Risk & Business Magazine F.A. Peabody Insurance Spring 2017 | Page 28

Jeff Rawcliffe, Rob Rawcliffe & Ralph Davis
Rawcliffe’s Service Center:
Offering More Than An Ounce Of Prevention
J
eff Rawcliffe is the third-generation
owner of what has become Rawcliffe’s
Service Center, and he also owns
Hampden Auto in Hampden. The
origins of Rawcliffe’s goes back to
the early 20th century when Jeff’s
grandmother would head into Pickering
Square in Bangor at four o’clock in the
morning to secure a spot from which to sell
produce. His grandfather, Jack, looking for
more opportunity, immigrated to America
from an English textile town; however,
once Jeff’s grandparents got together,
they created their own opportunities. By
1915, they had opened a general store on
Kennebec Road in Hampden, specializing
in Mobil products, tractor supplies and
service, and produce sales. They remained
in that location for over 10 years until the
store was lost to a fire.
In 1928, they reopened with a Mobil garage
on South Main Street in Hampden. The
business primarily sold gas and Mobil
products until the mid-1930s when they
added light repairs and oil changes to their
service offerings. Upon Jack’s retirement,
the business was passed down to Jeff’s
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uncle, Carl Rawcliffe, who ran the business
which by then included an oil delivery
service. Jeff purchased the enterprise in
1976 when he was 23. Being mechanically
inclined, Jeff who performed auto repairs
since he was 17, added full service car
repair to the enterprise. By the 1980s he
was employing four service technicians. At
the same time, he continued to grow the
oil delivery business to 700 clients. In 1989,
Jeff felt a second location with higher traffic
was necessary for growth, so he purchased
what is now Rawcliffe’s primary sales and
service center at 651 Main Road North
in Hampden. That has proven to be an
excellent decision.
Rawcliffe’s has continued to grow and
adjust to the changing vehicle service and
sales demands of the greater Bangor area.
Jeff noticed a void left in the auto market
when the long time Bangor area Volvo-Saab
dealer closed its doors. This created a need
for an enterprise to both sell and service
foreign vehicles. It resulted in the sale of
Rawcliffe’s oil delivery business allowing
them to concentrate more in the foreign
vehicle area. Jeff opened a sales division,
Hampden Auto, in 1990 that specialized
in the sale of foreign-made autos such as
BMW, Volvo, and Lexus. They now carry
a large and varied inventory of late-model,
foreign-made autos. In addition, the
service department received extensive
training which allows them to focus on
foreign vehicle repairs. This niche has
proven to be a great benefit to foreign
vehicle owners that have come to respect
Jeff’s straightforward sales approach and
dependable and knowledgeable repair
services, leading to continued growth in
both divisions.
In the service arena, Jeff is extremely proud
of his technicians; all are ASE-certified
with several attaining ASE Master Tech
status. In 2000, Rawcliffe’s was honored by
being selected as #1 in Maine and in the
Top 10 nationally in the Car Quest Tech-
Net program. This honor speaks to both
their emphasis on continuing education
and the ongoing quality of their customer
service. Moreover, Rawcliffe’s became an
AAA-approved auto repair center in 2005.
The Service Center division remains