Redhill Towing & Auto Repair

Last weekend I was in a pickle with a car that wouldn’t start. I live in SF, my husband was out of town and it was after dark on Friday night before a long weekend… oh and I had my 4 year old daughter with me. It was an upsetting situation, mostly because I was across the bridge from home and I have to say that I had the best experience one could possibly expect under the circumstances. I called AAA, was initially told it’d be 60 minutes or less. A few minutes later I received an update that it’d be 30 minutes or less. From the time I hung up with AAA to the time a driver showed up was 20 minutes.
That alone was a relief, but the driver himself was amazing. It took me a few minutes to compose myself (I have to be honest in that a few tears had fallen). Once we were settled in his truck on the way home he said, «Think of it this way. Sometimes things happen for a reason and maybe you and your daughter were not meant to be on the road this holiday weekend.» I was so distracted by the fact that our weekend with multiple commitments would have to be re-​worked. Instead I now was grateful that it was a situation where the car needed attention and we didn’t need an ambulance.
THANK YOU to that amazing driver who picked up a mom and her 4 year old daughter Friday night May 27 out front of an O’Reilly autoparts in San Rafael and towed us back to the city.

My review is for the Red Hill auto repair shop this time, i have already had very good experiences with their tow truck drivers on numerous occasions. The tow truck drivers are helpful, friendly, and there when you need them, right?
Anyway, my car wouldn’t start and i chose, at the tow truck driver’s suggestion, to let it be towed to Red Hill Auto Repair. I wasn’t sure what kind of service i would get, so i let convenience decide.
When i called the next morning at 8 AM to get the estimate, they already had a list prepared of what was wrong and what else i could do to fix my baby up (and yes… to save money… once you have the car on the rack… I did know about a few issues that needed to be fixed.) They found them! So i know they weren’t digging up stupid stuff. Way cool… and professional.
My car was done pretty much on time, and i was pleased with the price.
The manager, Joe, went to bat for me immediately when i ran into a problem with the car rental place… all ironed out instantly. I was treated like I mattered.
I returned with my newly-​fixed car to Red Hill to check out a chemical smell, which i learned was normal, and was reassured i could even come back again.
Wow! I was treated again like they really wanted my business. Like i was a valuable CLIENT!
Maybe they get some of their clients initially from getting tows. But they worked HARD to KEEP this client, me, and i will keep using them. Any business that treats me like this gets my loyalty big time. I will become a repeat client now.
I also felt good knowing they see every kind of car in the world and that i was getting a fair price.
Thank you Red Hill for taking care of this car-​challenged chick who just wanted her car back, and who got it back, on time, in perfect shape. Joe (the boss) — you run a tight shop, the energy is really good, and your staff is great, too!

Derrick knows his stuff… I had about 4 others come by to try and give my car a battery charge. None of them were able to succeed because they couldn’t get the hood open. Derek added open in five seconds. If I ever had a problem with my car I would want these guys to show up.

Quit squawking! This is what the tow truck driver told me when he completely blocked my driveway while working on a neighbor’s car on the street. I told him he couldn’t block my driveway since I needed to leave. He said «call the police». Then he went further, and said, «quit your squawkig» I will be gone before they come.
I am sorry. I am a grown woman and I don’t squawk. I see from other reviews that the drivers are known to be rude. I called the company to complain and the woman was indifferent and didn’t even bother to ask me for my contact info. I guess they don’t have to be nice since they have AAA contracts.

I didn’t have AAA when I had an accident. They charged a fortune to tow my bike, it was rideable but my arm was not. They got called because they were on the next rotation when the police called in a tow truck. A couple of days later I called 2 – 3 places and asked for a price for the same tow and was told it would be half as much as I had paid. Total rip off.

I was just called by a very rude woman from this company. My AAA confirmed with this company for 3 passager tow.
Apparently there was a misunderstanding between the two communicating either way it was not necessary for her to have such rude customer service towards myself. Obviously we have just been in a car accident. We don’t need some over stressed woman also calling us being rude and canceling our tow as that is not what we wanted. I also was very calm as you called me rude and hung up on me which as I understand was just a way to just get rid of dealing with us. I was waiting for my boyfriend to decide what to do and never told you to cancel our tow. Yet again no one was being rude to you and you chose to hang up on me.
You should be fired as you clearly cant handle the stress of your job in a respectful manner. I hope your day turns out better and I’m sorry you have to work on a holiday at least you werent just in a car accident with your young son and have been stuck stranded for the last 2.5 hours trying to get a tow home.
I would never recommend this company to anyone.

great service. when your in a pinch and need good quick service they will be there for you. i just used them and they were real helpful and quick. and that is hard to find in the towing industry.

What great drivers! So helpful and punctual. Thanks Philip and Doy!

Reading other reviews, it seems a common thing to deal with aggressive Redhill drivers in Marin… was going on ramp to 101 in Corte Madera last night around 5pm and this douche bag literally decides to cut me off instead of waiting patiently for his turn as the road was narrowing into 1 lane before getting on the freeway!
I kept on going and the only way I passed him was because my car was faster than his truck otherwise he kept riding along coming within inches of me… I made sure to flip this A. hole and he went nuts, rushed back to cut me off again and making gestures all along as to take the nearest exit to «settle it»…nice guy!
I called the number on the truck to complain and was conveniently put on hold for a good 5mn… Nice business they have with top notch employees, avoid at all cost!

Redhill has always been a lifesaver for not just me but my entire family.
my fathers car broke down right off 101 in a safe local location and redhill towing/&jacks towing came there within minutes after i called (even with traffic!) AMAZING RESPONSE time… the driver was outstanding, he knew exactly how to clam him down from the situation. friendly, nice, polite, understanding and listened to all of both of our questions and concerns as well as took the time to explain and answer them!
my father returned home after the 2hr trip he had nothing but positive things to say. so THANK YOU!!! & we appreciate all your help :)
******HIGHLY RECCOMENDED ******
REDHILL AUTO REPAIR–
i never got a chance to write a review about 6months my chevy blazer was a mess i had to have the heatercore replaced and i took it to redhill and they did a EXCELLENT job on my car. its a comfortable feeling knowing your car is getting fixed the CORRECT way and even better i got it back the SAME DAY!
A++++

Called AAA because my car wouldn’t shift out of park and I needed a tow to a service garage. Antonio showed up and spent an hour working on the car. Jacked it up and got the transmission to release. No tow required. He really went the extra mile and saved me a lot of hassle.

Good and bad review… mostly bad. Called in AAA for battery replacement. Redhill Towing about 1.5 hours late and, worse yet, in the installation zapped electric of Volvo. Felt unsafe driving children to soccer tournament upon next use given no turn signal, dash lights etc
Owner very responsive and collaborative. Arranged forcraoud pick up and repair.
Subsequently witch like receptionist refused to return car even after I volunteered to pay for flatbed.
Police involved. AAA involved.
Avoid this place. Buyer beware.

Tow truck driver parked in alley and then stood in my way to prevent me from getting past.

Got my car towed here and had repairs done since I had no options at that point. Was told by technician that they would steam clean under the engine and do oil change because filter was leaking. A day after picking up my car I move it and there is a huge oil stain where it was parked. Called the shop and was told they didn’t do steam cleaning and tech should not have told me that and they shirked liability for everything.
If you get your car towed here you are better off paying to have it towed somewhere else for repairs.

Sent an online request for service to AAA last night, a Sunday. The request stated that a 4 year old battery on a VW Jetta TDI was not starting the car and likely may need to be replaced. My request let AAA know that service could be arrive the following morning, Monday, if it was more convenient. Within minutes, we received an automated response by telephone that informed us that the driver was on his way. Within 30 minutes, Redhill Towing employee Zach arrived and performed a thorough diagnostic on the battery that confirmed a bad cell with insufficient cranking power. The $ 149.00 installed price with included diagnostics and recycling the old battery was a better value than anything I could have obtained at a brick and mortar location and it was all done at the convenience of my home on a Sunday night. Real pros.

Very bad customer service! Not honest! Do yourself a favor and don’t go there. Very aggressive towards customers to sell you something that doesn’t need repair.

OK, so now I can also speak directly to the company’s service to their paying customers. Due to a misunderstanding, a local establishment asked RedHill to tow my car, which they did. When called them that night to inquire about picking it up, they said to come over any time all night. I asked if they needed me to tell them when I would be coming, and they said no, just come over. When I arrived, they told me their drivers were all out and they wouldn’t have a driver to get the car out for an hour. I feel they should have mentioned that possibility on the phone, as that would have saved me the trip — I wouldn’t have risked it and just waited until they were fully open in the morning.
That wasn’t the worst part, though. When I came to pick up my car the next day, their Operations Manager was _​very_​rude. Not just curt — rude. So my boyfriend picks up his card, and reads his name and job title aloud to himself. At this the operations manager got upset and said he would not release my vehicle if my boyfriend said anything more. Add to that that he required to _​photocopy_​ (not just see) my boyfriend’s drivers license if he wanted to use his credit card to pay for it.
We’ve since spoken to the district management of the company that had our car towed. We told them about our experience at Redhill. They were clearly displeased that their customers had such a bad experience with one of their vendors (Redhill).
The Mafia-​like conditions in which towing companies hold your car hostage is already bad enough. We don’t need bad actors like Redhill setting the bar even lower by actually treating you poorly, then _​saying_​they are going to hold your car hostage unless _​you_​behave better. So I would not recommend hiring this company unless you want to have to deal with a modern-​day version of Seinfeld’s «Soup Nazi».

Call AAA to have my 4 wheel drive rockcrawler towed from one mechanic to another. Of course I let them know that a flatbed is necessary. A regular tow truck shows up. No big deal, the driver of the truck that shows up, tells us that he’ll take the keys and wait for the flatbed to show up. Cool, don’t have to wait. This was Thursday. I call my mechanic the following Tuesday to inquire how my truck is doing. «It’s not here, we thought you gave up on us», I was told. Hmmm… Wtf!!! Where is my truck!!! Call AAA, where they tell me that my car was delivered to my mechanic. «Oh lord», I felt my heart sink. This is an ’85 4Runner with a ton of $$$ into it, where someone would have a field day picking apart on the street. Between redhill towing and AAA, it took over two hours and a phone call to the police, to find out it had never been moved. I was livid. I truly have no explanation in my mind to how it is that happened.
In the end, the people of redhill towing were very friendly, courteous, accepted their mistake, apologized, explained how it was a large error and made it right. This is the reason that I’m giving them 3 stars as oppose to one. Everyone that I met there was very nice and down to earth. Everyone makes a mistake here and there, but it makes a huge difference when it comes to accepting it and making it right or not.

Integrity is what you will find here in auto repair
Joe the mechanic has the tolerance of a saint and spent countless hours working with a Warranty company «out to screw the customer at all costs»
It was incredible how patient, honest and thorough he actually was.
TRUSTWORTHY FOR REPAIRS AND FOR HELPING THE CUSTOMER.
TAKE YOUR CAR HERE WITH CONFIDENCE

Being the idiot that I am, I left my car lights on overnight and drained my battery. I called up AAA to send a guy over to jumpstart my vehicle. The first guy they sent over came in an hour’s time to give me a quick jump. He told me to drive for 20 minutes and that would do the trick.
Unfortunately, this guy was wrong. I went to my neighborhood grocery store, and when I got back to my car, it wouldn’t start again. So I called AAA again and this time they sent over a different driver — from Red Hill Towing Company. This guy arrived within 20 minutes. He took the time to run a diagnostics check of my battery and quickly concluded that I needed a replacement. $ 100 and 15 minutes later, he had my car up and running again (with a battery that came with a multi-​year warranty).
Thanks to Red Hill Towing for bailing me out and getting me back on the road. You were quick, efficient, professional, and my knight in shining armor. While I hope I never have to use your service any time soon, it’s nice to know you’re out there!

I gave them a call for dead battery in my rental car. Larry arrived within 10 minutes. Did a computer analysis of the battery, showing a bad cell was the problem. Gave me a printout to turn in to the rental agency with my reimbursement request. Installed a new battery. Made sure everything worked. Had me back on the road in about 15 minutes! My thanks to Larry and Joseph!

Great assistance! My car died I called at 9:30 pm and the help was at my door by 10 pm. Fast. Quick. Reliable. The gentleman was very nice and most of all helpful. He didn’t just restart my car but he educated me little thing about my car I didn’t know and it will be useful in the future. I really appreciated his flexibility to come so late and help me so fast before I knew it was done! Perfect way to start a new year!

Summary: Red Hill Towing is a mean overworked organization that likes to say «NO» and has a reputation of mean unkind leadership.
Avoid Red Hill Towing like the plague. Even my good neighbor insurance rep sounded disheartened after dealing with them and he «deals with companies like this all the time.»
My motorcycle was in a minor wreck and as I was sent to the hospital with minor injuries an officer got the motorcycle sent to Red Hill Towing.
Here is the experience I would expect with Red Hill if your vehicle is in their impound.
Step 1: Call them and be asked to wait a while on hold by an assertive unfriendly employee.
Step 2. Wait on hold.
Step 3. Get treated like you are doing something wrong taking their time on the phone when it comes to your vehicle.
Step 4. If you can’t pay the $ 150 per tow (they probably change it for different people) PLUS $ 35/​day storage (if they’re nice) or $ 85/​day storage if they think they can get it IN PERSON etc… then your vehicle is stuck with them, held hostage.
Step 5. My good neighbor insurance was up to bat and it took many attempts to wrangle the vehicle away from them. Eventually, because I was destitute and my insurance wanted to help over $ 1000 was paid just to get my vehicle out of the hands of Red Hill Tow after 10 days.
There are nice people at red hill tow, but I pray you never have to deal with the management or anything.
I almost think a petition should be made so that the San Rafael police dept. doesn’t use their service because if you don’t have the money to get your vehicle away from them they just treat you with anger as they rack up storage fees.
Based on what I saw Red Hill will:
NOT take checks from any source
NOT let the vehicle go unless someone was there in person paying
NOT send an invoice to insurance
NOT have a standard rate
NOT be friendly
It is really sad, and if you get the money in person you can get your vehicle; but if it’s a non-​standard transaction be prepared to pay double or not have your vehicle and possibly lose it forever or worse.

My experience with Red Hill Towing while on vacation in the SF Bay Area was punctuated by uncommunicative employees and unfulfilled promises. Albeit I was literally stuck on top of a mountain (Mt. Tam) and they were the only AAA-​approved shop in the area, I eventually got AAA to have my car towed into SF, where the issue was diagnosed easily and was taken care of quickly.
The lone shout-​out of any positive value goes to our tow truck operator’s calm demeanor and friendly personality. But the fact that he didn’t even check the vehicle before hooking it up, and automatically towed us to his home shop in San Rafael even after we said we were staying in SF showed he was looking out for his business more than our well-​being. I only agreed on the promise that my car would be looked at first thing 8am the next day — when I called at 10:15, they hadn’t even opened the hood. They apparently deprioritized my vehicle even knowing that I’d need to leave to drive back home to Portland the next day.
The worst part of the experience however was that they offered no shuttle service back to SF, and told me they would «call me a cab», well… the cab they called was definitely their buddy. He took over 45 minutes to arrive to pick us up, and forgot his bridge pass at work, so (even though he did stop the meter) we had to drive over with him to get it.
As of right now, I’m out an $ 80 ride across Marin County… although I do think AAA is going to reimburse me. [AAA reimbursed me just fine, but refused to take Red Hill off of their list of approved providers, despite numerous complaints]
While Red Hill might be great for locals, I would NOT recommend them for travelers on a tight schedule, or for those who are not completely familiar with the Bay Area. They could have listened a lot better — with my AAA Plus membership they could have easily towed me into SF without even incurring cost — but it seems they were greedy on wanting to offer service they couldn’t actually provide.
Additional Edit: Folks, when a place has 20-​something 1star ratings and 20-​something 5-​star ratings, and nothing in-​between? There’s something foul brewing. Look all over Unilocal!,you’ll see that where there are 1s and 5s, there should be at least a few 4s, 3s, and 2s. While I have no evidence of this, it would not surprise me if RedHill were using staff and friends to bump up their ratings.

This place really sucks. I called a tow truck at 9:30 a.m. to come get my car that had blown a radiator. I gave the dispatch guy all my info, and told him that I need a flatbed because of the model of the car. The guy says he’ll have a driver there at 10:30 in a flatbed. I go down to where the car is waiting, but no one is there at 10:30. I call back. This dispatch person (Araceli) has no record that I had ever called. She again takes my info, notes the flatbed, and tells me she’ll call back in 15 minutes once she gets the truck’s ETA. Of course no call for 45 minutes, so I call back. Now Araceli tells me the truck will be there in another 45 minutes (it’s now like 12:30 in the afternoon). An hour later the truck is still not there, so I call Araceli, and she says 10 minutes.
Lo and behold, the truck shows up in ten minutes, BUT IT’S NOT A FLATBED SO CAN’T TOW MY CAR. I call Araceli, and a flatbed shows up 45 minutes later, and takes my car the 8 miles to the shop.
So yeah, it took an entire weekday, and about six hours of phone calls and time, to get my car towed five miles. Only redeeming feature was Philip, the flatbed driver, who was awesome. But his employer sucks and you should never use them. hth.

AAA referred my service call to Redhill. I told the AAA dispatcher that I was in an unsafe situation with my car blocking the intersection. He assured me that I would be given priority treatment., with a truck arriving in about 15 minutes. I hour and 10 minutes later the Redhill Towing guy shows up. He wants to immediately hook up my car to the tow truck. I ask that he please check the battery, which was purchased from a AAA towing service less than one year ago. He says he has no battery checking equipment on the truck, even though I specifically requested AAA to send a tow truck with battery checking and replacement equipment — wtf?! He opens the hood and fiddles around with the battery. He asks me to try to re-​start the car and miraculously it re-​starts. What kind of mechanic starts the diagnostic process by going straight to the tow, vs. performing a few simple checks? A few months ago AAA changed their program in order to contract with fewer tow companies. If this is the result — it SUCKS. After decades with AAA I will re-​consider renewing my membership! Redhill Towing receives a grade of «F» for responsiveness and competency! FAIL!!!