Every truck dealer started somewhere. At California Truck Centers, it was with a trailer.
It was 1930 when P.L., Earl, and Roscoe Howard started building commercial trailers in Fresno, Calif., to support the growing agricultural sector in the state’s central valley.
The brothers’ business grew quickly — they were driven to serve and the valley’s importance to the United States’ food chain was rapidly increasing — so it didn’t take long for the Howards to expand their expertise beyond the trailer.
Autocar and White were the brothers’ first truck partners, and it was the latter that brought the family in contact with Freightliner, creating a landmark partnership that remains fruitful for both parties to this day.
Now known as California Truck Centers, the business the Howard brothers started almost a century ago stands as the oldest continually operating family-owned truck dealer in California and across the Daimler Truck North America (DTNA) dealer network.
With a workforce nearly 800 strong and locations across the Golden state, California Truck Centers is a testament to how family values and a commitment to improvement never goes out of style. It’s a culture that perseveres, and this year it has helped make the company a first-time finalist for the Successful Dealer Award.
“Something my dad used to say years ago, ‘We don’t want to sell somebody a truck. We want to sell them all their trucks.’ And in order to do that, we have to earn their business,” says Doug Howard, president and the third generation of his family to lead the dealership. “Our goal is to be the easy button for our customers.”
That comprehensive commitment to service is evident across the business.
California Truck Centers’ foundation is built on predicting customer needs, delivering best-in-class solutions and exceeding expectations at every turn. Being great today isn’t so much an achievement as a motivation to be greater tomorrow, says Vice President Lee Howard, the fourth generation of his family to work in the business.
Doug likens it to a professional athlete who’s never satisfied.
[RELATED: See other finalists for 2026 Successful Dealer Award]
Being great supporting customers isn’t a program with a beginning, middle or an end, he says, “It is a way of life. And that really comes down to embracing change and having an environment that accepts change and looks for any and all opportunities for improvement every day. Even if you’re the best, like Tom Brady, you always have to looking to improve your game.”
Another fourth-generation Howard, Vice President and Continuous Improvement Coordinator Tiffany Howard, leads those efforts. Originally a DTNA initiative, California Truck Centers has fully embraced continuous improvement efforts across its network. Beyond OEM expectations, Howard and company managers use an open communication policy to encourage associates to share ideas.
“We’ve probably done more than 500 improvements in the Fresno store alone,” says Lee Howard.
The company pursues improvements in other ways too. California Truck Centers is Elite Support certified across its eight-location network with a spotless compliance record four years running, and earlier this decade was the first DTNA dealer group in the U.S. to achieve the truck maker’s EV certification across its operations.
California Truck Centers also strives to be on the leading edge of employee recruitment, and offers training and benefits packages it believes are second to none. On the new employee front, dealer leaders actively support many technical education programs across the state, as well as DTNA’s Get Ahead program to support technician development.
For existing employees, California Truck Centers focuses aggressively on retention.
Tiffany Howard says promoting from within is a foundational tenet of the company’s leadership development, and the business operates multiple training modules and events designed to prepare employees for placements into higher roles. The company also has a dedicated training center — which it not only uses internally but also leverages to hold customer training events with vendor partners — and a profit sharing plan for all associates.
Each tool keeps the company’s retention rate high. Tenure across the company approaches or exceeds double digits in every store, and some associates, like the company’s full-time corporate recruiter, have never worked anywhere else. And that commitment to the business is fun to market across the state, says Whitney Gebhard, marketing director.
California Truck Centers is a big family, and its one its members are proud of, she says.
“Last year we celebrated 104 team members with a meaningful work anniversary, which could be five years all the way up to 50 years,” she says. “And between all 104 of those team members, it was a combined 1,205 years of experience.”
California Truck Centers is equally engaged across its communities. Gebhard cites more than 30 charitable organizations the company regularly supports, ranging from local schools and food banks to the Fresno Truck Center Childhood Cancer Survivorship Program, a one of a kind program that offers education, treatment and long-term care for childhood cancer survivors as they grow into adulthood.
And the Howard family is as proud of the company’s civic engagement and its business success.
“We try to support the community because they trust us, and we want to support them as well so they succeed,” Doug Howard says.
The Successful Dealer Award is sponsored by Automann, Interstate Billing Service, National Truck Protection and Premium 2000 and Procede Software. The 2026 Successful Dealer Award will be presented Oct. 6, at a private awards banquet in Nashville.
