Business Profile: Ultimate Auto Body, Peekskill
Goldens Bridge resident Gregory Beobide began working on cars at the age of 12.
That passion has grown into owning the Ultimate Auto Body chain, which has a location in Peekskill that opened in August. His other locations are in Bronxville, Bedford Hills and Mount Vernon.
“We’re a full-service collision repair facility doing everything from minor scratches and dings and dongs to major (repairs),” Beobide said in a recent interview.
Auto repair has been a major part of his life. “I started working on cars when I was 12-years-old for my uncle. He was the one who taught how to do collision repair on automobiles,” Beobide said.
At the age of 19 he became a journeyman mechanic and three years later he went to business with his uncle. Beobide opened his first Ultimate Auto Body location in in 1977 in Mount Vernon, 10 years after he started in the business.
Beobide no longer repairs vehicles. “I manage managers at this point,” he said. “Each store has its own manager.”
Beobide said collision body repair is a very competitive business. “There are collision shops everywhere,” he said. “It’s a diminishing business because of all these defensive safety features that got built into the car.”
“There are a lot of forces working against you as an independent,” Beobide explained. “As an independent I work for the customer. I don’t work for the insurance company. I don’t work for the dealership.”
Beobide said some insurance companies will try to steer work away from independent shops to one of the recommended shops to save money by using counterfeit parts.
“We restore the customer’s car to pre-loss condition for form, fit and function and we guarantee it for as long as they own the car. We guarantee the value of the car,” he stressed.
Beobide said he has been successful through a combination of “hard work, tenacity (and) not quitting. Doing the best you can.”
Beobide said he named his auto body shop Ultimate because, “We try to be the best at everything we do.”
The Peekskill Ultimate Auto Body is located at 515 Washington St. For more information, call 914-737-3159 or visit ultimateautobody.com.
