Founded in 1999 just as truck sales began its historic crash, used truck dealer Transportation Equipment Asset Management (Team) Vehicle Sales believes it's doing just fine.
"We're in our fourth year in a truck market beset by dramatic change, but we've hung in there, fought some battles and have survived pretty well, we think," CFO Daryl Cornell told Fleet Owner.
He said Team's 15 national locations are on target to sell 2,500 to 3,000 trucks this year, from panel vans up through Class 8 tractors. While those aren't huge numbers, Cornell said they indicate a growing belief in Team's business model, which is based on providing an alternative to the auctioning and wholesale disposal of used trucks.
"Rather than simply providing quick cash for trucks, we offer customers the opportunity to increase overall proceeds on vehicle disposal," he explained. "While we regularly purchase blocks of trucks for re-sale, the concept of offering customers a piece of a large, national, retail disposal platform is what makes us unique and positions us well for the future."
Cornell's confidence stems in part from predictions of a major truck sales boom between 2004-06 as an improving U. S. economy, a trucking capacity crunch, and 2007 emission regulations lead carriers to buy new equipment.