by James Rada, Jr., photography by Phil Grout

Jason Garrish is a bit obsessed with making sure people are driving safe vehicles.

“It scares me when people try to do brake jobs on their own,” he said. “Today’s cars have electronics and require special hand tools. It’s hard for someone to do that on their own.

Garrish and his partner, Jorge Gilligan, own Revolution Motor Works in Finksburg. Garrish considers Gilligan his mentor, the man who helped make him a better technician.

“I was able to learn a treasure trove from him,” Garrish said.

When Gilligan told him that he wanted to open his own service shop, Garrish didn’t hesitate to ask to be his partner. They found their location and began working their day jobs for eight hours a day, and then working on renovating their shop space to get it ready for business.

The shop opened in March 2015 and has been steadily growing since then. Revolution Motor Works can do just about any type of automotive maintenance your car might need (except for bodywork). 

They also perform Maryland state inspections. The inspections ensure that the vehicle passes the state’s minimum safety standards.

The basic approach for Revolution Motor Works is to develop a relationship with its clients. That was the way that Garrish did business at Russel Motors in Catonsville. He would speak directly with the clients about the best approach to maintaining their vehicles. Clients asked for him to do the work on their cars because they trusted him. Then the company policy changed, and he was no longer able to meet clients face to face.

“Our goal is to be transparent with the customer,” Garrish said.

This spring Revolution Motor Works started offering free car-care clinics to teach people how to do basic repairs and maintenance on their vehicles, such as changing a tire or oil.

“I wanted to do something a little different than a typical car clinic, so I’ve been reaching out to the community to find out what topics they want to know about,” Garrish said.

Information about future clinics can be found on the Revolution Motor Works website or its social media accounts.

BUSINESS BITS:

  • Revolution Motor Works is Carroll County’s only BOSCH service center. 
  • Revolution Motor Works maintains a blog (www.revolutionmw.com/blog) with lots of helpful posts about maintaining your car on your own.
  • Garrish tested his car-care clinic idea with a troop of Girl Scouts who were working towards their auto repair badge.
  • Revolution Motor Works follows all manufacturer specifications regarding repair and maintenance so that your car will retain its full warranty. Before beginning any repair work, a technician will show you a detailed outline of all the costs and work involved so you won’t see any surprises on the final bill. Any parts removed during the repairs are saved for you when settle your bill.
  • Four of Revolution Motor Works’ six employees (Garrish, Gilligan, service manager — and Garrish’s wife —  Jerica Shuffler, and one of the technicians) worked at Russel Automotive.
  • Shuffler completes an annual certification program to maintain her customer service skills.
  • Revolution Motor Works is a Finksburg family-owned business.
  • Revolution Motor Works offers customers a rewards program, which earns customers free gift certificates towards future automotive maintenance.