Collision repair
Crushed bumpers, bent panels, pushed-in doors and everything else a wreck leaves behind, on cars, trucks, vans and SUVs of every make. We work with all insurance companies.
How collision repair works
Auto body & collision repair · Portsmouth, Va.the same corner since 1940.
Three generations of the Eates family have fixed wrecks and restored classics at 2100 Portsmouth Blvd. Every insurance company accepted. Bring it by and we’ll tell you straight what it needs.
Mon–Fri 7 AM – 4 PM
A 1965 Mustang the shop restored in copper.
Just had a wreck?
We’ll look the car over, write the estimate and work it out with your adjuster, whether you’re filing a claim or paying out of pocket.
What comes through the bays
Everything is done here on Portsmouth Blvd, by the same people you talk to at the counter.
Paint & refinishing
Panels matched to the paint already on the car, full repaints, and engine bays and door jambs done right.
Frame & structural
When a hit goes past the sheet metal, the car goes on the frame rack to be measured, pulled and straightened.
Rust & metal work
Rotted floors, cowls and quarter panels cut out, new steel welded in, and the seams finished smooth.
Restorations
Frame-off and rotisserie restorations for Mustangs, Chevys, Scouts, Willys and whatever you’ve been saving.
See the restorations
Trucks, trailers & fleet
Pickups, work vans, flatbed trailers and heavy equipment. The bays have held a Navy water tanker.
Truck and trailer work
Before and after
From the shop’s own photo box. Some of these were shot on film.
From Brooklyn to Portsmouth Blvd
Peter Eates came to America from Italy as a boy, learned the trade and opened his first repair shop in Brooklyn. Around 1940 he moved south and opened another on Portsmouth Blvd, where the shop still stands.
His sons Frank P. Eates Sr. and Louis J. Eates ran it for decades. Today his grandsons, Frank and Pete, run it with the rule their father taught them: treat every customer like family.
You pick the shop, not your insurance company
“Although many companies will suggest body shops or repair facilities, the final decision is yours.”
Insurers can hand you a list. You don’t have to use it. We work with every insurance company, yours or the other driver’s, and we write the estimate with the car in front of us.
Insurance questions, answered
Fire crews have trained in our yard
The family has always opened the doors to Portsmouth’s police and fire departments. When fire crews needed wrecked cars, trucks and a school bus to practice cutting people out of, GAC supplied the vehicles and the yard at no cost.
Firefighters from several cities trained here for more than a week.
Find the shop
The tan brick building at Portsmouth Blvd and Chicago Ave, by Frederick Blvd. Less than a mile from I-264.
Address
GAC Automotive Center2100 Portsmouth Blvd
Portsmouth, VA 23704
Mon–Fri 7 AM – 4 PM
Hours and what to bringBeen in the shop? Leave a review.
A few lines on Google help the next person with a crumpled fender find an honest shop. The family reads every one.