March 12, 2025 • 37 mins
The towing industry stands at a crossroads of tradition and transformation, and Mike Lampert is leading the way forward. In this revealing conversation, the CEO of New England Truck Center shares his remarkable journey from a family business handling a single truck tow monthly to orchestrating over 100 calls daily across multiple locations in the Northeast.
Lampert pulls back the curtain on how consolidation is reshaping towing operations, creating something the industry has historically lacked: genuine career paths. "I feel like this industry has to mature to a place where operators are looked at with respect," he explains, comparing his vision to how utility linemen are viewed—professionals with benefits, retirement plans, and sustainable schedules.
Through partnerships with private equity firms, Lampert has executed a strategic growth plan that benefits both business owners and employees. For owners, it offers financial security without personal guarantees looming over every equipment purchase. For workers, it creates advancement opportunities beyond the glass ceiling typically found in family-owned operations.
The conversation delves into practical advice for those considering selling their businesses: invest in quality systems, maintain clean financials, and work with specialized professionals. "You get paid a lot more by making sure it's on the books," Lampert advises, addressing the industry's cash-handling reputation head-on.
As New England's only NRC dealer, Lampert also discusses how his company builds and sells approximately 66 trucks annually, including the "Swiss Army knife" 40TB models that combine heavy transport capabilities with towing versatility.
Whether you're a towing professional curious about industry evolution, a business owner contemplating your future, or simply fascinated by how traditional services modernize, this episode offers rare insights into a transformation happening right before our eyes. Ready to see where the road leads next?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome one and all to the American Towing Recovery
Institute podcast.
I want to remind all of youthat the American Towing
Recovery Institute aims topromote professionalism, safety
and education within the towingand recovery industry.
Remember, we provide trainingand certification programs for
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(00:26):
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Please, if you need to contact us.
We're always at wwwamtowri.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
G.
Now here is Tully News.
Now, DJ.
As always, I appreciate yourkind words and very humbling.
Thank you so much.
Today we have a new guest onthe program.
We've talked about theirorganization before in the
Consolidated Corner segment ofour program.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Someone that I've not known well but known for years
I've known him and his fatherboth we have Mike Lambert from
New England Truck Center.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Mike, welcome to the program.
Would you introduce yourself toour guest, please?
Sure, thanks, wes.
My name is Mike Lambert.
I'm CEO of New England TruckCenter up in New Hampshire and
now Maine.
I've been in the industryalmost 26 years now Kind of a
long time for a job.
I promised I'd only do for onewinter, but that's how this goes
(01:56):
right, yeah absolutely.
Family businesses.
You get tricked into it.
Yeah, it absolutely happens.
I thought it was a familybusiness.
Yeah, it absolutely happens.
I was going to say I thought itwas a family business.
Well, I know at least onegeneration.
Are you the second generationor the third generation?
Third generation Okay.
So officially incorporated, Ithink in 1974, but they were
(02:18):
there a long time before that.
It evolved over the years.
When I came on board in Augustof 99, I think if we did one
truck tow a month that was likea big month.
We've changed a lot.
I think these days we'rerunning north of 100 calls a day
(02:40):
, a lot different than what itused to be.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
That is a big difference.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Now you say 100 calls a day.
Tell us a little bit about yourorganization.
So we're primarily heavy-dutytow transport, road service, we
offer shop services and we'realso an NRC dealer for the New
England region.
So we sell, we build and sellin probably about 66 trucks a
(03:07):
year.
Give or take a few.
It's about the max that we cando without going to a bigger
facility.
And we've been looking toexpand.
We partnered up with someprivate equity for the financing
and off to the races, I guess.
Expand we partnered up withsome private equity for the
financing and off to the races,I guess.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, as I've said many times in this program, I
think consolidation is good forthe Done correctly.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I think it's good for the industry and good for the
people participating.
Well, I've always said foryears to the people closest to
me, it's.
I feel like this industry hasto mature to a place where the
operators are looked at inrespect.
Well, they're respected, butrespected in the fact of almost
like linemen.
(03:54):
You know what I mean.
It's a true career.
There's retirement, there'sbenefits.
You're working the same hours.
I just kind of use it that ismy, my reference to bounce
things off of.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You know really good paying jobs, you know.
Was that your motivation tostart?
I'm sure you didn't start inthe beginning of, like, being a
consolidator and buying allthese companies.
I'm sure it started off as like, okay, this one's for sale, so
I'll buy this one.
And then it branched out.
But tell us about that.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It kind of started.
As you know, if you want toretain good employees, you've
got to have a path for them togrow.
And it's hard to have a pathfor them to grow in the towing
industry because it's alwaysfamily-owned businesses.
So it's you know, everyoneplateaus or they go out on their
own and then then everybodyhates each other, right?
(04:51):
There's just too much of that.
So if you can grow and you canmake it, so guys can move up in
the in the ladder.
Maybe they're running their owndepartment or they're running a
series of them or a division ora location, and we're just
going to keep going in that path.
I think it's this industryneeds it.
(05:11):
It's too fragmented and weoperate like fire departments,
right, and there's no reason foreverybody to have one or two
rotators.
If you can share resources,it's not necessary.
You know Absolutely, and that'sa good, solid, logical business
(05:33):
approach to that.
I like what you're saying, Mike, I really do.
So how?
many acquisitions have you madeso far?
Well, I started out in 2021.
(05:53):
We bought John's Record Serviceup in Concord, new Hampshire.
We expanded that.
That went really well.
We ended up rebranding that tothe New England Truck Center and
then started looking.
You know, we grew fast, got tothe point.
You know, in this business youpersonally guarantee everything
(06:15):
and, honestly, that's tolling.
You know it can affect yourattitude.
So I started looking aroundtalking to people that were a
lot smarter than me and theprivate equity world.
They offer a path.
You still own the business, yourun the business, they're
(06:36):
financing it and you no longerhave to personally guarantee and
you get to take a little bitoff the table.
So, you know, for the securityof my own family and my peace of
mind, that was important to me.
One of the terms I heard one ofthe other consolidators use was
how did he say it?
I've secured my family'sgenerational wealth was the term
(07:00):
he used.
I thought it was just anexcellent thought.
I think you basically just saidthe same thing.
No, I did.
I thought it was just anexcellent thought, and I think
you basically just said the samething.
No, I did, I did.
I mean there were multiplepaths you know forward.
The one for me was stayingheavily involved, keeping, you
know, a large ownership and it'simportant to the people that
(07:23):
have been with me for a longtime and making sure they have a
clear path forward wherethey're rewarded well too,
starting in this industry as anoperator I mean you're speaking
words of magic to my ears.
If that was available years agoyou probably wouldn't know my
name, the organizations I workfor, basically the guy who'd
(07:46):
been working there for 25 yearswas making the percentage of
every call just like me thatjust hired on.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And there was no career path.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
No retirement, no, nothing.
And honestly, the towingindustry, I like to say it's
made for hardworking people.
Industry is it's, I like to sayit's, it's made for
hard-working people.
It's one of those industriesyou can make as much money for
as much as you want to work, youknow, as hard as you want to
work.
It's, it's heavy with burnout,but you know the, the guys and
(08:16):
girls that do it.
It's there's a love for it, forsure, but at the same time it's
not sustainable to work 80hours a week for 20 years.
So you know, work-life balancehas really taken a new meaning,
I would think, in the last fiveor six years.
It's really this new generation.
They don't care so much aboutmoney as they do time off.
(08:38):
So you've got to move with thetimes.
But with that we kind of got alittle off track.
But since we partnered withStone Road Partners and Gray
Rock Capital Mike, let me holdyou up for one second.
Sure, we partnered with peoplethat we've got to run
(09:00):
commercials for.
So could we hang out for aquick commercial break?
We'll be right back.
No worries, thank, no worries.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Thank you, Mike.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
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Speaker 1 (09:42):
Welcome back listeners.
You know you're listening tothe new Towing News channel and
this episode's aboutConsolidated Corner.
We have one of the best online.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Now I want to remind all of our listeners we are
available on Spotify, itunes,pandora, stitcher iHeartMedia,
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podcasts, Remember to tune inevery week to Towing News
(10:14):
Channel and April.
I'll turn it over to you.
Thank you, dj Mike, rightbefore the break you were
talking about how private equitywas helping you advance this
consolidation that you weredoing.
Could you go into some more ofthat?
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Sure, Well, it was definitely a tough slug to get
through the information theywant and we could probably touch
on that a little bit after,just to help out the listeners
if they're ever interested.
But bringing them on board theyreally bring a higher level of
information.
Um, I really enjoy what I'mlearning because it's stuff I'm
(10:52):
never going to learn.
I like to say I've got plenty.
I've paid for a lot of mbas.
I just never got that diploma.
You know you pay for them thehard way, the expensive way, so
they came on board.
The biggest part that theyliked is I had a plan laid out,
could put it on paper, showed itto them where the industry in
(11:16):
the Northeast is, who theplayers were, what I thought we
could do, how I would do it if Ihad the money to do it and they
liked it, do it if I had themoney to do it and they liked it
.
So we made the deal, signed itJune of last year and, off and
running, we made our firstacquisition together.
In December of this year webought out a competitor, Matt
(11:38):
Brown's Truck Repair in Bow, NewHampshire.
We rolled them in and then wejust closed another one in
Southern Maine two weeks ago,raised truck service.
Great group of guys there also,and we're just trying to let
the dust settle and then we haveone or two more to close before
(11:58):
the end of the year.
So you're expanding yourservice footprint tremendously
in this situation, aren't you?
That is correct.
So our goal is to be NewHampshire, Maine and the better
part of Massachusetts, andprobably western I mean eastern
(12:19):
New York, but not New York City,northern New York.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
No Vermont, yeah Vermont.
New York no Vermont.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Yeah, vermont, sorry, forget about Vermont.
I got a lot of friends inMassachusetts.
I'm not sure if they live onthe good side or the bad side.
No, I'm just kidding.
Yeah, listen, they're all goodguys.
Massachusetts has a tough thingdown there with their
regulations.
They do.
They have to work for everypenny down there.
They do, you're right aboutthat.
(12:48):
So we've got the physicallocations how many employees,
how much equipment.
So right now we're around 135full-time employees.
So right now we're around 135full-time employees and we have
about 126 registered pieces ofequipment.
(13:10):
So that's stuff with licenseplates, not counting skid steers
, dollies, loaders, all thatother stuff.
That's trucks, trailers,tractors, tow trucks, all that.
There's a fair amount ofoverlap.
You know some stuff we need tosell, consolidate a little bit,
replace some stuff.
(13:31):
It's quite the process.
Oh, I can imagine.
I can imagine.
And you say you're averagingabout 100 calls a day at this
point.
Yeah, about 100 calls a day, alot of those, as most of your
(13:51):
listeners know, in transport,one call could be the guy out
for 10 hours, right?
Oh, absolutely, especially inthe heavy world.
Virtually nothing simple.
And you said you're doing heavytowing, transport and truck
repair at the garage.
Do you do road service orhazmat cleanup, any of that kind
of stuff?
(14:12):
Yeah we don't do a lot of hazmatcleanup.
The states mostly handle that.
Up here.
We'll pump fuel tanks, we'll dolight cleanup, we'll do what
they'll let us do, but we'redoing everything else.
Road service I think we'rerunning around 10 or 11 full
road service trucks.
Rotators we have one, two,three, five rotators right now
(14:41):
and I think another six heaviesbetween the locations.
Wow, that's impressive.
Yeah, so from the southernmostlocation to the northernmost
location in miles, how far arewe talking?
Ooh, maybe 60 at best.
Not even we're pretty close.
That's still a good footprint.
(15:03):
Yeah, we like to go eachlocation.
We don't want a location morethan like 45 minutes away from
its nearest location.
That works for us to be able toshare resources Right.
The group doing it out West.
We had Jose from Big Rally Toeon and he said the same thing.
(15:24):
What they're doing out there isthey want those, those shops,
to be relatively close so theycan move resources as needed to
support each other, and I thinkthat's an excellent strategy.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
It's also very thoughtful too.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Well, it works for us because, at the end of the day,
the customers need to beserviced properly.
You know you've got to keepthose ETAs in check and if
something happens, a guy getstangled up on a job that's
bigger than you thought it was.
You can't have them waiting allday to get out there.
You're gonna you're gonna beable to have some calvary.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
So so, uh, how is your employee retention rate
then, since you've had thisundertaking, and what does that
meant to?
What does it mean to youremployees to be able to for the
benefits and things like that?
What has that meant for them?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I think it's very important.
I think we, with the scale, wedefinitely have saved real money
on health insurance and beenable to offer better benefits.
Our regular insurance we'rereally reaping the benefits.
We're in a captive withDawnblood In that group.
(16:44):
It's worked out very well.
It's a great group to lean onand then just everything else.
It works for the employees.
Our retention I would say wetry to aim not to lose more than
10% employees if we take on anacquisition.
So you know if there's 40employees you're going to lose
(17:06):
four.
You hate to lose any.
But change is something that alot of guys don't like.
I say drivers and mechanicshate.
A lot of guys don't like I saydrivers, drivers and mechanics
hate change they really do butyou just ask that they give us a
shot.
Right, we're gonna.
We have to prove ourselves,just like the employees do.
Well, that's a good mindset, agood way to handle it.
(17:29):
And again, if people look atreality and know what the towing
industry has been.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
This has got to be the future, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
You said earlier about the employees being able
to have a life and a known workschedule.
All those are critical to thegeneration that's running these
trucks and whatnot nowadays.
Yeah, you know it's importanttoo, because people's lives
change.
They want to move no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
That training and that background already in place
.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
True.
You know, one of the mainthings we look at when we're
sizing up acquisitions is it'snot just the business and the
name it's important, but reallyjust the business and the name
it's important.
But really, at the end of theday, in the world we live in,
you're buying equipment andyou're buying the labor because
no one can get enough employeesand and it's it's hard to I
(18:47):
don't want to use the word stealbecause no one wants to steal
employees.
We try to be respectful of that.
But you know, if you can absorbthe business and make sure the
guys are happy and they stay,you know it's important and it
works.
We can't do what we do withoutthe employees.
It's impossible.
Well, you go back to one of thefirst consolidators in not
(19:10):
towing but trash, wayne Huizenga, who built Waste Management,
starting in 1964, if I'm notmistaken, he realized that in
the 60s was you can buy theequipment, go out and get the
work, but you need the people todo it, and that's why he
decided buying towing companiesand getting, excuse me, buying
trash companies and getting themto work together was his future
(19:33):
, and he built into wastemanagement one of the most
successful trash companies inthe world.
So the concept is proven andknown and works.
I agree with that.
All right, we've got to takeone more break, and then, after
the break, I'd like to, if wecould, talk about your energy
and our cheer equipment.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
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Speaker 2 (21:12):
Welcome back listeners.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
You know you're listening to the number one
podcast, the towing, and this isthe new towing channel, so it's
important this is a segment.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
This episode is on the consolidated corner, which
has been very well received, soif you have someone that you
would like to see on or off thepodcast or your state
association has some informationthat you want to share with
thousands of listeners, this isthe place to do it.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Our hotline number at the podcast center 706-409-5603
.
And, mike, this has been agreat one.
I am taking all sorts of notesand I look forward to listening
to more.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
April.
I'll turn it over to you.
Thank you, DJ Mike.
You have been very generouswith the information that you've
given us so far.
When, basically, how thesausage is made, when there's
consolidation.
Give us your biggest takeawaysand your biggest pointers out
there for the listeners.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Well, I would say the biggest thing is everybody
wants it done quick and most ofthese deals, from the time you
sign an LOI to closing, you'dlike to think it's 90 to 120
days, which seems like alifetime, but it goes by in the
blink of an eye, it goes fast.
(22:38):
It's definitely an emotionalroller coaster for everybody
involved.
You think of these sellers.
It's been their life, it'stheir identity, it's everything.
So it's not easy, but as longas everybody has the same goal
in mind, it's attainable.
But I'd like to a couple thingswe always run into.
(23:00):
It's a little bit of advice forthe listeners out.
There is if there's anythingyou want to invest in your
business, invest in your systems.
Have quality bookkeeping likeQuickBooks.
Use a quality dispatch and useit.
Keep your financials clean.
I learned a long time ago frommy accountant you can get paid
(23:21):
now or you can get paid morelater.
So we know how the towingindustry is.
No matter what you think youhide it, everybody knows how
many tows were done andeverybody knows how many cars
were released and the differenceWell, they went to the junkyard
.
So I think the listeners getwhere I'm going at.
(23:41):
But you get paid a lot more byputting that, you know, making
sure it's on the books.
Yeah, we had just real quick.
We had another consignor thereon Fred from Henry's and he did
some math and showed real quick.
We had another consolidator onFred from Henry's and he did
some math and showed real quickhow you're cheating yourself big
(24:01):
time by putting that scrapaluminum rim money or something
in your pocket.
Honestly, it's a waste of yourown labor doing that stuff.
Yes, yes, you're tripping overdollars to pick up pennies.
That's right.
So a couple other things Iwould say is make sure your
accountant's a good accountantand your lawyer, just because
(24:25):
you've used them for the last 10years.
If he's one of the one-manbands, it's a lot for that to
get done in a timely fashion.
There's there's a lot of backand forth.
There's a lot of informationthat's needed.
Sometimes that information getsasked for two, three times
because it's coming fromdifferent, different areas going
(24:46):
to different people.
It's good to really invest in.
It seems like a lot of money,but it's money well spent.
Having a good mergeracquisition attorney, a business
sale attorney, anything likethat, versus the guy that kind
of does everything for you andalways has, which I'm sure he's
(25:07):
perfect.
But this is a whole other world.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
You need more of a specialty kind of attorney and a
specialty kind of an accountant.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
You know what it is.
It's calling the guy with therotator and the recovery truck
and all the equipment to go dothe big job, the big wreck out
on the highway, versus the guythat's always done it with the
35 ton.
You know he can do it but itisn't going to get done in a
good, it's not going to get donetimely and it may not be as
(25:38):
clean and ultimately it's not asprofessional.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
You know, and I guess , at the end of the day, if
someone's looking to sell,really what do they want to get
out of it?
You know, do they want to sailoff into the sunset and move to
Florida?
Do they want to go run a tacostand or do they want to be
involved?
We're willing to work withhowever people want to do it.
Well, that's important too,because different people are
(26:08):
motivated to sell for differentreasons.
So it's good that you'rewilling to work with them on
wherever they're at it may be.
You know, it's hard to findgood operators, and the
businesses we're looking at arerun by very good operators.
So if we can retain one and addthem to the team and they get
to take money off the table andsecure their family's financial
(26:31):
future, but they're stillinvolved, we are open to that
Absolutely.
That's one of the strong pointsI see about consolidation
myself.
It allows people to do thatwhere they're at in their life.
Any other tips that you canshare?
I mean, not really that's aboutit, Other than just I guess, as
(26:54):
you're going through theprocess and you're selling, just
keep running your business likeyou always have.
Don't get it in your head.
All right, I'm going to do thisbecause I'm out in six months.
I'm kind of superstitious.
It's a good way to jinx it, butit's also not the way you want
to run your business, because italways comes out and it's not a
(27:17):
good look and it's not good forthe business.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
It's not good for the business because what employees
that you have left that aregoing to go with the new
acquisition will guess theirlast few months of working for
somebody is a bad mindset to beunder.
We haven't run into it, butthat's their last few months of
working for somebody, that's abad mindset to be under.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Yeah, you know we haven't run into it, but I could
see how it could happen.
You know, guys, don't do thatoil change, don't fix that truck
.
That doesn't help anybody andit's just not the right thing to
do.
Fortunately, like I said, wehave not run into that.
The three deals we've done havebeen really good deals,
(27:58):
excellent sellers, no complaintson our end at all.
Well, they were all top-notchcompanies, weren't they?
They were they were.
That's part of the magic of thewhole deal and I would suggest
to listeners that areconsidering selling being
realistic.
I've seen this many times overthe years where folks are
(28:18):
unbelievably realistic about Awhat their equipment is worth,
what their goodwill is worthwithout any written contracts,
et cetera.
Be realistic is my advice tofolks.
Yeah, and we're always willingto look at a business.
You got to share someinformation, but you know we
sign ndas and we'll tell youright up front what we're
(28:40):
willing to pay it's.
We don't go into it tonegotiate.
This is the deal.
As long as your numbers back upto what you're telling us and
we can prove it, this is thenumber we'll pay.
If you're happy with that, wemove forward.
We don't get into it and try tonickel and dime and get the
price down.
It's too expensive betweenattorneys and accountants and
(29:03):
insurance agents and, frankly,the waste of time.
So I know in the towing worldyou end up kind of having to
negotiate with insurancecompanies.
Everyone wants to negotiatewith you, but when you're
selling your business you wantto deal with the people that are
going to give you the price.
If you're happy with it, you'removing forward.
That's the number.
But that number comes from theinformation that we're given up
(29:25):
front, but all that has to beverified.
As long as you can verify it,the deal's solid.
I know a lot of peopleappreciate that, because I've
seen some of these things go onand on.
So I know folks, especially inyour part of the world, have to
appreciate that.
So we were going to talk aboutNRC in this segment, but we
(29:50):
actually need to take anotherquick break and then come back
and we're going to get you totell us about your New England's
largest NRC dealer, aren't you?
I think we're New England'sonly NRC dealer.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
That makes you the largest Congratulations, all
right.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
After the break, New England's largest and only NRC
dealer.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
I'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
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Speaker 1 (30:45):
Welcome back listeners.
A better approach toParkinson's.
Welcome back listeners and Iwant to tell all of you, Wes and
I and April are so proud of howmany people have told their
friends about the new TowingNews channel.
This has been fantastic.
We have over 18,000 listenersand I can't thank you enough for
listening, reviewing andsharing with all your friends
(31:09):
and you have made 2025 a greatyear to start the new Towing
News channel and in this specialepisode of Consolidation Corner
, I'm going to turn it back overto Wes and we're going to learn
all about the great company ofNRC.
Thanks, dj.
Yeah, great interview.
(31:31):
Mike, can't thank you enough.
Tell us about New England TruckCenter.
Well, we're New England's NRCdealer.
I'd like to say we'redefinitely the closest US dealer
to NRC.
We're definitely the closest USdealer to NRC.
We're about 4-4.5 hours away,depending on traffic which is
(31:52):
snow right they're a greatcompany, great product.
I mean it's when you run it,you use it, you believe in it.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
It's easy to sell how long have you been a dealer for
NRC?
Speaker 1 (32:09):
I'm going to butcher this.
It's easy to sell.
How long have you been a dealerfor NRC?
I'm going to butcher this, butit's been at least eight years,
it's probably been longer thanthat.
It seems like it's been twoyears, but it's been.
I don't know without looking atthis point.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Yeah, what's hit you on that?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
path.
Great man, andy Ferreira.
Oh point, yeah, what?
What put you on that path?
Great man, andy Ferreira.
Oh, yes, yes, you know.
As I was running, you know,working with my father running
the tow company we wanted to buya heavy.
I had asked a couple of dealers.
One dealer told me when I hadmy daddy's approval to come back
and talk to him.
I talked to Andy, he had givenme a quote and I ordered a truck
(32:50):
and that started therelationship.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
That'll do it.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
You know, at that point I didn't really know what
NRC was, but we got it and neverlooked back.
Yeah, andy was a good man.
He absolutely was.
And like you say first NRCdealer.
Now I tell you NRG has alwaysbeen a stout unit.
I like their boom design.
But I've been super impressedwith these TB 20s, 30s and 40s.
(33:18):
Am I saying that correct?
You are 20, 30, and 40 TBs, sothey're definitely bulletproof.
We sell a lot of them.
The 40TB, I would say, is theSwiss Army knife of ramp trucks.
You know they've had theheavy-duty underlift on them
before anybody.
(33:38):
They're the same reach as anyother manufacturer, no matter
how the marketing spun, andthey're bulletproof.
I mean we run four of themright now with a fifth one being
built.
They're a good all-around truckBoy.
Yeah, some of the loads I seethese things carrying too, with
(34:01):
a you know track driller behindtelling the whole thing or
something heavy up top.
It's just incredibly useful, Ihave to imagine.
Yeah, you know, again, they'rethe Swiss Army Knife.
They're made for heavytransport.
They're going to get the jobdone but to be able to go tow,
you know you're towing stuffthat a 20-ton would be towing.
So it's nice you can keep thetrucks moving and loaded both
(34:24):
ways.
But we, I think, like I said inthe beginning, we do about 66
trucks a year for rotators allthe way down to the 20 TBs.
We don't build the 10 TBs, wetry to just stick with the 20s
on up.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, I think most of the dealers that I see are
doing that same thing.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, the 10's a nice price option, but for us the
change in price to a 20, it's abig difference in the level of
the truck.
We sell, we build and sell allover North America.
We sell, we build and sell allover North America.
We've had, we've deliveredthree trucks to Hawaii, one to
(35:12):
Puerto Rico and then a lot Texas, florida, up and down the East
Coast, some Midwest.
Most of our customers are allreturning.
I like to say we have the best,we definitely have the best
customers.
They are loyal.
They always come back.
I think they appreciate thequality of the builds we do.
(35:36):
Well, that's nice to hear.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
That is nice to hear in this day and age.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
You all build everything at your location.
We assemble everything but the85 ton.
It's not cost effective for usto do that.
Gotcha.
That makes sense to me too.
All right, well, we reallyappreciate you being on the
podcast and sharing all thisinformation.
I got, first of all, anythingelse you want to share and,
(36:02):
second of all, can you give us away to contact you?
Yeah, I guess a way for folksto contact, but just call the
office and ask for me andthey'll transfer you over, or at
least the voicemail.
That would be 603-778-8158.
And if you're looking to sellyour business in the Northeast,
(36:24):
we're looking to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Have you had a claim of that?
That's it.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
And if you want an NRC, we have them in stock and
you can just go on social mediaand a sales guy Tom is there, or
call and ask for Tom and he'lltake care of you.
That's awesome, Mike.
I thank you.
Sorry about that.
No, go ahead.
So I was just going to say Ireally appreciate you having me
(36:55):
on and asking some questions andtrying to get that information
out there Because, again,whether you like it or not, or
think it's a good idea or you'renot sure, the consolidation is
here.
I think we see it all acrossthe country and it's only going
to pick up steam.
Absolutely, I agree with that.
First of all, I thank you forcoming on Sometimes folks don't
(37:17):
want to come and talk aboutthings.
I appreciate your openness andI do appreciate that you're
trying to create good jobs fortowing operators.
I entered this industry as atowing operator and I have great
respect for that.
So, folks, as you said, ifyou're looking to sell a
business, in the Northeast orbuy a truck.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Give them a call.
Mike, thanks so much for yourtime today.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
We really appreciate you.
Thank you guys, Appreciate it.
Welcome one and all to the American Towing Recovery
Institute podcast.
I want to remind all of youthat the American Towing
Recovery Institute aims topromote professionalism, safety
and education within the towingand recovery industry.
Remember, we provide trainingand certification programs for
towing operators.
(00:26):
We also advocate for industrystandards and best practices,
support research and develop allnew techniques, including
research and development ofelectric and alternative fuel
vehicles With extensive researchwith the EV Clever app,
available now on Apple andGoogle Play stores.
(00:48):
Foster cooperation amongindustry stakeholders.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Please, if you need to contact us.
We're always at wwwamtowri.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
G.
Now here is Tully News.
Now, DJ.
As always, I appreciate yourkind words and very humbling.
Thank you so much.
Today we have a new guest onthe program.
We've talked about theirorganization before in the
Consolidated Corner segment ofour program.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Someone that I've not known well but known for years
I've known him and his fatherboth we have Mike Lambert from
New England Truck Center.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Mike, welcome to the program.
Would you introduce yourself toour guest, please?
Sure, thanks, wes.
My name is Mike Lambert.
I'm CEO of New England TruckCenter up in New Hampshire and
now Maine.
I've been in the industryalmost 26 years now Kind of a
long time for a job.
I promised I'd only do for onewinter, but that's how this goes
(01:56):
right, yeah absolutely.
Family businesses.
You get tricked into it.
Yeah, it absolutely happens.
I thought it was a familybusiness.
Yeah, it absolutely happens.
I was going to say I thought itwas a family business.
Well, I know at least onegeneration.
Are you the second generationor the third generation?
Third generation Okay.
So officially incorporated, Ithink in 1974, but they were
(02:18):
there a long time before that.
It evolved over the years.
When I came on board in Augustof 99, I think if we did one
truck tow a month that was likea big month.
We've changed a lot.
I think these days we'rerunning north of 100 calls a day
(02:40):
, a lot different than what itused to be.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
That is a big difference.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Now you say 100 calls a day.
Tell us a little bit about yourorganization.
So we're primarily heavy-dutytow transport, road service, we
offer shop services and we'realso an NRC dealer for the New
England region.
So we sell, we build and sellin probably about 66 trucks a
(03:07):
year.
Give or take a few.
It's about the max that we cando without going to a bigger
facility.
And we've been looking toexpand.
We partnered up with someprivate equity for the financing
and off to the races, I guess.
Expand we partnered up withsome private equity for the
financing and off to the races,I guess.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, as I've said many times in this program, I
think consolidation is good forthe Done correctly.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I think it's good for the industry and good for the
people participating.
Well, I've always said foryears to the people closest to
me, it's.
I feel like this industry hasto mature to a place where the
operators are looked at inrespect.
Well, they're respected, butrespected in the fact of almost
like linemen.
(03:54):
You know what I mean.
It's a true career.
There's retirement, there'sbenefits.
You're working the same hours.
I just kind of use it that ismy, my reference to bounce
things off of.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You know really good paying jobs, you know.
Was that your motivation tostart?
I'm sure you didn't start inthe beginning of, like, being a
consolidator and buying allthese companies.
I'm sure it started off as like, okay, this one's for sale, so
I'll buy this one.
And then it branched out.
But tell us about that.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It kind of started.
As you know, if you want toretain good employees, you've
got to have a path for them togrow.
And it's hard to have a pathfor them to grow in the towing
industry because it's alwaysfamily-owned businesses.
So it's you know, everyoneplateaus or they go out on their
own and then then everybodyhates each other, right?
(04:51):
There's just too much of that.
So if you can grow and you canmake it, so guys can move up in
the in the ladder.
Maybe they're running their owndepartment or they're running a
series of them or a division ora location, and we're just
going to keep going in that path.
I think it's this industryneeds it.
(05:11):
It's too fragmented and weoperate like fire departments,
right, and there's no reason foreverybody to have one or two
rotators.
If you can share resources,it's not necessary.
You know Absolutely, and that'sa good, solid, logical business
(05:33):
approach to that.
I like what you're saying, Mike, I really do.
So how?
many acquisitions have you madeso far?
Well, I started out in 2021.
(05:53):
We bought John's Record Serviceup in Concord, new Hampshire.
We expanded that.
That went really well.
We ended up rebranding that tothe New England Truck Center and
then started looking.
You know, we grew fast, got tothe point.
You know, in this business youpersonally guarantee everything
(06:15):
and, honestly, that's tolling.
You know it can affect yourattitude.
So I started looking aroundtalking to people that were a
lot smarter than me and theprivate equity world.
They offer a path.
You still own the business, yourun the business, they're
(06:36):
financing it and you no longerhave to personally guarantee and
you get to take a little bitoff the table.
So, you know, for the securityof my own family and my peace of
mind, that was important to me.
One of the terms I heard one ofthe other consolidators use was
how did he say it?
I've secured my family'sgenerational wealth was the term
(07:00):
he used.
I thought it was just anexcellent thought.
I think you basically just saidthe same thing.
No, I did.
I thought it was just anexcellent thought, and I think
you basically just said the samething.
No, I did, I did.
I mean there were multiplepaths you know forward.
The one for me was stayingheavily involved, keeping, you
know, a large ownership and it'simportant to the people that
(07:23):
have been with me for a longtime and making sure they have a
clear path forward wherethey're rewarded well too,
starting in this industry as anoperator I mean you're speaking
words of magic to my ears.
If that was available years agoyou probably wouldn't know my
name, the organizations I workfor, basically the guy who'd
(07:46):
been working there for 25 yearswas making the percentage of
every call just like me thatjust hired on.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And there was no career path.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
No retirement, no, nothing.
And honestly, the towingindustry, I like to say it's
made for hardworking people.
Industry is it's, I like to sayit's, it's made for
hard-working people.
It's one of those industriesyou can make as much money for
as much as you want to work, youknow, as hard as you want to
work.
It's, it's heavy with burnout,but you know the, the guys and
(08:16):
girls that do it.
It's there's a love for it, forsure, but at the same time it's
not sustainable to work 80hours a week for 20 years.
So you know, work-life balancehas really taken a new meaning,
I would think, in the last fiveor six years.
It's really this new generation.
They don't care so much aboutmoney as they do time off.
(08:38):
So you've got to move with thetimes.
But with that we kind of got alittle off track.
But since we partnered withStone Road Partners and Gray
Rock Capital Mike, let me holdyou up for one second.
Sure, we partnered with peoplethat we've got to run
(09:00):
commercials for.
So could we hang out for aquick commercial break?
We'll be right back.
No worries, thank, no worries.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Thank you, Mike.
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Speaker 1 (09:42):
Welcome back listeners.
You know you're listening tothe new Towing News channel and
this episode's aboutConsolidated Corner.
We have one of the best online.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Now I want to remind all of our listeners we are
available on Spotify, itunes,pandora, stitcher iHeartMedia,
the number one in the country,Amazon or wherever you get your
podcasts, Remember to tune inevery week to Towing News
(10:14):
Channel and April.
I'll turn it over to you.
Thank you, dj Mike, rightbefore the break you were
talking about how private equitywas helping you advance this
consolidation that you weredoing.
Could you go into some more ofthat?
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Sure, Well, it was definitely a tough slug to get
through the information theywant and we could probably touch
on that a little bit after,just to help out the listeners
if they're ever interested.
But bringing them on board theyreally bring a higher level of
information.
Um, I really enjoy what I'mlearning because it's stuff I'm
(10:52):
never going to learn.
I like to say I've got plenty.
I've paid for a lot of mbas.
I just never got that diploma.
You know you pay for them thehard way, the expensive way, so
they came on board.
The biggest part that theyliked is I had a plan laid out,
could put it on paper, showed itto them where the industry in
(11:16):
the Northeast is, who theplayers were, what I thought we
could do, how I would do it if Ihad the money to do it and they
liked it, do it if I had themoney to do it and they liked it
.
So we made the deal, signed itJune of last year and, off and
running, we made our firstacquisition together.
In December of this year webought out a competitor, Matt
(11:38):
Brown's Truck Repair in Bow, NewHampshire.
We rolled them in and then wejust closed another one in
Southern Maine two weeks ago,raised truck service.
Great group of guys there also,and we're just trying to let
the dust settle and then we haveone or two more to close before
(11:58):
the end of the year.
So you're expanding yourservice footprint tremendously
in this situation, aren't you?
That is correct.
So our goal is to be NewHampshire, Maine and the better
part of Massachusetts, andprobably western I mean eastern
(12:19):
New York, but not New York City,northern New York.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
No Vermont, yeah Vermont.
New York no Vermont.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Yeah, vermont, sorry, forget about Vermont.
I got a lot of friends inMassachusetts.
I'm not sure if they live onthe good side or the bad side.
No, I'm just kidding.
Yeah, listen, they're all goodguys.
Massachusetts has a tough thingdown there with their
regulations.
They do.
They have to work for everypenny down there.
They do, you're right aboutthat.
(12:48):
So we've got the physicallocations how many employees,
how much equipment.
So right now we're around 135full-time employees.
So right now we're around 135full-time employees and we have
about 126 registered pieces ofequipment.
(13:10):
So that's stuff with licenseplates, not counting skid steers
, dollies, loaders, all thatother stuff.
That's trucks, trailers,tractors, tow trucks, all that.
There's a fair amount ofoverlap.
You know some stuff we need tosell, consolidate a little bit,
replace some stuff.
(13:31):
It's quite the process.
Oh, I can imagine.
I can imagine.
And you say you're averagingabout 100 calls a day at this
point.
Yeah, about 100 calls a day, alot of those, as most of your
(13:51):
listeners know, in transport,one call could be the guy out
for 10 hours, right?
Oh, absolutely, especially inthe heavy world.
Virtually nothing simple.
And you said you're doing heavytowing, transport and truck
repair at the garage.
Do you do road service orhazmat cleanup, any of that kind
of stuff?
(14:12):
Yeah we don't do a lot of hazmatcleanup.
The states mostly handle that.
Up here.
We'll pump fuel tanks, we'll dolight cleanup, we'll do what
they'll let us do, but we'redoing everything else.
Road service I think we'rerunning around 10 or 11 full
road service trucks.
Rotators we have one, two,three, five rotators right now
(14:41):
and I think another six heaviesbetween the locations.
Wow, that's impressive.
Yeah, so from the southernmostlocation to the northernmost
location in miles, how far arewe talking?
Ooh, maybe 60 at best.
Not even we're pretty close.
That's still a good footprint.
(15:03):
Yeah, we like to go eachlocation.
We don't want a location morethan like 45 minutes away from
its nearest location.
That works for us to be able toshare resources Right.
The group doing it out West.
We had Jose from Big Rally Toeon and he said the same thing.
(15:24):
What they're doing out there isthey want those, those shops,
to be relatively close so theycan move resources as needed to
support each other, and I thinkthat's an excellent strategy.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
It's also very thoughtful too.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Well, it works for us because, at the end of the day,
the customers need to beserviced properly.
You know you've got to keepthose ETAs in check and if
something happens, a guy getstangled up on a job that's
bigger than you thought it was.
You can't have them waiting allday to get out there.
You're gonna you're gonna beable to have some calvary.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
So so, uh, how is your employee retention rate
then, since you've had thisundertaking, and what does that
meant to?
What does it mean to youremployees to be able to for the
benefits and things like that?
What has that meant for them?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I think it's very important.
I think we, with the scale, wedefinitely have saved real money
on health insurance and beenable to offer better benefits.
Our regular insurance we'rereally reaping the benefits.
We're in a captive withDawnblood In that group.
(16:44):
It's worked out very well.
It's a great group to lean onand then just everything else.
It works for the employees.
Our retention I would say wetry to aim not to lose more than
10% employees if we take on anacquisition.
So you know if there's 40employees you're going to lose
(17:06):
four.
You hate to lose any.
But change is something that alot of guys don't like.
I say drivers and mechanicshate.
A lot of guys don't like I saydrivers, drivers and mechanics
hate change they really do butyou just ask that they give us a
shot.
Right, we're gonna.
We have to prove ourselves,just like the employees do.
Well, that's a good mindset, agood way to handle it.
(17:29):
And again, if people look atreality and know what the towing
industry has been.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
This has got to be the future, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
You said earlier about the employees being able
to have a life and a known workschedule.
All those are critical to thegeneration that's running these
trucks and whatnot nowadays.
Yeah, you know it's importanttoo, because people's lives
change.
They want to move no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
That training and that background already in place
.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
True.
You know, one of the mainthings we look at when we're
sizing up acquisitions is it'snot just the business and the
name it's important, but reallyjust the business and the name
it's important.
But really, at the end of theday, in the world we live in,
you're buying equipment andyou're buying the labor because
no one can get enough employeesand and it's it's hard to I
(18:47):
don't want to use the word stealbecause no one wants to steal
employees.
We try to be respectful of that.
But you know, if you can absorbthe business and make sure the
guys are happy and they stay,you know it's important and it
works.
We can't do what we do withoutthe employees.
It's impossible.
Well, you go back to one of thefirst consolidators in not
(19:10):
towing but trash, wayne Huizenga, who built Waste Management,
starting in 1964, if I'm notmistaken, he realized that in
the 60s was you can buy theequipment, go out and get the
work, but you need the people todo it, and that's why he
decided buying towing companiesand getting, excuse me, buying
trash companies and getting themto work together was his future
(19:33):
, and he built into wastemanagement one of the most
successful trash companies inthe world.
So the concept is proven andknown and works.
I agree with that.
All right, we've got to takeone more break, and then, after
the break, I'd like to, if wecould, talk about your energy
and our cheer equipment.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
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Speaker 2 (21:12):
Welcome back listeners.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
You know you're listening to the number one
podcast, the towing, and this isthe new towing channel, so it's
important this is a segment.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
This episode is on the consolidated corner, which
has been very well received, soif you have someone that you
would like to see on or off thepodcast or your state
association has some informationthat you want to share with
thousands of listeners, this isthe place to do it.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Our hotline number at the podcast center 706-409-5603
.
And, mike, this has been agreat one.
I am taking all sorts of notesand I look forward to listening
to more.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
April.
I'll turn it over to you.
Thank you, DJ Mike.
You have been very generouswith the information that you've
given us so far.
When, basically, how thesausage is made, when there's
consolidation.
Give us your biggest takeawaysand your biggest pointers out
there for the listeners.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Well, I would say the biggest thing is everybody
wants it done quick and most ofthese deals, from the time you
sign an LOI to closing, you'dlike to think it's 90 to 120
days, which seems like alifetime, but it goes by in the
blink of an eye, it goes fast.
(22:38):
It's definitely an emotionalroller coaster for everybody
involved.
You think of these sellers.
It's been their life, it'stheir identity, it's everything.
So it's not easy, but as longas everybody has the same goal
in mind, it's attainable.
But I'd like to a couple thingswe always run into.
(23:00):
It's a little bit of advice forthe listeners out.
There is if there's anythingyou want to invest in your
business, invest in your systems.
Have quality bookkeeping likeQuickBooks.
Use a quality dispatch and useit.
Keep your financials clean.
I learned a long time ago frommy accountant you can get paid
(23:21):
now or you can get paid morelater.
So we know how the towingindustry is.
No matter what you think youhide it, everybody knows how
many tows were done andeverybody knows how many cars
were released and the differenceWell, they went to the junkyard
.
So I think the listeners getwhere I'm going at.
(23:41):
But you get paid a lot more byputting that, you know, making
sure it's on the books.
Yeah, we had just real quick.
We had another consignor thereon Fred from Henry's and he did
some math and showed real quick.
We had another consolidator onFred from Henry's and he did
some math and showed real quickhow you're cheating yourself big
(24:01):
time by putting that scrapaluminum rim money or something
in your pocket.
Honestly, it's a waste of yourown labor doing that stuff.
Yes, yes, you're tripping overdollars to pick up pennies.
That's right.
So a couple other things Iwould say is make sure your
accountant's a good accountantand your lawyer, just because
(24:25):
you've used them for the last 10years.
If he's one of the one-manbands, it's a lot for that to
get done in a timely fashion.
There's there's a lot of backand forth.
There's a lot of informationthat's needed.
Sometimes that information getsasked for two, three times
because it's coming fromdifferent, different areas going
(24:46):
to different people.
It's good to really invest in.
It seems like a lot of money,but it's money well spent.
Having a good mergeracquisition attorney, a business
sale attorney, anything likethat, versus the guy that kind
of does everything for you andalways has, which I'm sure he's
(25:07):
perfect.
But this is a whole other world.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
You need more of a specialty kind of attorney and a
specialty kind of an accountant.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
You know what it is.
It's calling the guy with therotator and the recovery truck
and all the equipment to go dothe big job, the big wreck out
on the highway, versus the guythat's always done it with the
35 ton.
You know he can do it but itisn't going to get done in a
good, it's not going to get donetimely and it may not be as
(25:38):
clean and ultimately it's not asprofessional.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
You know, and I guess , at the end of the day, if
someone's looking to sell,really what do they want to get
out of it?
You know, do they want to sailoff into the sunset and move to
Florida?
Do they want to go run a tacostand or do they want to be
involved?
We're willing to work withhowever people want to do it.
Well, that's important too,because different people are
(26:08):
motivated to sell for differentreasons.
So it's good that you'rewilling to work with them on
wherever they're at it may be.
You know, it's hard to findgood operators, and the
businesses we're looking at arerun by very good operators.
So if we can retain one and addthem to the team and they get
to take money off the table andsecure their family's financial
(26:31):
future, but they're stillinvolved, we are open to that
Absolutely.
That's one of the strong pointsI see about consolidation
myself.
It allows people to do thatwhere they're at in their life.
Any other tips that you canshare?
I mean, not really that's aboutit, Other than just I guess, as
(26:54):
you're going through theprocess and you're selling, just
keep running your business likeyou always have.
Don't get it in your head.
All right, I'm going to do thisbecause I'm out in six months.
I'm kind of superstitious.
It's a good way to jinx it, butit's also not the way you want
to run your business, because italways comes out and it's not a
(27:17):
good look and it's not good forthe business.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
It's not good for the business because what employees
that you have left that aregoing to go with the new
acquisition will guess theirlast few months of working for
somebody is a bad mindset to beunder.
We haven't run into it, butthat's their last few months of
working for somebody, that's abad mindset to be under.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Yeah, you know we haven't run into it, but I could
see how it could happen.
You know, guys, don't do thatoil change, don't fix that truck
.
That doesn't help anybody andit's just not the right thing to
do.
Fortunately, like I said, wehave not run into that.
The three deals we've done havebeen really good deals,
(27:58):
excellent sellers, no complaintson our end at all.
Well, they were all top-notchcompanies, weren't they?
They were they were.
That's part of the magic of thewhole deal and I would suggest
to listeners that areconsidering selling being
realistic.
I've seen this many times overthe years where folks are
(28:18):
unbelievably realistic about Awhat their equipment is worth,
what their goodwill is worthwithout any written contracts,
et cetera.
Be realistic is my advice tofolks.
Yeah, and we're always willingto look at a business.
You got to share someinformation, but you know we
sign ndas and we'll tell youright up front what we're
(28:40):
willing to pay it's.
We don't go into it tonegotiate.
This is the deal.
As long as your numbers back upto what you're telling us and
we can prove it, this is thenumber we'll pay.
If you're happy with that, wemove forward.
We don't get into it and try tonickel and dime and get the
price down.
It's too expensive betweenattorneys and accountants and
(29:03):
insurance agents and, frankly,the waste of time.
So I know in the towing worldyou end up kind of having to
negotiate with insurancecompanies.
Everyone wants to negotiatewith you, but when you're
selling your business you wantto deal with the people that are
going to give you the price.
If you're happy with it, you'removing forward.
That's the number.
But that number comes from theinformation that we're given up
(29:25):
front, but all that has to beverified.
As long as you can verify it,the deal's solid.
I know a lot of peopleappreciate that, because I've
seen some of these things go onand on.
So I know folks, especially inyour part of the world, have to
appreciate that.
So we were going to talk aboutNRC in this segment, but we
(29:50):
actually need to take anotherquick break and then come back
and we're going to get you totell us about your New England's
largest NRC dealer, aren't you?
I think we're New England'sonly NRC dealer.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
That makes you the largest Congratulations, all
right.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
After the break, New England's largest and only NRC
dealer.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
I'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
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Speaker 1 (30:45):
Welcome back listeners.
A better approach toParkinson's.
Welcome back listeners and Iwant to tell all of you, Wes and
I and April are so proud of howmany people have told their
friends about the new TowingNews channel.
This has been fantastic.
We have over 18,000 listenersand I can't thank you enough for
listening, reviewing andsharing with all your friends
(31:09):
and you have made 2025 a greatyear to start the new Towing
News channel and in this specialepisode of Consolidation Corner
, I'm going to turn it back overto Wes and we're going to learn
all about the great company ofNRC.
Thanks, dj.
Yeah, great interview.
(31:31):
Mike, can't thank you enough.
Tell us about New England TruckCenter.
Well, we're New England's NRCdealer.
I'd like to say we'redefinitely the closest US dealer
to NRC.
We're definitely the closest USdealer to NRC.
We're about 4-4.5 hours away,depending on traffic which is
(31:52):
snow right they're a greatcompany, great product.
I mean it's when you run it,you use it, you believe in it.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
It's easy to sell how long have you been a dealer for
NRC?
Speaker 1 (32:09):
I'm going to butcher this.
It's easy to sell.
How long have you been a dealerfor NRC?
I'm going to butcher this, butit's been at least eight years,
it's probably been longer thanthat.
It seems like it's been twoyears, but it's been.
I don't know without looking atthis point.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Yeah, what's hit you on that?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
path.
Great man, andy Ferreira.
Oh point, yeah, what?
What put you on that path?
Great man, andy Ferreira.
Oh, yes, yes, you know.
As I was running, you know,working with my father running
the tow company we wanted to buya heavy.
I had asked a couple of dealers.
One dealer told me when I hadmy daddy's approval to come back
and talk to him.
I talked to Andy, he had givenme a quote and I ordered a truck
(32:50):
and that started therelationship.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
That'll do it.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
You know, at that point I didn't really know what
NRC was, but we got it and neverlooked back.
Yeah, andy was a good man.
He absolutely was.
And like you say first NRCdealer.
Now I tell you NRG has alwaysbeen a stout unit.
I like their boom design.
But I've been super impressedwith these TB 20s, 30s and 40s.
(33:18):
Am I saying that correct?
You are 20, 30, and 40 TBs, sothey're definitely bulletproof.
We sell a lot of them.
The 40TB, I would say, is theSwiss Army knife of ramp trucks.
You know they've had theheavy-duty underlift on them
before anybody.
(33:38):
They're the same reach as anyother manufacturer, no matter
how the marketing spun, andthey're bulletproof.
I mean we run four of themright now with a fifth one being
built.
They're a good all-around truckBoy.
Yeah, some of the loads I seethese things carrying too, with
(34:01):
a you know track driller behindtelling the whole thing or
something heavy up top.
It's just incredibly useful, Ihave to imagine.
Yeah, you know, again, they'rethe Swiss Army Knife.
They're made for heavytransport.
They're going to get the jobdone but to be able to go tow,
you know you're towing stuffthat a 20-ton would be towing.
So it's nice you can keep thetrucks moving and loaded both
(34:24):
ways.
But we, I think, like I said inthe beginning, we do about 66
trucks a year for rotators allthe way down to the 20 TBs.
We don't build the 10 TBs, wetry to just stick with the 20s
on up.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, I think most of the dealers that I see are
doing that same thing.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, the 10's a nice price option, but for us the
change in price to a 20, it's abig difference in the level of
the truck.
We sell, we build and sell allover North America.
We sell, we build and sell allover North America.
We've had, we've deliveredthree trucks to Hawaii, one to
(35:12):
Puerto Rico and then a lot Texas, florida, up and down the East
Coast, some Midwest.
Most of our customers are allreturning.
I like to say we have the best,we definitely have the best
customers.
They are loyal.
They always come back.
I think they appreciate thequality of the builds we do.
(35:36):
Well, that's nice to hear.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
That is nice to hear in this day and age.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
You all build everything at your location.
We assemble everything but the85 ton.
It's not cost effective for usto do that.
Gotcha.
That makes sense to me too.
All right, well, we reallyappreciate you being on the
podcast and sharing all thisinformation.
I got, first of all, anythingelse you want to share and,
(36:02):
second of all, can you give us away to contact you?
Yeah, I guess a way for folksto contact, but just call the
office and ask for me andthey'll transfer you over, or at
least the voicemail.
That would be 603-778-8158.
And if you're looking to sellyour business in the Northeast,
(36:24):
we're looking to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Have you had a claim of that?
That's it.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
And if you want an NRC, we have them in stock and
you can just go on social mediaand a sales guy Tom is there, or
call and ask for Tom and he'lltake care of you.
That's awesome, Mike.
I thank you.
Sorry about that.
No, go ahead.
So I was just going to say Ireally appreciate you having me
(36:55):
on and asking some questions andtrying to get that information
out there Because, again,whether you like it or not, or
think it's a good idea or you'renot sure, the consolidation is
here.
I think we see it all acrossthe country and it's only going
to pick up steam.
Absolutely, I agree with that.
First of all, I thank you forcoming on Sometimes folks don't
(37:17):
want to come and talk aboutthings.
I appreciate your openness andI do appreciate that you're
trying to create good jobs fortowing operators.
I entered this industry as atowing operator and I have great
respect for that.
So, folks, as you said, ifyou're looking to sell a
business, in the Northeast orbuy a truck.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Give them a call.
Mike, thanks so much for yourtime today.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
We really appreciate you.
Thank you guys, Appreciate it.
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