What Rebuilders Automotive Supply does

Rebuilders Automotive Supply, known across the trade as RAS, is a full-line automotive core supplier and full-line core buyer. A core is a used, worn, or damaged part, a starter, alternator, brake caliper, steering gear, axle, or catalytic converter, that a remanufacturer takes in, restores, and sells again. RAS sits in the middle of that loop: it buys cores from salvage yards, metal recyclers, and self-service yards, sorts and grades them, and supplies them in volume to the rebuilders and remanufacturers who put them back into service. The company reports more than 40 product lines, 180,000 part numbers in inventory, and over two million cores processed a year.

The product range runs across the drivetrain and undercar categories that dominate the remanufacturing market: front-wheel-drive axles, brakes, electrical parts (starters and alternators), power steering and gears, air conditioning components, and catalytic converters, plus a small parts division. RAS also handles recalled Takata airbag inflators, a regulated recovery stream that keeps defective parts out of reuse. Much of the business runs on software the company built for the category: CorePro and its mobile app for core valuation and inventory, RASBid for bidding on core lots, the RAS CAT App for catalytic converter grading, and CoreConnect, alongside an integration with the URG recycler network. These tools are how a recycler prices a pallet of cores and how RAS keeps a live view of what it holds.

Because RAS deals in reclaimed OEM parts rather than newly manufactured components, its role in the supply chain is different from a stamping or machining supplier. It is the feedstock layer beneath the remanufacturing industry, and it markets itself as the number one full-line core supplier to the largest remanufacturers and auto recyclers, a claim the company makes for itself.

Ownership and history

Theodore W. Eckstein founded RAS in 1972 in Cranston, Rhode Island, and the company says it started out of the back of an old pickup truck. Eckstein, a Brown University graduate, built and ran the business until he retired in 1996; he died in 2003. The company is privately held and run by its owners. Robert J. Grady, known as Bob, is President and a co-owner; he started dismantling starters and alternators for the metals in the early days and has led the company as President since the mid-1980s. Steven M. King, Vice President and co-owner, joined in 1983 and learned the business under Eckstein, with a focus on the core segment. Jesse Whiteside joined in 2011 in finance, moved through CFO and COO roles, and became Chief Executive Officer; he previously served as Controller at Honeywell.

RAS crossed its 50-year mark in 2022 and has grown into a two-site operation. It has been describing itself as "Green since 1972," a nod to the fact that core recovery is a recycling business by nature: every core it moves is a part kept out of scrap and put back into a vehicle.

Facilities and scale

RAS operates from headquarters at 1650 Flat River Road in Coventry, Rhode Island, with a second site of offices and warehousing at 5145 LeTourneau Circle in Tampa, Florida. Together the two facilities hold roughly 300,000 square feet of what the company calls real-time inventory storage, with about 20,000 full-size pallet positions. The company reports more than 100 employees and states that its scale, 40-plus product lines and two million-plus cores handled a year, is what lets it fill high-volume, accurate core orders. For buyers weighing nearshoring and domestic recovery, RAS is a wholly North American operation with no import footprint.

Affiliations

RAS is a member of the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA), the industry's supplier association. It also belongs to the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA), the Automotive Parts Remanufacturers Association (APRA), and the regional New England Automotive Recyclers Association (NEARA). These memberships place RAS inside both the recycling side, where cores are recovered, and the remanufacturing side, where they are rebuilt, which matches its position as the link between the two.

Known customers

RAS supplies remanufacturers, rebuilders, and auto recyclers rather than vehicle OEMs, and it does not publish a named customer list. Its own materials describe its customers in category terms.

Absent a disclosed account, the honest reading is a sector one: RAS serves the high-volume remanufacturing and recycling channel across the United States and Canada, and its trade-association memberships corroborate that footprint.

Frequently asked questions

What does Rebuilders Automotive Supply do?

Rebuilders Automotive Supply (RAS) is a full-line automotive core supplier and core buyer. It buys used parts, called cores, from salvage yards and recyclers, then grades, inventories, and supplies them in volume to remanufacturers and rebuilders. Its lines include axles, brakes, electrical parts, power steering and gears, air conditioning, and catalytic converters, and it reports processing more than two million cores a year.

Who owns Rebuilders Automotive Supply?

RAS is privately held and owner-run. It was founded in 1972 by Theodore W. Eckstein and is led today by President and co-owner Robert (Bob) Grady, Vice President and co-owner Steven King, and CEO Jesse Whiteside. There is no parent company.

Where is Rebuilders Automotive Supply located?

RAS is headquartered at 1650 Flat River Road, Coventry, Rhode Island, with a second facility of offices and warehousing at 5145 LeTourneau Circle, Tampa, Florida. The two sites total about 300,000 square feet of inventory storage.

How big is Rebuilders Automotive Supply?

RAS reports more than 100 employees, about 300,000 square feet across two sites, roughly 20,000 pallet positions, more than 40 product lines, 180,000 part numbers in inventory, and over two million cores processed a year. The company does not publish audited revenue figures.

Who are Rebuilders Automotive Supply's customers?

RAS supplies remanufacturers, rebuilders, and auto recyclers rather than vehicle manufacturers, and it does not name individual accounts. It describes itself as the number one full-line core supplier to the largest remanufacturers and auto recyclers in the United States and Canada.

What industry associations does RAS belong to?

RAS is a member of the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA), the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA), the Automotive Parts Remanufacturers Association (APRA), and the New England Automotive Recyclers Association (NEARA).

Last verified September 28, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.