Approaching its 100th year in existence, Whayne Supply Company was named the 2011 Thomas Built Buses Dealer of the Year this week during the school bus manufacturer’s annual dealer meeting in Greensboro, N.C.
Thomas President and CEO Kelley Platt presented the award to Whayne Supply GM Frank Lewis during the Oct. 4 event for excellence in government sales.
“Among Whayne’s noteworthy accomplishments is its work with state organizations to help Kentucky obtain the first and biggest federal hybrid school bus grant in the U.S. In large part because of the firm’s efforts, Thomas Built Buses has delivered more cutting-edge diesel-electric hybrid technology school buses than any other school bus manufacturer in the country,” said Platt in a statement. “But Whayne Supply is more than sales, Whayne consistently delivers in the service arena. We regularly receive wonderful comments from our customers who tell us that all of Wayne’s 11 main servicing locations provide second to none service support.”
In all, Whayne Supply operates 12 retail locations throughout Kentucky and two in Indiana. In addition to offering sales, parts and vehicle service for Thomas school buses, the company deals in Caterpillar equipment. The company was founded in 1913.
Thomas recognized three additional dealerships on the regional level. W.C. Cressey & Son Inc., of Kennebunk, Maine took home the Northeastern region award while Sonny Merryman, Inc., in Evington, Va., was recognized for leading the Southeast region and Western Mountain Bus Sales of Nampa, Idaho for the Western region. Thomas
At the same event, gold, silver and bronze awards for dealership excellence were presented to selected dealers in recognition of outstanding performance in service, parts support and bus sales. They included:
Gold: American Bus Sales & Service, Inc., Carolina Thomas, LLC., Interstate Transportation Equipment, Inc., Mid-South Bus Center, Inc., Nesco Bus & Truck Sales, Inc., Sonny Merryman, Inc., Transportation South, Inc., W.C. Cressey & Son, Inc., Western Mountain Bus Sales, Inc., Western Mountain Bus Sales, Inc. and Whayne Supply Company
Silver: Autobus Thomas, Inc., Empire Truck Sales, LLC., Hoekstra Transportation, Inc., Matthews Bus, Inc. – FL, Omaha Truck Center, Inc., The Bus Centre and Transwest Trucks, Inc.
Bronze: Auto Safety House, LLC., Bus West, I State Truck, Matheny Motor Truck Company, New England Transit Sales, Inc., Quality Equipment Sales & Service, LLC., Rohrer Bus Sales, Telin Transportation Group, LLC., Telin Transportation Group, LLC., Trucks of Bismarck, Inc. and Warner Industries
