said that since the garage changed its AAA contract in 2019, his schedule has been easier and he was glad late-night tows were no longer the norm.
Now, without any towing at all, “It’s gonna be different. I’ve been doing it for a long time. Now I’ll just be here stuck at the shop—which is gonna suck,” Mr. Bunce said, joking.