About Rob's | Rob's History

Full Service Automotive and Collision Facility
Complete Heavy Truck and Body Facility
24 Hour Towing and Recovery Service

ABOUT ROB'S

At the age of 13 years old, I began working at a family friend’s transmission shop, cleaning tools, sweeping the bays and keeping the shop clean. From there, I learned how to detail their tow trucks. As time went on, they began to teach me how to remove and rebuild manual transmissions, eventually being shown how to remove and rebuild automatic transmissions too. I worked well with my hands. It was something that came naturally to me. By the time I was 15, I knew how to drive their tow trucks, I was going out on recovery calls with them. I loved it. The equipment was so impressive to me. Growing up I would fix mini bikes, dirt bikes and eventually cars. The late 60’s and 70’s brought on the Muscle Car Era and this is definitely where I my passion for cars came in. I loved building motors, drag racing and just everything about it.

I admit, I had always had difficulty in school, struggling everyday, especially with reading & writing. I just was a poor student and know one knew why. I just didn’t do well. It wasn’t discovered until late in the 11th grade that I had dyslexia. This disability however, explained why I always excelled when working with my hands. People with dyslexia are highly creative, very visual, multi dimensional thinkers. Since we think in pictures, everything is understood on a much deeper level. I always had an internal drive to be successful. I worked hard, graduated with a degree in Automotive and bought my first Corvette when I was 19 years old. I actually started Rob’s Automotive & Collision in my driveway at the age of 22, working on family & friends vehicles and those who were referred to me. Dedication to Customer Service, quality of workmanship and just doing right by people was just as important to me then as it is now.  I eventually moved into a one bay facility with no heat or compressors. I didn’t even know at that time there was a manual with list prices. Obviously the tools were available to make things easier, but there was just so much to learn about running a business. I had my work cut out for me, but I never lost sight of my dream.

I sold my car to buy my first used tow truck. This helped expand our service department. We eventually needed more room, so we moved. We got involved in collision repair. I began to pursue more towing. Letters and phone calls went to AAA and the Pennsylvania Turnpike asking for an opportunity. After much persistence, we soon found ourselves on call as back up, towing one day per week for AAA. Our customer service and dedication consistently exceeded those of my competition and we eventually became the approved primary AAA vendor. We bought a flatbed tow truck. This helped expand our collision repairs. As we were growing, I never lost sight of towing for the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It was an unbelievable 8 year struggle that finally paid off. One day I put my suit on and went to Harrisburg. They recognized my company from all the correspondence sent over the years and just couldn’t get over my persistence, unbelievable drive and dedication to getting this done. If I was willing to take time out of my busy day to wait to talk to someone, then I must deserve a shot. We were given our first 6 miles. Our customer service was exceptional. We updated equipment, worked exceptionally hard, and those 6 miles eventually went to 12 then 20 and today we currently service over 80 miles.

Over the years I have learned that you can not do everything by yourself. With building relationships along the way and allowing your employees to help you, because they want to help you, your company can definitely grow. You can’t be afraid to take chances. Look at an obstacle as an opportunity. Be willing to share your knowledge, but always be open to learning something new. I have the pleasure of having an exceptional team of men and woman who possess high morale values and exceptional work ethics. We have developed a very ‘big family’ at Rob’s, working hard everyday, providing excellent customer service and always looking for an opportunity to take it one step further.

Most importantly, I would like to thank every customer of Rob’s Automotive & Collision. Many of you have been loyal from the very beginning and I will always be grateful.

ROB'S HISTORY

1982: Began repairing vehicles for money in the family driveway. Working alone.

1983: Moved into one bay facility in Levittown, Pennsylvania. Buys the first tow truck. Company employs two people.

1984: Moved into four bay facility in the same building in Levittown, Pennsylvania. Company employs five people.

1986: Became approved AAA primary vendor for this area. Bought a flat bed tow truck.

1990: Gets primary responsibility for towing within the township. Company employs twelve people. Moves into a twelve bay facility.

1992: Opens Rob’s Collision Center—six bays.

1996: Builds new facility and moves into 20,000 square foot building. Complete Automotive and Collision Center, state of the art, and now employing over fifty people.

1998: Buys 15,000 square foot building next door. Moves all truck heavy duty repair and truck collision work to that facility. Twenty-two trucks total, including three road service trucks and nineteen recovery vehicles of every size and shape to haul containers and tow cars nationwide.

1999: Opens Truck Collision Center on Emilie Road in Levittown, Pennsylvania.

2000: Opens Rob’s Trailer Shop in neighboring town. Adds eight employees. 

2004: Rob’s opens up new state-of-the-art 30,000 square foot truck mechanical and trailer repair facility.

2005: Rob’s acquires Lyons Towing with over 10 additional pieces of equipment - Expanding our services to our southern customers. Rob’s becomes authorized to offer Certified Tanker Repair Services.

2010: Rob's will be relocating select facilities for efficiency reasons. Plan to open a Car Museum.