Winner Dealer Of The Year Robert Hunter
Hunter's Truck Sales & Service Inc. Butler, Pa.
Peterbilt, International, Ford
Robert Hunter, president of Hunter's Truck Sales & Service Inc. and the 2006 American Truck Dealers/Heavy Duty Trucking Truck Dealer of the Year, grew up in the truck dealership and became the dealer principal in 1982.
Hunter operates out of 13 locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Hunter Leasing Inc. is a stand-alone leasing operation that has two locations with 250 full-service leases and 75 rental units.
"We started a full-service truck leasing operation in 1966 when there were no factory or associations to guide us," Hunter said. "We made a lot of mistakes, but we survived at a time when truck dealers in the leasing business were rare."
Hunter Truck Center is a full-service body shop with 28 technicians, 23 repair bays and a state-of-the-art paint booth and frame-straightening equipment. It also offers radiator repair.
Hunter has been innovative in other ways as well. "We established our first outside parts route for parts sales in 1974. We now operate 45 outside parts sales routes across Pennsylvania and New Jersey."
He grew up knowing the importance of parts and service to his dealership because his father described the business as "a parts store that sold trucks."
Part of the reason Hunter got into outside parts sales was seeing customers standing about four deep at the parts counter. "Because some of our customers are in remote areas, they'd only come whenever they had to, and they'd have a huge list. They might tie up one parts man for four or five hours. Some of them would be from the same area."
And although he knew he would be adding costs, he also hoped to pick up some increased business by offering parts delivery.
"If you're selling the guy the parts anyway. it's very hard to convince yourself that by adding expense you're going to do good. But if you're serving the customer, ultimately you will."
Hunter describes his customer base as "pretty well diversified."
He added, "We try to keep them diversified by industry, by geography and by type of truck." The dealership sells to owner-operators, manufacturing and distribution people, and municipalities, as well as selling coal trucks, lumber trucks, and oil and gas field service trucks.
The numerous awards earned by Hunter Truck Sales & Service Inc. include Peterbilt's Platinum Oval Award (1992- 2004), the Peterbilt Northeast Region Dealer of the Year (1992-2003), Peterbilt's Medium Duty Dealer of the Year (2002), Peterbilt's Red Oval Used Truck Dealer of the Year (2004), International's Senior Dealer Award (2005), Idealease Gold (2000- 2005) and the Pennsylvania Family Business of the Year Award from the University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business (1997).
Hunter has served as Peterbilt's Dealer Council chairman and as parts council representative, on International's Dealer Council and on Eaton Corp.'s Dealer Advisor Council. He has been an active member of the Pennsylvania Truck Dealers, having served on the board of directors and as chairman; a member of the Pennsylvania Automotive Association and on the board of directors; on the board and as chairman for Idealease and for the Trailer Renting and Leasing Association. He is an Idealease charter member, 25- year board member and two-time chairman.
Hunter is an active member of the First United Methodist Church. He served for seven years on the board of directors for the Butler Memorial Hospital Foundation, currently is on the board of directors for the First United Methodist Church and was a member of four chapters of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association.
Truck Dealer of the Year Continued...
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