General Info:
About Schiro's Collision Repairs In 1935 Vincent Schiro worked for $5 a week for a fleet company in New York, NY. He was an apprentice in mechanics. After several years, he graduated to a taxi-cab company where he was the head mechanic. In 1943 he was drafted into WWII where he was a combat engineer. The Army trained him to work on trucks of all sizes. He was part of the third wave of D-Day on Omaha Beach and subsequently served in the Battle of the Bulge. On his return to New York, he started refurbishing cars. Vincent purchased damaged cars and then refurbished the body, paint, and mechanical parts so he could sell them for profit. In 1958 he married a childhood friend in Palermo, Italy. In that same year, Vincent moved to California and opened his car refurbishing business, Schiro's Motor Sales, in Burbank with his brother and brother-in-law. Approximately four years later they bought the property on Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood; it was a big lot with an old shack in the middle. The brothers completed construction on the current L-shaped building in 1970. They started operating the car refurbishing/selling business with two of the bays and leased out the other six bays to mechanics, suppliers, and auto vendors. They had one employee and began specializing in antique auto restoration. Frank and Joe continued at the shop through high school, with Joe doing a short stint for his cousin in the air-compressor business. In the early 1980's, the brothers took over most of the office administration duties and transitioned into a more dependable and lucrative business plan: collision repair. They soon acquired positions on several DRP programs with the major insurance companies and as the business grew they took over all eight bays at the North Hollywood location. There still wasn't enough room to handle the growing business so in 1997 they built a two-story building on the property to expand the paint department. In 2002, they purchased a decaying 27, 000 sq. ft. building on 1 1/2 acres of land in Chatsworth. In April of 2003 the newly refurbished auto body shop opened for business. At first, the Chatsworth facility only repaired cars but in January of 2010, Schiro's added commercial trucks and RV's to the mix. They are now able to handle the full range of auto body repair, on any type of vehicle, on both ends of the San Fernando Valley (Chatsworth handles cars, big rigs, and RV's and North Hollywood handles cars and small trucks) for all insurance companies. An integral part of the growth and stability of Schiro's is their continued pursuit of education. Over the years the staff has received on-going training through dealerships, I-CAR, ASE, paint manufacturers, and supply vendors. Frank is a graduate of California State University, Northridge and was an I-CAR instructor and I-CAR District Chairman for several years. Joe has been a Reserve Sheriff on the local department for 20 years. The collision center as a whole has been involved in several industry groups including the California Autobody Association, CIC, SCRS, and Coyote Vision. Coyote Vision is a group of body shops across the nation that meets four times per year at a selected member's facility. The group discusses national trends and local problems, and regularly speaks with insurers in an effort to streamline the repair process to provide higher quality, better cycle times and better service to the customer. The members hear from national speakers who teach management styles, the value of good employee relations, and how to WOW the customer. With collision centers in North Hollywood and Chatsworth Schiro's proudly serves the entire the entire San Fernando Valley, including Burbank, Woodland Hill, Northridge, Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Sun Valley and Granada Hills, with high-quality auto body repairs.