This week on the Oakley Podcast, host Jeremy Kellett chats with Brock Gavin and Scott Taylor from Arrow Truck Sales. Brock is the President of Arrow and Scott is the Vice President of Operations. During the episode, Jeremy talks with Brock and Scott about Arrow’s evolution as a company, market insights, and the impact of technology on truck maintenance. They also announce Arrow’s expansion with a new location in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and the benefit it will be not only to Oakley but to the Arrow Truck Sales business. Don’t miss this episode with Arrow Truck Sales.
Key topics in today’s conversation include:
- Oakley Update: Truck Trades Process (2:18)
- Introduction of Brock and Scott from Arrow Truck Sales (5:14)
- The Evolution and Stability of Arrow Truck Sales (11:31)
- In-house financing and customer support (16:28)
- Current state of the truck market (18:47)
- Challenges in Truck Buying (21:39)
- Strategic Decision-making (22:30)
- Arrow’s Expansion and Operations (23:27)
- Advancements in Truck Technology (24:48)
- Arrow’s Commitment to Customer Service and Satisfaction (28:15)
- Warranty and Customer Service (30:43)
- Emissions Technology (34:13)
- Arrow’s New Location in North Little Rock (37:31)
- Future Business Outlook (40:03)
- Oakley’s Partnership with Arrow Truck Sales (42:14)
Oakley Trucking is a family-owned and operated trucking company headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information, check out our show website: podcast.bruceoakley.com.
Transcription
Scott Taylor 00:12
Arrow was started by two gentlemen in 1955. And their first foray into used trucks, they were importing some trucks from World War II. They wouldn’t buy anything over $2,000. That was a rule of thumb. Over the years, Arrow evolved into a wholesale company, we’ve kind of had two big transitions. In the 70s, it wasn’t uncommon to have a lot of large private fleets. So we evolved a lot. Somewhere in the late 90s. We evolved into more of a finance company, and we took the opportunity because a lot of the industry was changing. The private fleets were going away, owner operators were expanding. So we set up our finance company, and that’s really what’s taken the arrow from the late 90s to what it is today is our transport funding arm. So we evolved into a wholesale company. We’re now a retail company, focused more on the owner-operator and finance.
Jeremy Kellett 01:09
Welcome to the Oakley Podcast, trucking, business and family. This show is brought to you by Oakley Trucking headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The purpose of this podcast is to communicate with Oakley owner-operators and their families by giving them up-to-date information concerning Oakley trucking and the trucking industry. From business advice to safety updates to success stories. Also to give an insight to outside truck drivers that might be interested in joining the Oakley family. There’s Jeremy Kellett, director of recruiting at Oakley Trucking. I’m your host for this podcast. This is the Oakley podcast trucking business and family. Once again, we come to you from North Little Rock. Our studio here has a nice little setup. And I got a couple of good guests with me today from Arrow Truck Sales that we’re going to talk to and as always, I want our listener to know we appreciate your dedication of listening to us every week and in your presence on social media that you guys can communicate with us and share and subscribe it means a lot to us. And Annabelle does a heck of a job putting everything out there so everybody can know has access to it and we appreciate your feedback on everything that we do. Before I get started though, talking to these gentlemen here I want to talk to you real quick about truck trades. Had a stock in a windy shop here in the office about truck trades. And we have guys show up on his truck trades every week in multiple truck trades every week where guys are, you know, are trading up and getting in new trucks and they’re showing up well, there’s a process to this. And I’ve gone over this before in the past a little bit but man please adhere to the process that we’re trying to do we make it so much simpler for you. If as soon as you know you’re ready to trade trucks please contact Wendy and appear in the office when you or Megan eat one. And also Teresa out in the shop. We need to schedule some stuff, you cannot just show up here. I mean, it’s gonna it’s gonna delay you so the more you plan ahead, the better you’re gonna be in the critical thing I tell you, not just letting Wendy know and letting Teresa know at the shop so we can schedule in shop to get decals off and new decals on but the biggest thing is the paperwork, the title work, depending on where you’re buying it at, that can be at nightmare and can delay you a lot. So you need to let Wendy know where you’re buying the truck from what dealerships so we can contact them to make sure we can apply for an Oklahoma title so we can get you a base plate if you have that with us. Also, if you’re just trading trucks, you don’t have to have trip insurance. You know, you’re still covered under the insurance if you just trade and bring the truck from the dealership here so you don’t have to have that extra experience. It’s just something that you know I was talking to Wendy about and she definitely wants me to get the word out to everybody on the truck trade deal. It makes the process a whole lot smoother for you because we love it when you upgrade and are able to upgrade and it’s happening multiple times every week. So we appreciate it and if you have questions just call up here. As for Megan and Windy, call out shop mesh Theresa and we’ll get you squared away on what to do so appreciate you guys doing it. You
Arrow Truck Sales Commercial 04:28
so my truck is a great way to kick off your career as an owner operator on a budget and buying from a reputable dealer like Arrow Truck Sales ensures you’re getting a reliable truck that fits your needs. They carry trucks from all the major manufacturers in the trucking industry and perform a thorough inspection of every check on their lot to ensure safety and quality and give you confidence that you’re getting a reliable truck that will last you for years at a price that you can afford. Being a longtime partner with Oakley trucking and the Oakley podcast. We trust them to provide our owner operators with the truck that fits their needs and matches our qualifications. So Whether you’re a first time owner operator or just looking for a new T rig, be sure to give Keith Wilson and trade visor a call at 573-216-6047. And let them know you heard it here on Oakley Podcast.
Jeremy Kellett 05:14
Today in the studio, hey, Mr. Brock Gavin, President of Arrow Truck Sales, and also Scott Taylor, Vice President of Operations. And these guys are nice enough to sit down with me. Actually, I tried to kind of sneakily get them in here because they contacted me last week. So they came down and wanted to meet us and the guys, me in the recruiters here at Oakley and I said, Man, be great. Make an appointment. And then the day before they came, I sent him an email trying to put a little pressure on him. Hey, do you mind being on the podcast with me? So it’s? And they said yes. So it’s really great that you guys set up here and talk about Arrow Truck Sales with me. I want to first thank you for being a sponsor to this podcast for just about since it started, I guess since it started. In the very beginning. I mean, you’re the first sponsor to do it. And you’ve hung in there and sponsored us every episode since then. And we really appreciate you guys and what y’all do. In our partnership, between Arrow and Oakley, it means a lot. So we thank you. Rock you doing it?
Scott Taylor 06:26
I’m doing well.
Jeremy Kellett 06:27
It’s got you doing good. Great morning, if you would give me a little introduction, so our listeners know who they’re talking to. Or listen to it. And it makes a lot of difference and goes a long way.
Brock Gavin 06:38
We’ll start with you, bro. Sure. Sure. First Thanks, Jeremy for the opportunity. Nice to be here. Yeah, thanks for the heads up. I noticed that you know, we’re good. We enjoy the opportunity. So I get Brock Gavin, President of Arrow Truck Sales, as you mentioned, been in that role for about three years. We’re based out of Kansas City, Missouri, branches all over the US and southern Canada based out of Kansas City. Being in trucking for about 10 years, some of the roles on the new truck side of the world. Bobo and Mack also worked in agricultural equipment, commercial power tools. I’ve always been close to the trade and using tools to get the job done. So Trucking is a good fit for me. Moved out Kansas City from the East Coast. Young family married to girls nine years old and five years old that enjoying life is busy though. avoid those two Yeah, yeah, for sure. hobbies. I like to be outdoors. So you know, this is a good time of year. Right? Spring. Spring is here. Spring is coming back and getting outdoors and doodling. hiking trail running seems
Jeremy Kellett 07:46
to be a common theme amongst us office workers.
Brock Gavin 07:49
Yeah, yeah. As much as we can. Yeah.
Jeremy Kellett 07:52
What about you, scout diver?
Scott Taylor 07:53
Well, Scott Taylor, thanks for letting me be on your podcast. Jeremy, are you glad you did it and I’m a 40 year veteran in trucking. I started in transportation in 1984. When we didn’t have the internet, we didn’t have cell phones. And it was not Condor and get in your car and go find the next guy. But I’ve been involved in either sales management and trucks since the beginning. So I’ve been with the arrow for 13 years all in. I’ve been a branch manager at Arrow. I’ve been a regional manager and arrow. And at the beginning of the year, I changed my role to operations. So now I’m more involved with the illegals. Warranty, real estate, anything that comes my way. I like to use trucks and I want to stay in it.
Jeremy Kellett 08:45
Because Oh, new little roll here for you. New role for me. How’s that going? Good. And it’s just march. So
Scott Taylor 08:51
you’re fresh and I know it was a year and March. Okay. You’re 18 months? Yes. Okay. Well, one of the most fun things is opening up a new store here in Little Rock, Arkansas. Yeah,
Jeremy Kellett 09:02
we’re gonna talk about that, too. It’s gonna be really good. What made you guys get into the trucking industry? I mean, you know, it’s a niche. I think that a lot of people don’t know about all the jobs that are employed by the transportation industry. I mean, what made y’all want to get into the trucking industry? Sure, guys don’t matter. I’ll
Brock Gavin 09:25
start Scott, you man, you jump in. So, for me, it was just a natural evolution. So, I mentioned just a couple of minutes ago, I started out in commercial power tools, you know, on job sites, commercial job sites, you know, selling industrial products through through dealers to to tradespeople went into agricultural equipment, learn that business, big equipment, big diesel engines selling through diesel or selling through dealers, rather. It was a natural evolution to get into trucking about 10 years ago. What’s not to like about using these highly-engineered tools? Let’s say to get the job done and to carry out an important function in our society, right? moving freight from A to B and keeping this country rolling. It’s addictive.
Jeremy Kellett 10:09
And it is. I mean, it really makes us go.
Scott Taylor 10:12
Well, my story is similar. Like, what my dad sent me to college. I’m from a small town America farm guy. And I wanted to be in agriculture. But when I graduated from school interest rates were 27%. Agriculture was in a pretty tough shape. And one of my roommates in college, his family owned a truck dealership. And after interviewing around, I found, you know, I think trukfit me. I love motors. I love gears. I love muscle cars. And I jumped into truck sales, and I’ve never looked back.
Jeremy Kellett 10:44
It’s awesome. Now, where are you from? Did you tell me northwest Missouri, okay. All right. And family.
Scott Taylor 10:52
I have a son and a daughter, 25 and 28. And are both getting married this year. So big time? Is a lot of pressure at the Taylor house. A lot of
Jeremy Kellett 11:03
How’s your wife handling that she
Scott Taylor 11:04
better than?
Jeremy Kellett 11:08
A lot of pressure? Well, good. Good. We’re glad to have you guys. Are you glad you’re in the trucking industry? For sure. Let’s talk a little bit, you know, because I wanted to do this episode to really promote their truck sales. I mean, not just our relationship, but the company as a whole. And you guys were telling me downstairs, we were talking to the recruiters about next year being number 75. Yes. Is that right? That’s right. What do y’all know about the history of Arrow,
Scott Taylor 11:34
If you don’t mind, I’ll tell you. So the arrow was started by two gentlemen, in 1955. And their first foray into use, they were importing some trucks from World War Two. And they started in downtown Kansas City. And once they got through that thing, they started buying, they wouldn’t buy anything over $2,000. That was a rule of thumb. They did a lot of pickup trucks and older trucks. And they would buy him but they would pay over two grand and they started really getting quite a bit of traction. So over the years, Arrow evolved into a wholesale company, we’ve kind of had two big transitions. But in the 70s, it wasn’t uncommon to have a lot of large private fleets, a tremendous amount of large private fleets. And believe it or not, a lot of them were funded by insurance, life insurance companies, because all the life insurance companies had a lot of money at that time. But once they financed a group of trucks for a big company, they came back, whether it be a finance lease, or whatever kind of lease it was, they had nowhere to go for him. So aro was a wholesale company. And it wasn’t uncommon for him to buy 1000 trucks at a time. And then they wholesale them off. And I remember, in the late 90s, buying 2500 trucks from Ryder, all my yellow trucks, I remember we bought them all because they had to get rid of them. And we retell them all through our stores. Well, the next year came around and all these customers about trucks wanted him but we couldn’t buy him again. So we evolved a lot. But somewhere in the late 90s, we evolved into more of a finance company. And we took the opportunity because a lot of the industry was changing. The private fleets were going away, owner operators, we’re expanding. So we set up our finance company. And that’s really what’s taken an arrow from the late 90s. To what it is today is our transport funding arm. So we evolved more of a wholesale company, we’re now a retail company focused more on the owner operator and financing, wind
Jeremy Kellett 13:36
and transport funding come about was that back in the 90s, or something like
Scott Taylor 13:41
that right, bra?
Brock Gavin 13:42
Yeah, 97 officially started. So
Jeremy Kellett 13:45
as a company that’s been in business a long time. I mean, I’m assuming y’all feel good and confident. I mean, you wouldn’t be there if you didn’t, but the stability of Arrow Truck Sales. I mean, it’s, it sounds like it’s got a great macro. Sure.
Scott Taylor 13:58
Well, we say one thing, we can fix anything with a truck, you know, yeah, it’s the trucks that are there that break, we can fix them. There’s other things that you can’t but one thing we know about was trucks. We know how to finance them. We know how to recondition them and sell them.
Brock Gavin 14:13
Yeah, I was gonna say Jeremy’s an interesting question, right or comment about the stability because as anybody who’s worked in trucking knows it’s a highly cyclical business, right? Lots of UPS, lots of downs. And it’s important to be able to ride through those sustained through those and you know, there are those in the industry that can’t do that, right, that jump on board and the upcycle and have a hard time when things level out and arrow has been here for almost 75 years. And so we’re proud of that ride and through the cycle, taking care of our customers through the ups and through the downs. When some others in the industry have not been successful doing
Jeremy Kellett 14:53
well and that’s a good point that brought because you see those ups and downs and they can be Critical that will like put small people out of business, you know, we know, we’ve seen just the last recent few years where, you know, truck prices skyrocket, US drug prices skyrocket, and then the bottom starts falling out, you know, in, a lot of people can’t handle that. It says something about aro when they are able to. And just like Oakley was able to, you know, the last four years to be able to maintain it and keep going and keep taking care of their people and taking care of their customers. And it makes a big difference. To have the back. You know, the people in the background supporting you
Scott Taylor 15:37
takes a lot of mental fortitude to get through it. And that’s one of the beauties. When you’ve been around as long as an arrow we understand the cycle. And it’s, we know how to get from one point to the next.
Jeremy Kellett 15:48
Yeah, if you don’t understand the cycle. If you haven’t been through some cycles, it can surely be like, Oh, my gosh, you know, the world’s coming to an end. What are we gonna do?
Brock Gavin 15:57
And I think one of the things Scott mentioned makes Arrow unique, and it’s related to what we’re talking about here is financing business or transport funding business, and we are loaning out money to our customers to make that purchase. You know, it’s not a one time deal where we make the sale to a customer, they walk out the door. And we say, rather than doing business with our customers, we’re in business with our customers, because we’ve loaned them money for 234 years while they’re carrying that note, and it’s important to us that they’re successful.
Jeremy Kellett 16:28
So transport funding is in house financing. Yeah, that’s
Brock Gavin 16:32
right. Yeah. It’s a subsidiary of Arrow Truck Sales. So we secure the funding, we make the loans, we carry the paper, as they say, we collect monthly payments, and when customers get in trouble, we try to help them out, help them through it.
Jeremy Kellett 16:48
You mean, you just don’t sell a used truck? So I see. That’s right. That’s right. Go on. Yeah, we
Brock Gavin 16:52
I wouldn’t do that anyway. But you know, the financing business keeps us all on us, right? Because we want those customers to be successful. So as you I know, you’re making a joke, but no, you know, we want to stick with our customers for the lifecycle of that product.
Jeremy Kellett 17:06
Well, if that makes sense. If I’m somebody wanting to buy my first truck, or second truck, and I want to go with somebody that has in house financing that I can communicate with, you know, instead of a third party, and then they sell that loan off, and who knows even who owns my truck, you know, it makes it feel a lot better if I’m able to talk to the people that actually have the loan on the truck that I bought it from. That makes sense. Absolutely. I mean, that makes a difference to me. And we have
Scott Taylor 17:37
our own in-house collection team. And they deal directly with the individual. And when there are troubled times which there will be, we try to work together to get a solution that’s beneficial for everybody. So you’re not going to be talking to somebody who’s not a transport funding employee.
Arrow Truck Sales Commercial 18:03
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Jeremy Kellett 18:47
What about the trucking industry right now and the truck market? I mean, you guys talk about it up and down all the time? Where is it at right now
Brock Gavin 18:55
to talk about where it is right now we probably should reflect a little bit, you know, in the last two to three years and everybody you know, that’s all your listeners, no doubt have have had first hand experience in this right but the highest of highs coming out of COVID in late 2020 and 2021. And just a lot of capacity, right? They came into the market and we’ll talk about all segments of the market but just a lot of capacity that came into the market, and probably in hindsight, and nobody really knew it at the time, too much capacity. So we saw some capacity come out rightly so all as challenging as it as his as it has been in 2022 and 2023. And we feel like an arrow and I think others in the industry share this perspective that 2024 will be a year where we reach some additional stability, right? Where things are closer to being an equilibrium. You know, there’s been a lower demand that says in the industry rates have been a little bit lower. And we’re to a point where the supply and demand is starting to come back into balance. So we believe there’s more upside in the back half of 2024 and into 2025, in particular, so we’re optimistic cautiously but optimistic about the next 18 to 24 months. But, you know, as you said, it was it’s been more challenging the last two years, and certainly more so in such some segments of the industry, that and others, but
Jeremy Kellett 20:21
you see, 2024 is just more of getting back to normal. Yeah. Yeah, you know, pre COVID. Back to somewhat normal, has the, you know, I know, new truck prices, which I’ll don’t do yoga is something probably need to explain to our listeners is Arrow Truck Sales, just do use drugs. That’s right. It’s all y’all do, don’t do new drugs. But here’s the you know, the price of new trucks are still high, I’m assuming it’s gotta help your business.
Brock Gavin 20:50
You have, you know, there is a relationship between new drug pricing and drug pricing for sure. You know, two years ago, though, those became unlatched. Right, because it was so hard to get a new truck that used truck prices, you mentioned it went sky high. And that was, you know, seemed like an interesting opportunity at the time. But that was really probably unhealthy to have prices that high. So it’s good that they’ve come back to Earth, and let’s say, on the US side of things, now, pricing is pretty well back to where it was kind of pre COVID. And pretty stable, maybe there’s a little bit more room to go. But we’re almost there. As you said, you know, on the new truck side, there’s been price increases the last couple of years, you know, whether it’s, you know, sort of charges related to supply chain. But you know, it could be 10-15% Premium versus what it was, you know, three years ago, and those prices are still there. So, as you said, that could flow through and into the used market, and that could be beneficial down the road. However, we work in a competitive marketplace. So, you know, prices rise and fall, but it’s a market. So the margins associated with those trucks remain relatively constant.
Jeremy Kellett 21:58
What’s the biggest cheer? I get off our question? And I’m sorry, but I have no problem with it. In some of the challenges. Scott, maybe you that you have, you know, I would think it would be buying new trucks at a price before the market goes crazy, you know, or gas goes down to where I can make a profit on that. I mean, is that one of the biggest challenges right there? Well, yes, I might not be describing it. Rob, I
Scott Taylor 22:30
understand what you’re saying. And we watch everything. We’re always watching spot rates, diesel prices, new trucks, and building our truck inventory across the country. And we have to make good strategic decisions based on what we feel is going to happen. And one thing that we want to do is always be buying and selling on today’s dollars. So it’s fair to aro and fair to our customers. So we have a team of guys that are buying trucks daily. And it’s a competitive game. But if you’re in it every day and understand it, we tend to make the don’t get me wrong. Sometimes we do make bad decisions, but we try to make more good ones and not.
Jeremy Kellett 23:15
Yeah, that’s probably some of the biggest challenges I guess. I haven’t and you get that feedback from your buyers and from the managers at the locations, how many locations yoga, we
Brock Gavin 23:27
have 16 locations 15 In the US, and one up in Canada and Toronto and then as Scott kind of alluded to earlier in the conversation by the end of the year we’ll add a 17th location here in North Little Rock.
Jeremy Kellett 23:42
Oakley Trucking is a 100% Owner Operator company we specialize in Hopper bottom and dump and pneumatic drivers. We provide the trailer free of charge and you provide the truck. We have a large customer base that reaches the whole United States as well as parts of Canada. The owner operators live anywhere from Texas to North Carolina to Pennsylvania to Wisconsin and everywhere in between and we get them home at the weekend. We take it seriously when you join Oakley trucking because we need you to be successful. Oakley offers great benefits and a competitive mileage base so you know that when your wheels are turning, you’re generating money no matter if you’re loaded or empty. We understand that you want to make a good living and that you make our living. We only take on independent contractors and to be honest with you, we are very particular on who we lease on. You must have a good driving record, good work history and a clean dependable truck. So if you’re interested in Oakley trucking or just want some more information, you can go to Oakley trucking.com. Listen to our weekly podcast, the Oakley podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel. I was gonna ask you about this, you know, some of the technology and trucks today which understand, you know, you probably don’t have a whole lot to do with that because you’re getting truck you use drugs, you know, so you really as far as what technology is there’s not a lot of Aftermarket technology that’s put on him or was it? Is there technology you have to deal with using drugs? That might be a problem? Or do you see that is changing down the road, that’s gonna make a difference in what you’re doing.
Scott Taylor 25:14
I will say this, there’s so much technology in a truck today, way more technology, and most all of us understand or appreciate it. And it’s continuously evolving. And that, for example, most trucks today that have been built within the last few years have what they call remote diagnostics in them. When that is a subscribable event, based on the OEM, where as if you’re going down the road, Jeremy and your truck today, and you get a flashing light, there’s a subscription where it would report to the OEM, that your truck has a light on, they can actually diagnose that truck from somewhere in a big office, call the dealer ahead. The dealer can have the part ready. So when you pull in, that’s where our business is evolving to today. We have had struggles over the past, I think everybody that’s listening, would understand what we’ve been through with DPF filters and urea, that’s been a real challenge that’s improving. But technology will continue to evolve. And those of us who can understand it and get our hand around it will help you manage your business, you know
Jeremy Kellett 26:33
that the technology? Is that something that you just described? That’s something you can’t this I can’t take off the truck or you would it’s on their cane, it has to be
Scott Taylor 26:46
turned on. That’s it. Okay. For example, our parent company Volvo, Mack, have it on the truck. It’s a subscription based platform. So in order to actually use it, you have to pay
Jeremy Kellett 27:02
a fee. Okay. All right. kind of lock that on your pickup.
Scott Taylor 27:07
For you what you call OnStar OnStar. Yeah,
Jeremy Kellett 27:09
yeah. Do you want to pay a little extra for that? Yeah, I didn’t want that until I locked my keys in Montreux. And it’s too late, then it’s too late. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to get her. That’s happened before. Now, you know, one of the big things of course, one of the big reasons we’re partnered with you guys is your attention to customer service and customer satisfaction. And, you know, he talked to me this morning. I mean, you know, that’s a big deal with us after the sale. And you know, you guys do a fantastic job, and especially Keith Wilson, tre visor that we deal with all the time. I mean, how important is that to you guys? And what? What kind of things do you do to make sure that’s done? Man know what, Keith and try to because I talked to them, but from the head, you know, President Vice President of Sales, what do you guys do to make sure that customer is satisfied?
Brock Gavin 28:15
Yeah, no, it’s a great question. And thanks for teeing it up, because it is one of the things that we’re really focused on. And it’s a big part of the partnership that we’ve had for the last 15 plus years, I’ll start and then Scott can chime in. But, you know, it goes all the way back to you know, how we buy trucks, right, we talked a little bit about buying from reputable fleets buying the right trucks for our customers. Certainly, it’s related to the type of reconditioning that we do before we would ever put that truck into the hands of our customers and your drivers. So we do a significant amount of reconditioning, bring it up to meet or exceed DoD standards, do those inspections. And while that gives us a solid baseline, you mentioned after the sale, right, because we, you know, sometimes things happen after the sale. So every retail truck that we sell, or the vast majority of the retail trucks we sell, come with a 90 day arrow warranty called Confidence plus warranty case, anything, you know, happens in the first 90 days. And we mean that we stand by it. We also work with third parties to offer extended protection plans, you know, it would be pretty common, right for one of your drivers to be operating this new truck for three years, four years, whatever it is kind of like take it up towards, you know, 900,000 miles, whatever it is. And we offer protection plans that are extended for that to cover that period of time, as well. And we really encourage our customers and your drivers to do that because something might happen. something does happen from time to time. It’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen. It’s a matter of time, right? And, and so we were pretty upfront with our customers about that. We as I mentioned earlier, because of the way we do business, both our philosophy, which is big on customer retention, customer referrals, partnerships long term, right? When, and because we’re finding its business, we truly want our customers to succeed. So we’re very upfront on the front end, trying to set our customers up and coaching them on those, you know, protection plans, warranties. And then when we finally get to that moment, and this is a segue, I’ll hand it over to Scott, you know, our warranty department, our customer service department will step in at corporate and as you mentioned, you know, our branch managers, salespeople in this case, Trey Pizer, Keith Wilson, you mentioned will also step in and help. So, Scott manages our warranty business, our customer service center. So Scott, maybe you can build on that?
Scott Taylor 30:42
Sure, when we do have a situation that usually comes in our department, our 90 day warranty department, and the first thing we always do is go back to the truck to see the life of the truck since the arrow is owned. And by that, I’ll go back and look at all the work orders to make sure that our managers follow the process to recondition the truck and get it to terms. And that’s really important to us, because we want to know what we’re selling to our customers. And there are times, you’re right, Jeremy, you’re going to have problems with us trucks. So once we went through the evaluation and made sure we did everything that we were supposed to do, we then went to look at the work orders. So we can help through the situation. If it’s a coverable item, under our 90 day warranty, we’ll immediately write a purchase order and pay whatever shop you’re at to fix your truck. If it’s a third party warranty, we’ll work with you to get that expedited so that you don’t have downtime. And if there’s any misunderstanding or any kind of areas that you want to talk about, about a third party warranty that you need help with, we’re here to help manage you through it. So it’s in our best interest to help you get through your problems, because we’re partners and like Brock said, We financed these trucks for you. And we want to see that everybody succeeds.
Jeremy Kellett 31:59
Well. And with you having a sales background, and you know, doing that forever. You want to sell a good truck, right, one of the big successful and make a good living and not have problems. I mean, right saying yeah, I want problems with a truck, but it is a used truck. It is some of the problems you have, Scott, with the owner of the truck, maybe taking it and getting it fixed. Without you knowing when you know, because I know we’ve had that issue before where they take it somewhere they shouldn’t have taken it. Or they don’t tell you they took it. We have that all the time. They are the ones I don’t know I am supposed to call, you know, Keith, if you know just this happened, or that happened. And you know, and next thing, you know, those little things lead up to a big thing. Because you were telling me last night, that what’s the first thing you ask Massey,
Scott Taylor 32:49
all your work orders, I always start there, because it’s usually the third worst quarter before I get involved. And the sooner you can get us involved to help, the quicker we can give you some good direction. And I’ll tell you guys, you know, Arrow averaging 450 500 trucks a month. And believe it or not, we see maybe one or two trucks, tough trucks a month that really get to my level. So we do our best to see that we’re putting out a good product. And it’s important when you do have a breakdown to slow down and think about it with today’s emissions, especially sensors and DPS, all the things we’ve all been through. It can be easily misdiagnosed, once or twice. So if you just slow it down, we have some journeyman technicians in my department that can slow down and help so don’t ever. It doesn’t cost you anything to call our department and ask for some direction.
Jeremy Kellett 33:50
We and you know we talked about cycles earlier. And these use trucks that you guys have been through some tough cycles with these emissions and sensors and DPF you mentioned that you feel like we’re we’re, you feel like we’re on the other side of that yet with these new emissions. And I would say it’s greatly
Scott Taylor 34:14
improved. And I can certainly look at model your trucks and see a reduction in certain model years. That’s what we’re asking. Yeah, yes. And that to your question. Yes, it’s improved greatly, especially as we’re seeing less problems
Jeremy Kellett 34:29
with the newer drugs. Yes. Then with the older ones wrecked, it’s just taking them a long time to figure it out. It’s taking them a long time. What are they doing up there? It’s taking forever to figure out those major issues and to fix them. But I think you think we’re gonna see that, you know, 10 years from now we’re gonna go man, how’d we get through year 10 to 15 or 10 to 18 or you think brown Well,
Brock Gavin 35:01
I think that yeah, I agree with Scott’s point that, you know, we’ve come over the first hill of, of new technology and missions technology and some of the related challenges with that, and we’re in a more stable position, that’s great, you know, we see it in the warranty data. And at the same time, we know that this is going to continue to change, right? So I don’t think anybody should be thinking, gosh, we’re done with this, you know, we got through it, we’re done, you know, we can wipe your hands clean. We know the regulatory environment is a challenging one. And think specifically that you’re dreading. I would say, you know, we’ll see how I wouldn’t say dreading that’s probably too harsh of a word. Because it’s, you know, it’s a reality. It’s gonna happen over time. But I do think, you know, as we know, the emissions requirements continue to get more and more strict, right. And we’ve got a big hurdle here in 2027. And then there’s the mandates around zero emission vehicles, which will ultimately impact us now exactly the timeline and exactly to what degree nobody knows. But it is coming. And that’s a whole new ballgame. At that point. We’re talking about totally new technologies. And you know, whether that’s battery electric, or whether that’s hydrogen combustion, or whether that’s hydrogen fuel cell, some combination the world is will change. It’s just a matter of timing. And degrees. So I think we’ll have more changes to manage through. But currently, you know, we just take one step at a time and we’re in a pretty stable position currently. Yeah,
Jeremy Kellett 36:35
Hopefully, the big impact is over, and then we can conquer the smaller ones that we hope it is not like, you know, changing the whole truck system, you know, with the DPF and stuff, that’s been a challenge, for sure has been a big challenge for everybody. Oh, the big thing we haven’t even touched on yet. And I want our listeners to know, this is the new little rock location, come into town. The big news, I mean, that’s big news for us, the I know, you are owner operators are gonna love to hear it, you know, to be able to have an Arrow Truck Sales in town here, that they can go out there and look at a person there are second third truck for that they do because we have guys that have had I bet five trucks, you know, just from because I’ve tried over a couple years, you know, or every year, you know, something like that. But anyway, let’s talk about the new location. Coming up here in Little
Brock Gavin 37:30
Rock rock. Yeah, we’re super excited about this, Jeremy. And it’s not something we’ve really publicized in public, our employees understand we’re doing this and our partners understand we’re alive. We don’t need to put it out and then let me know. No, it’s all good. We’re in process, we purchased some land here in North Little Rock near the intersection of 40 and 440. A great part of downtown that has truck traffic, a great market for our business. So we’re really looking forward to it, we’re well on our way. We’ve done a lot of site prep, we’re building it from the ground up. So it’d be the first time in quite some time that it arose from the ground up in a new location. We should be up and running by the end of the year. And we anticipate it being a strong market for us. You know, that’ll take us as I said, from 16 up to 17 locations. We’ve got our sights set on a few more over the years, but we’ll take it a step at a time. So all our focus right now is going into getting this little rock site up and running in a good way. And Scott and I were out there yesterday and got to shovel a little bit of dirt. Oh, there may be a shovel
Jeremy Kellett 38:37
scars love a gold shovel to gold show. Wow. Nice. Yeah, y’all might be on the front page of pipe or something. Yeah.
Brock Gavin 38:45
At least our website. Yeah. That’s
Jeremy Kellett 38:48
right, for sure. Well, that’s exciting. Y’all been thinking about that for a while? Yeah, so
Brock Gavin 38:54
It’s interesting. As I mentioned earlier, I came into the role about three years ago and one of the things that because it takes a while to that when you talk about real estate and development and all that is how do we want to grow our footprint over time and it is one of the elements of our strategies so identify those next markets to grow into and you know, this work started probably two and a half years ago early you know, early steps and then specifically this site goes back Gosh, I’d say you know, a year and a half ago already so it takes time now to get the deal do the diligence to get the deal done and then work through the development so we always got a few things going in the background in parallel and so it’s really nice to see this one kind of start to come up to the surface
Jeremy Kellett 39:40
Yeah, yeah that’s gonna be exciting to have a place here so the process you don’t come down and work with this guy for sure.
Scott Taylor 39:47
Somebody said we dug cotton this fall. We can do that and we will go fishing.
Jeremy Kellett 39:51
Yeah, I definitely can do that.
Scott Taylor 39:52
We got those might be your morning. You want me to be okay.
Jeremy Kellett 39:56
What do you guys see? To wrap it up? What’s the arrow We drove look a lot next 510 years.
Brock Gavin 40:03
So you know, our core will stay the same, you know, we’re what we’re out to do, what we’re out to accomplish, and really serving our customer. It’s heavily based on the owner operator business, we’re into small fleets as well. And we just want to continue to support that community in the best way we possibly can build on our 75 years and get 85. Right, continue. There’ll be some evolution, no doubt, you know, you mentioned technologies that’s going to start to affect us, the new technologies, and talked a little bit about growth and footprint. So we’ll be a bit more of an expanded position 510 years from now, you know, there’s some other things for us to think about, you know, in our financing portfolio, other potential services, Scott talked about connectivity of trucks, remote diagnostics, things like that, that, you know, is there an opportunity in the secondary market, for our customers to be better connected? And can we play a role in helping, you know, set those customers up for success as that truck goes on into its second life, so at its core, we stay committed, you know, to our principles, our values, which are rooted strongly in customer success, in partnership and long term relationships, we’re big believers in when, and often that’s when because it’s, you know, it’s us, it’s partners, like you at Oakley that we believe in, and our customers, so our values will stay the same. And our business model will evolve and expand slightly to better meet the needs of our customers.
Jeremy Kellett 41:34
I like it. I like it, because I can tell, you know, just the conversation, you guys see the big picture. You know, there’s a lot of people that can’t see the big picture of where he is with just, you know, customer satisfaction, and growth and standards. And, you know, keeping your values may not mean a lot to a lot of people to you know, a lot of people that’s listening to this, you know, I think it’s great, I think it’s a great opportunity. They all came up here and let our listeners hear about Arrow Truck Sales from the President, Vice President, it makes a big difference. And I appreciate you guys coming up here. Anything else you want to add?
Brock Gavin 42:13
From my side? You know, just thank you for the opportunity. today. You know, it’s fun, right? Yeah, I don’t get to do this every day. So appreciate the opportunity. And then, more importantly, more broadly, thank you for the ongoing partnership. Yeah, we really value it. This is what we’re looking for. This is our ideal type of partnership. It’s long term. It’s mutually beneficial. We get to do something together. So thanks for the opportunity. We look forward to many more years to come. Appreciate it. Scott,
Scott Taylor 42:38
gist. Thanks for the opportunity, Jeremy.
Jeremy Kellett 42:40
Appreciate it. Thank you guys, too. I appreciate everybody listening to the Oakley podcast. Once again, a great episode is coming to you. If you ever have any questions. You listened to an episode and it makes you think of some questions. Send me a message, call me up, email me. I’ll put you in touch with these guys. And they’ll be glad they’re very approachable. And we’ll talk to you and we’ll try to get all your questions answered. And I’m excited about a new Arrow location coming later this year here in Little Rock, Arkansas. So appreciate everybody listening. Thank you once again. We’ll talk to you next week. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Oakley podcast: trucking, business, and family. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate or review the show on the podcast platform of your choice and share it with a friend. We love hearing from our audience, so if you’ve got a question, comment, or just want to say hello, head over to our website, theoakleypodcast.com, and click the “leave a comment” button. We’ll get you a response soon and may even share some of the best ones here on the show. We’ll be back with a fresh episode very soon. Thanks for listening.