Truck Topics
Freedom Dodge: Your Sprinter Dealer
Jeff Jensen, Editor
Established some twenty years ago, Freedom Dodge of Lexington, Kentucky has become one of the nation's largest Dodge Sprinter dealers, providing expedited owner-operators with the high-capacity, high-mileage work van.
Bradley Kimbol, Jr. is the Commercial Manager for the dealership and he tells us, "We are a full line Chrysler - Dodge - Jeep store. We began our commercial business seven years ago and we recently built a new facility to house all of our commercial sales and service. We've been growing very well."
Kimbol gives his boss high marks for his community and business involvement: "Our President and owner, Paul Cleaver, is a member of the Better Business Bureau, belongs to the Kentucky Auto Dealers Association and is a member of the Commercial Dodge Truck Dealer Council. He's very involved and very focused on doing business the right way."
"Since the introduction of the Dodge Sprinter Van in 2004, we've been in the expediter truck business.
We've had great success with the van; FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery have been great clients as well as owner-operators with FedEx Custom Critical."
Kimbol explains, "The expediter circle is like any other group; if you take good care of the client, word gets around. Because of our reputatio, we have a national customer base and we deliver trucks all over the country. We've been very blessed in that regard."
"We're a very relationship-oriented department for that reason," says Kimbol. "We have a great deal of repeat and referral business due to our business philosophy."
"It's the most amazing thing when you have a guy call from Phoenix and he says, 'I need to buy a truck from you.' When we ask, 'How did you hear about us?', he responds, 'Well, you know Bob who runs a truck down in Cincinnati. He told me that I've got to talk to you!' It's a pretty amazing circle."
Kimbol states that his company has become the dealership of choice for owner-operators leased with carriers such as Panther Expedited Services, FedEx Custom Critical, Express-1, Landstar Express America and others.
"The Commercial Department here at Freedom Dodge consists of Sales Representative Jeff Taylor and myself. The advantage of doing business with a dealer who specializes in expedited equipment is that we can sit down with the buyer and try to tailor a program to fit his needs."
"We'll look at his vehicle miles, length of time he will keep the van, his maintenance expenses and other factors. With this, we'll map out a financing plan that will be customized for him."
Kimbol says that an increasing number of his Sprinter customers are equipping their vans with full sleeper conversions by Midway Specialty Products of Elkhart,In. These have the large bunk, microwave, television, refrigerator, DVD and other amenities.
"You know, when a buyer is making the investment in a Sprinter," says Kimbol, "it's really not that much more to invest in the comfort that one of these Midwest sleepers provides. This is the top of the line unit and is well worth it."
"Our most popular Sprinter model is the 2500 - the 170" hi-top van. It's got the 3.0 liter V6 diesel engine and since 2007, it comes with standard tilt wheel, power windows and locks, keyless entry and CD player."
Kimbol explains that the Sprinter has continued its evolution: "If someone checked out a Sprinter back in 2004 or 2005 and maybe didn't like the creature comforts, they will probably be impressed with the new generation of Sprinters. It has a more car-like interior now, not the work truck interior of the older models."
Sprinter warranties include: a 3 year, 36,000 miles bumper-to-bumper, a 5 year, 100,000 miles engine warranty along with factory-backed, extended warranties available.
Financing
"We are the largest financing dealer with Chrysler Commercial finance in this region. We have many financing options available for our expediter clientele."
"Many of our customers are now choosing the short-term, zero track leases which gives them the tax benefits of a lease. This allows them to "expense" it, rather than putting on debt and depreciating it out."
"We don't regard the expediting customer as just another Sprinter sale, but we try to help in educating the new expediter about the dollars and cents of expediting truck ownership."
"We offer our expedited van customers a turn key solution in that we install cameras, shelving, e-track, carrier decals, etc."
Kimbol says that the longevity of the Sprinter sometimes has a downside for the dealer: "We're expanding our used Sprinter inventory as well so we're looking for well-cared for Sprinters, even with high-mileage. That's been the problem in maintaing our used inventory; people are keeping their vans up to 300,000 to 400,000 miles."
Service
"We have our own strictly commercial truck facility with Sprinter techs on duty during all service hours. We have all the latest equipment and technology with service hours of 7AM to 5PM on Monday-Friday and 8AM to 1PM on Saturday."
"We've found that the majority of our commercial Sprinter customers prefer to have their service done during standard daylight business hours and we're here to take care of them."
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