Editor's note: This article was corrected Sept. 4 to reflect the year the Deputy brothers bought the dealership and to fix a typographical error. TPS regrets the error.
If you’re going to haul a six-figure load of cheese across the country, it’s good if your trailer partner has a team like Mountain West Utility Trailer.
One of the dealership’s managers drove a customer’s part from Utah, where Mountain West is based, to Nebraska so the customer’s $100,000 load of dairy products wasn’t spoiled. The company’s management didn’t even know until a few days later.
“Our managers go above and beyond for their customers,” says Jon Holdorf, chief operations officer for Mountain West, formerly Utility Trailer Sales of Utah.
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That company culture is what enabled the formation of Mountain West in the last year. The new dealer group was born when Utility Trailer Sales of Utah acquired Utility Trailer Sales Company of Arizona and Utility Trailer Sales of Idaho practically at the same time, with the acquisitions closing about a month apart.
The purchases tripled the locations and the workforce for brothers CEO Justin Deputy and Chief Sales Officer Spencer Deputy. The pair bought the dealership from their father, who started the business with a home equity line of credit in 1982, in 2014. Mountain West represents Utility Trailer, MAC Trailer, Sidump’R, Cargobull, Kalmar Ottawa Yard Trucks, Construction Trailer Specialists, Talbert and Travis Body & Trailer and this year is a first-time finalist for the Trailblazer Award, powered by Successful Dealer.
“We’re lucky enough to have already been structured in a way to allow me to have the time to focus on these acquisitions,” Justin Deputy says. “It’s kind of like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. It’s been an absolute wild ride, but a ton of fun.”
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Mountain West offers new and used trailer sales, financing, parts, service, trailer rentals, yard trucks and mobile service.
“We feel confident we have the ability to provide product support and services border to border, essentially,” Holdorf says. The company works on all makes, not just the brands it represents. “We’re Switzerland when it comes to repair and equipment.”
If Mountain West is Switzerland, then its facilities are deluxe ski villas. Justin Deputy says the company focuses on keeping drivers (and employees) happy. In Salt Lake City, Mountain West’s new location has a new breakroom and locker room and a completely air conditioned shop. Boise has multiple cranes and a large yard. Phoenix, Justin Deputy says, “is the nicest dealership in the country.”
“They [the drivers] work a really hard job, if we’re being honest,” Justin Deputy says. “If we can try to brighten a driver’s day, we’ve won the battle.”
A lot of that energy comes from the company’s teams on the ground. Dan Young, operations manager in Boise, came on board as part of the acquisitions earlier this year. He says Mountain West empowers its employees to make decisions — like driving a trailer part to Nebraska to save a load of cheese — and the company stands behind them. Moreover, it recognizes those efforts with SMILE cards, which recognize the company’s mission statement. Employees who are recognized with a SMILE card can take it to human resources for a gift.
“There’s a lot of positions that don’t get a whole lot of spotlight,” Young says. “These actually go quite a long ways.”
When you respect and empathize with your employees, it encourages them to do the same with their customers, Justin Deputy says. The brothers say their dad instilled in them early that everyone should be given the respect they deserve and not be judged.
“We have people that drive right past their local Utility dealership and drive to Salt Lake City,” Justin Deputy says. “The reason they do that is we treat them with respect. Their money is green and we like money if we’re being honest.”
The belief blends well with Mountain West’s work in the transportation industry and in the communities it’s part of, and, again, it goes back to the Deputys’ father.
“Everyone knows Mike Deputy,” Justin Deputy says, adding he was “just a super nice guy” and also nearly seven feet tall, making him stand out in a crowd. “We’ve carried that on."
Mountain West is involved in state and national trucking organizations and regularly sends team members to meetings, which Justin Deputy calls investments.
“You learn how to become an industry leader at those meetings,” he says. Plus, it’s good to make valuable connections that can help the business down the line. “If I ever need anything, I just pick up the phone and call them and vice versa.”
The company also is proud of its track record when it comes to taking responsibility for its mistakes.
“We’re human,” Justin Deputy says. “We make mistakes. We own up to it and do everything we can to make it right.”
Holdorf says Mountain West tries every day to put its best foot forward and backs every piece of equipment it sells. That brings customers back through the doors time and time again and keeps Mountain West on the lookout for more growth.
“We’re ready and interested in additional acquisition and growth grom a geographic perspective,” Justin Deputy says. “I’d love to see another couple states in there in the next five years. In five years, I hope to be able to say, ‘Here are the things we were able to take away from these other groups that were just awesome.’”
The Trailblazer Award was created in 2023 recognize and honor North America’s trailer dealer community for their essential support of the transportation industry. The Trailblazer Award is graciously sponsored by Hendrickson and Procede Software. To learn more about the program, go the award page.
