Elias Audy came to this country at the age of 20 on October 13, 1969 at 2:30pm; he actually remembers when his plane landed. Born in North Lebanon, a country known for it’s great education system, Elias comes from a tolerant community known for its diversity of religion and political ideologies. Odd isn’t it, how so many Americans assume all immigrants come from a place less sophisticated than ours?
Elias knew a lot about the US before he came, “I knew what to expect. My brother arrived a couple of years earlier. I was very excited. My great uncle was well established in New York City. I would go to New York for many weeks at a time.” He stayed with his older brother Nabil, who goes by Bill. Bill owned a gas station in Oak Square Brighton. Elias then spent time at a college in Houston before transferring to Northeastern.
How Elias Mobil Got Its Start
Over the years, many people from Brookline, including this writer, have received a hand up from Elias Audy. This man’s generosity and good nature did not come out of a vacuum. Older brother Bill helped all his siblings, including Elias, become established in this country. The two brothers have lived next door to each other for almost 40 years. Laurde Audy married Elias after Bill married her older sister. As Audy puts it, “Our children are like brothers and sisters with each other, not just cousins. Our families are very close”.
The brothers purchased the Route 9 location together before Elias took over for good 36 years ago. He manages it now with his oldest son, Omar. At first the station was not Elias’s only source of income, “At that time we purchased the route 9 shop, I was doing international marketing in the water treatment industry. I wanted to quit that job because it took a lot out of me with all of the traveling and I wanted to be closer to home, we just had our first baby (Omar). I asked my brother if we could sell Cambridge and if I could have the Brookline location all for me. My brother said that I could do anything I wanted so that’s what we did. That was in 1978 and I’ve been here ever since. I’ve expanded since, purchasing the lower garage, which has four mechanics and a manager. Then in 1999, I purchased the building that abuts it. That building houses Cypress Automart. So now we have a business that repairs cars, sells gas and used cars, we do the whole thing. I send my brother who’s body shop is on Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton all of our bodywork.”
Elias’s Biggest Contribution
Elias Audy has made so many extracurricular contributions to our community it’s easy to overlook perhaps his most important role in many people’s lives. For most of us, our automobile is essential to our existence. We drive to work, take our children to various activities, visit family, shop; escape to the rest of New England, our car is like our traveling home annex. For something so vital, we haven’t a clue how it works. Our cars are our most essential and worst investment; dropping precipitately in value every day we drive them. Just try and budget for repairs, impossible. The only truth about cars is they break down at the exact moment you haven’t the time or money to repair them. We have more insights into how to perform a triple bypass surgery than how to fix anything on our cars. Is there any more disconcerting sound than when your car starts making noises it never made before?
Your most important relationships are your spouse, children, parents, siblings, friends, and your mechanic, not in that order. Have you ever left your car off at the garage and been told, “we’ll call you if we find a problem”? Then your mobile rings and it’s the garage on caller ID, talk about anxiety! I’m hyperventilating just writing this. But what if your mechanic was one of your most trusted friends? Someone who’s been there for you and your family for as long as you can remember? Wouldn’t that be the best?!
As Elias puts it, “This is a tough business, there are many temptations but you never give in to them because your customer becomes your friend. You want to do what’s best for your friends. I look around at all these policemen and firemen and I used to give them candy when they were growing up. The community becomes an important part of your life. It’s challenging to be in the business where everyone needs to believe in you. I hire mechanics that are honest with our customers because a mechanic who is honest with our customers is also honest with me. That’s the simplest way to look at it.” Elias has built his reputation one repair at a time. All over Brookline and the surrounding area you’ll find generations of families who will never take their cars to anyone but Elias Audy. They do this because Elias is a great mechanic and a great person. He makes you feel like you know him. He makes you glad you know him.
Audy, “Our repairs have changed a lot over the years. Computerization and the electronics revolution have changed everything with automobiles. Even gas pumps have changed, they all run on computers now. In order to stay current you have to have an educated staff. You can’t call them mechanics anymore, they’re service technicians. They have to understand manuals, computers, and software. You see a lot of small garages unfortunately go out of business because you have to update their software every year. Unless you’re big enough you’re not going to be able to afford staying current with the new technology.”
“Technology has changed over the years but not the people. Too many of my customers over the years for me to count have become my friends. “ Understanding that concept right there is the lynchpin of this 36+ year success story.
During the last decade, Elias Mobil added pre-owned auto sales to their repertoire. Audy, “Our used-car business came because it was a natural addition to the business. People would bring us used cars they were thinking of purchasing, to check out. I figured, why don’t we just sell used-cars too? We’ve been doing very well, selling over 100 cars per year. I don’t want to grow any bigger because I don’t want to lose control over the quality and the type of cars we sell. People buy cars from us because they feel comfortable and they feel if anything goes wrong they can come to us and we’ll listen.”
What better person to buy your pre-owned car from than the same person who repairs your automobiles?
Helping His Community
As Elias puts it, “I got involved in the Chamber of Commerce because it was the right thing to do.” Eventually former Selectman and Brookline Chamber President, Mike Merrill, convinced Elias to become President of the Chamber, after which he served admirably for 2 years, serving on the Board of Directors to this day. From there he joined the Brookline Rotary, which has been source of great satisfaction for him and his wife Laurde. Audy, “The Rotary is a social, civic organization that tries to provide what the local and international community needs. It’s basically a fundraising organization; you take from one hand and give to the other. We always have local and international projects. We have to get involved in fundraising. You keep the community together and you become a community builder. Whether it’s helping the food pantry or food co-op or helping with scholarships at the high school, anything and everything you do with Rotary is positive. The Rotary has been the closest to my heart.”
Single Parent Family Outreach and Artsbridge have also been close to Elias’s heart, “Artsbridge was founded by an Israeli woman. Her organization brings together Jewish, Christian, and Muslim young people from Israel and Palestine through school curriculums. Every summer she brings a group of them to the United States to get away from that environment, the impact she’s had on those kids has been amazing. She knows that peace isn’t really going to happen unless you build it from the bottom up away from the politicians. I am on her Board of Directors. I’m also in another organization that deals with housing for the elderly in my own neighborhood. I work in the community because of how I was raised. My parents, my church and the greater community have all had a great influence on me.”
“At the beginning you need to work really hard to succeed, to get ahead of the game a little bit. But at the first chance you get to help that’s what you have to do. It was Chobee Hoy who first got me involved. She told me I had to be involved with the Brookline Education Foundation. I did become involved and I became a board member.”Truth be told, the amount of organizations and people in need whom the Elias and Laurde have reached borders on infinite.
The Future
The one certainty in Elias’s life is he’s never going to retire. His son Omar, and daughter Zana have interest in the business. Audy, “If my family wants to expand then that’s the direction we’ll go in. My employees have been here a long time and I think they’ll stay. My son-in-law is moving his business to Brookline. My family will relieve me of some of the day to day but I’ll still be involved.”
Elias is not going anywhere anytime soon. Good.
– Harvey Bravman, Publisher