The new location of JM Automotive at 186 Fowle Hill Road in Wiscasset. (Maia Zewert photo)
After four years renting a building on Route 1 in Newcastle, JM Automotive has moved to a new, permanent home at 186 Fowle Hill Road in Wiscasset.
Jon McGraw, of Newcastle, opened JM Automotive next to Mike’s Place in April 2016. The garage offers services ranging from oil changes to alignments and everything in between, according to office manager Bobbie McGraw.
“Pretty much the only thing we don’t do is rebuild engines and transmissions,” Bobbie McGraw said. “We replace them, but we just don’t rebuild them.”
The McGraws rented the space at 527 Route 1 in Newcastle, but always wanted to find a permanent location, Bobbie McGraw said.
“We’d been looking for a couple years, trying to find either some land or a building, but there wasn’t really a lot out there,” Bobbie McGraw said. “Then one day I was on Facebook Marketplace and happened to see this place. I sent it to Jon and he said we needed to go check it out.”
JM Automotive owner Jon McGraw works on a vehicle the morning of Monday, Oct. 5. The garage recently moved from Newcastle to a permanent home in Wiscasset. (Maia Zewert photo)
The property was most recently home to West Alna Welding, Fabrication, and Design. That business is still in operation and offers mobile welding services, Bobbie McGraw said.
After closing on the property in early September, Jon and Bobbie McGraw closed JM Automotive the week of Sept. 21 for the move. The business was back open Sept. 28.
“It’s been difficult and it took a little bit longer than we anticipated, but they’ve pretty much got everything set up now,” Bobbie McGraw said.
The new location is much larger than JM Automotive’s first home, Bobbie McGraw said. In addition to the two lifts from the old shop, Bobbie McGraw said they plan to purchase a third lift and recently purchased a drive-on lift, mostly for alignments.
There is now a separate office and waiting room for customers, which the previous building did not have.
“I’m excited because I think our customers will be happy with the change,” Bobbie McGraw said. “They now have a nice, clean, comfortable place to wait.”
The waiting room at JM Automotive’s new location. (Maia Zewert photo)
The larger building also means Bobbie McGraw’s cleaning business, Custom Cleaning Service Inc., has a permanent home. The business, which offers residential and commercial cleaning as well as rental turnovers, has seven employees.
“We’ve been in business three years, but we never really had our own space. We kind of worked out of my house and our cars,” Bobbie McGraw said. “Now all of our supplies have a place, which has been really nice.”
Bobbie McGraw said the business is waiting for approval from the town for its sign, and improvements to the exterior of the building will come in the spring.
The reaction from customers has been positive.
“We’ve had several customers who live in Wiscasset, Westport, and even Woolwich excited because we’re closer,” Bobbie McGraw said. “There are people from the Damariscotta area who were bummed we were moving, but they’ve said that as long as we’re in driving distance, they’ll come to us.”
JM Automotive can be reached at 563-2880. The garage is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday.
