By: Karen Stokes – Special to The Freeman
WAUKESHA — A new Maaco collision repair and auto painting franchise is open in Waukesha. Maaco’s newest location at 1921 S. West Ave is the only one in the city.
Maaco is the world’s largest provider of auto paint and collision services. Its benefits include a nationwide warranty. The company has more than 40 years of industry experience with corporate headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Married couple and owners, Sally and Jeff Besgrove, started this venture after Sally, who worked 20 years in the corporate world, ended her career there and was seeking a change.
“The hardest thing is to remove the blinders,” Sally said. “Just recognizing that everything is possible is really difficult when you spent your entire adult life doing the same thing.”
Sally did research, worked with a franchise consultant and explored different opportunities.
“When I started getting close with decisions, my husband Jeff, who was a home inspector for 12 years, told me he could help. I asked him if he wanted to do this together, he said let’s do it, so he folded up his home inspection business and it was now both of us,” said Sally.
When presented with the idea of Maaco, Sally loved it. She and Jeff knew it was the perfect fit and officially opened for business on May 21.
“I’m a huge fan of the franchise model,” Sally said. “You have a huge support staff and you step into an environment that is already an existing, proven entity, so we just decided to power forward with it.”
The Besgroves chose Sherwin-Williams as their paint company, which Sally describes as very supportive with great service.
Their team of painting and body specialists has more than 30 years’ experience.
“We hired some fantastic people who have a lot of experience and they are extremely good at what they do,” said Sally.
“It’s fun so far, every day you come in and you learn something new and hopefully walk away with happy clients and so far we have,” said Jeff. “It’s one step at a time on this long road.”
“We do have a lot of fun here and hope people will feel welcome and comfortable,” Sally said.
“We have specials quite a lot. Come in and see what specials we’re offering.”