About Us

In 1977, a well-known auto body repair chain thought they’d try their hand at fixing large vehicles, so they opened a shop in Hayward, CA and started to bring in business. At the time, Sam Portillo worked for the phone company as an engineer, and he and his wife Terry lived on the same block as several of the executives from the body shop chain. Sam and Terry soon discovered that the new shop was going up for sale as a franchise, so in 1979, Sam decided to leave the phone company and bought the franchise. Using his experience with the phone company and a lot of hard work, he started building up the RV and truck body repair shop, focusing on excellent customer service and strong customer relationships.

The auto body repair company soon decided to keep their focus exclusively on cars and small trucks. The company made a deal to sell the shop to Sam, so he became the sole owner and changed the company name to CA BEAR RV Collision and Repair Center.

Since 1979, CA BEAR RV Collision and Service has been dedicated to keeping our customers vehicles on the road instead of gathering dust waiting to get the attention it needs. With that as our focus, we’ve developed reliable systems that help us move each RV in and out of the shop as quickly as we can, while keeping the quality up so that we know that once you roll out, we only see you back when you need us, not because we missed something.

The CA BEAR team includes expert certified mechanics, welders, fabricators, and painters with the inspiration and know-how to provide the highest quality work in the industry. We pride ourselves on delivering the best service because we know that our reputation, and your safety, are riding on how well we perform.

As a family owned business, we provide the kind of one-on-one customer service that only a small business can. CA BEAR’s unique shop is equipped to accommodate large and oversized vehicles, construction equipment, buses and RV’s a range of services and products to keep you on the road.

With nearly 40 years in the Bay Area, we take pride in offering our community a convenient and safe location for your service needs, friendly assistance with insurance claims, and highly experienced technicians to keep your vehicles looking good and running smoothly.

We’re conveniently located in the heart of the Bay Area with close freeway access to make your trip here quick and easy.