Communication, honesty and transparency. All tenets of a great relationship, and each word is vital to understanding the ethos of Dobbs Truck Group.
Formed in 2014 when Dobbs Management Services acquired Western Peterbilt and Western Truck Centers, Dobbs Truck Group has spent the last decade-plus expanding and evolving into one North America’s the largest and most versatile dealer groups.
With 19 full-service locations from eastern Mississippi to Seattle, Dobbs Truck Group proudly positions itself as a multi-branded operation capable of delivering comprehensive customer solutions across most of the United States.
Thriving in such a large geographic footprint isn’t easy, but that’s where those earlier character traits come in. Dobbs Truck Group is a national dealer group with a localized message. When customers come to Dobbs, they are greeted and treated as neighbors and friends. Their needs are met with friendly, personalized service, supplied by a team of experts who know their business and their biggest challenges.
“Our goal is to understand every customer and what drives their success,” says Mike Clark, CEO. “We want them to value our ability and see us part of what makes them successful. We believe if we do that well, that will benefit us too.”
It’s a tactic that enables Dobbs Truck Group to continue expanding its customer base and business solutions to surpass customer expectations, and in 2025 has made the company a first-time finalist for the Successful Dealer Award.
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“We believe if we can marry a customer’s needs to our capabilities better than our competition, [business] becomes a partnership rather than a transaction,” Clark says. “We want to make our customers a better business.”
It’s a goal Dobbs Truck Group knows well, because it’s been on a similar journey.
After entering the dealer space in 2014, the Dobbs team acquired another dealer group in 2017 and merged all the entities under a single brand umbrella in 2020. Beyond Peterbilt, Dobbs Truck Group represents Volvo and Mack on the west coast as well as Hino and Autocar. The company has spent the last five years supplementing its wide selection of brands with an unparalleled offering of services.
Clark cites the versatility of Dobbs’ in-house finance division and its Fleet Select private label parts brand as examples. Dobbs has its own finance portfolio to complement OEM-supported solutions, while its Fleet Select brand launched in 2023 is proving an essential resource amid a tough freight environment.
Having a price-sensitive line to meet customers’ good-better-best purchasing decisions is unquestionably an advantage, Clark says, but what has really made the line take off in 2025 has been its support.
Dobbs Truck Group understands what it takes to drive consistent messaging across a large network — internally and externally — and the management team leads with that in mind. The company uses regular manager calls and annual on-site conferences to set corporate initiatives, and disseminates its directives to its workforce through its managers, company intranet and open house events where corporate leadership visit stores to unveil strategies and reinforce the company’s fundamentals.
And there are 31 of the latter, selected to collectively distill the company’s culture, says Johnny Strickland, director of parts operations.
“The Dobbs name in the Memphis area [where Dobbs Management Services is based] stands for integrity and that’s the culture we’re building,” he says. “We want to build relationships with customers that are long lasting.”
Clark says doing that requires consistent excellence in execution, servicing every customer need above and beyond their expectations. In that area, the company’s training efforts are indispensable, says Jonathan Gipson, director of service.
Dobbs has dedicated technical development managers who travel the dealer network educating staff on corporate, OEM and vendor curriculum, and holding customer training events. The company also operates Dobbs Center for Learning, an online library that houses training tracts and career development resources for all team members.
The company’s training and culture also ensures Dobbs’ associates know how to react when customer relationships are strained. No dealer is perfect all the time, but Clark says Dobbs’ workforce is relentlessly focused on driving its customer satisfaction rates as high as possible. Being a customer’s partner not its vendor helps, he says, because customers are more open to dialogue and working cooperatively for solutions.
[RELATED: Dobbs Truck Group recognized for exemplary Peterbilt sales]
Adds Southern Region Executive Vice President Will Carlisle, “We often says strong relationships are the shock absorbers when we hit speed bumps or potholes. They allow you to navigate tough times a lot better.”
They also can strengthen a brand’s reputation and be parlayed into new business. Director of Marketing Carey Crozier says the efforts the company has put into the Dobbs brand “has gotten us in doors where before we might not have gotten that opportunity.”
Clark agrees. The success of the company’s last decade isn’t just visible on its bottom line.
“We’ve grown from a sleepy organization into a deeper competitor. Our competitors see us as more formidable than they did in the past and our customers see us as someone providing them value,” he says.
The Successful Dealer Award is sponsored by Automann, Interstate Billing Service, National Truck Protection and Premium 2000 and Procede Software. The 2025 Successful Dealer Award will be presented Sept. 30, at a private awards banquet in Nashville.
