Ever since he was a kid detailing cars in his driveway, Kevin Holmes has been focused on providing value. He says back then he wanted to do a good job for a fair price because he wanted to open a business someday and he knew the best way to make that a reality was through quality service.
That focus led him to invest his life savings in 1984 to expand his detailing operation into a service shop where, as a self-taught technician, he cultivated and expanded a customer base. It was that same focus that led him to move the shop two years later when his customers’ needs expanded into heavy trucks and he outgrew his first facility.
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Holmes says he didn’t want to turn anyone away and didn’t want to let anyone down. He wanted his business to remain a service his customers could rely on. More than three decades later, Holmes is proud to say some of those first customers still rely on his business — but it’s not just him anymore.
The repair shop Holmes founded in 1984 has evolved to become Advantage Truck Group (ATG), a six-location dealer group across Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire that employs more than 250 people and, for the first time this year, is a finalist for the Successful Dealer Award.
