BY ROB SMENTEK
Cover Art: L to R: TESCO Vice President Ross Graham, Vice President Brent Graham, Senior Sales Executive Brad Palmer, Commercial Sales Manager Dan Myrice Jr., Vice President Noel Graham III, President Bud Graham, and CEO Noel Graham Sr. Photography by Andrew Schneps.
For close to 60 years, Transportation Equipment Sales Corp.—better known to the industry as TESCO—has been providing customers with reliable and safe vehicles. The dealer, which was founded by CEO Noel Graham Sr. in 1968, initially was a distributor of school buses in Northwest Ohio. Over the years, however, TESCO expanded into the luxury vehicle space, where they are well-respected by operators around the country.
“We moved into commercial bus and van sales in the mid-’70s,” says President Bud Graham, Noel’s son, who’s been with TESCO for 44 years. “We moved out of school buses and focused primarily on commercial bus and van sales in the early 2000s. Over 57 years we moved from being a regional company to having a national presence.”
Bud says that Noel Sr. had a vision to take the company to the next level.
“My father is a Marine Corps veteran. He and Richard Cripe, the founder of Turtle Top, were close friends. Together, they designed and built the original Turtle Top limousine bus. This made us one of the first to introduce a bus to the limo industry. And as more people became interested in the larger capacity product, you could see the industry migrate away from sedans into buses and vans. Initially they had the only bus on the show floor, then a few years later, you’d see some more. Ten years later, half the room was buses,” he says.
TESCO Leadership Team (L to R): Vice President Noel Graham III, Vice President Jeff Pappas, CEO Noel Graham Sr., President Bud Graham, and Vice President Ross Graham “We were one of the first bus dealerships to move into commercial bus and van sales,” says Vice President Ross Graham, who represents TESCO’s third generation along with his brothers Noel III and Brent. “We decided to be solely commercial buses and vans in the early 2000s and, as they say, put all our eggs in that business, which was a young market that’s grown significantly over the years. We started as a regional commercial dealer but now have customers in all 50 states.”
In addition to selling vehicles within the US, TESCO has a global reach as well.
“We’ve sold vehicles to the Cayman Islands, the Virgin Islands, Canada, Central America, all over,” adds Commercial Sales Manager Dan Myrice Jr.
“We treat all our customers the same, whether they’re a 250-vehicle fleet to a 10-car operator. Everyone gets the same attention.” – Dan Myrice Jr., Commercial Sales Manager of TESCO
Currently, TESCO offers buses, shuttles, and executive vans from more than 15 manufacturers, selling over 1,500 new and used buses a year, but the company has a special relationship with three builders when it comes to the luxury ground transportation market.
“Forest River Bus & Van, Turtle Top, and L.A. West are the three main products we sell to this industry,” says Ross.
According to Myrice, TESCO was L.A. West’s number one dealer last year as well as consistently ranking as Turtle Top’s number one dealer. The company was also among the top three dealers for Forest River Bus & Van products.
TESCO Bus luxury vehicle lineup “With L.A. West, we’ve had a great deal of success with their Mercedes Sprinter with the portal door. We’ve really ramped up with that over the past two years. With Turtle Top, they have a wide line, which allows us to do luxury vehicles in all different sizes and floorplans. They have excellent quality; our relationship allows us to be competitive, and the customer is getting a very mechanically sound piece of equipment. With Forest River Bus & Van, again, they have a large product line outside of owning L.A. West, from vans to Freightliners and everything in between. For customers/operators doing contract shuttle work, it allows us to be competitive and help their bottom line. For instance, there might be an operator that doesn’t necessarily need a luxury vehicle, so we’re able to supply a workhorse vehicle that helps them secure a contract,” says Myrice.
TESCO takes pride in the fact that they provide vehicles to the smallest operators all the way up to the industry’s largest.
“We treat all our customers the same, whether they’re a 250-vehicle fleet to a 10-car operator. Everyone gets the same attention,” says Myrice. “We make sure we go above and beyond, taking care of everybody.”
“The main reason why I buy from TESCO is because after the sale they always have my back, the whole team goes above and beyond ...” – Claude Cristea of Williamsburg Chauffeur Service
The TESCO team is proud of the relationships they’ve made over the years, especially when it comes to their customers.
“We place an emphasis on customer experience,” says Ross. “Obviously, we want to offer the best service to our clients. We realize that these are revenue-generating vehicles for operators, and they need to be back on the road. We’re going to come up with a solution and take care of them.”
L to R: Vice President Jeff Pappas, Senior Sales Executive Brad Palmer, Commercial Sales Manager Dan Myrice Jr., Senior Sales Executive Bryan McDougle, and Vice President Ross Graham “The relationship our sales team has with customers makes all the difference. There’s always going to be a small problem or issue, but the attentiveness of the sales team when the vehicle is down or if the client needs a part, makes that difference. The quicker we can move, the quicker that customer gets the vehicle back up and running and making money,” says Myrice.
“Our service support team understands the urgency when things happen, so the TESCO family works behind the scenes to make sure that things get done,” adds Bud. Myrice emphasizes that what differentiates them from their competitors is the dedication of their sales team. And, operators across the country agree.
“TESCO has been a great partner for many years for Dolphin Transportation Specialists,” says Hoffmann Transportation Group President Tim Rose, which includes Dolphin as part of the Hoffmann portfolio. “What separates them is that the sales and service and parts teams are all aligned in their commitment to customer service, and they cannot be beat for custom vans for our clients. Danny [Myrice] and the TESCO team continue to outshine the competition.”
Virginia-based operator Claude Cristea of Williamsburg Chauffeur Service has similar sentiments.
“I’ve been buying buses from TESCO for over 10 years, and they’ve taken great care of me. They’ve made the process easy and straightforward. The main reason why I buy from TESCO is because after the sale they always have my back, the whole team goes above and beyond with excellent after sales service and support. They are more than just a dealer; they are a trusted partner,” says Cristea.
TESCO Bus & Van team at their corporate office And one of the biggest luxury ground transportation providers, RMA Worldwide, has been a client for over 15 years.
“We have been extremely pleased with their accommodating service. Ross Graham has always been helpful with any request and provides us with immediate solutions and recommendations. In our fast-paced business, they thrive on a can-do expedient approach,” says RMA Worldwide Executive Vice President Art Miesemer.
As a leading dealer in the luxury ground transportation industry, the TESCO team has a deep appreciation for the market space and the operators.
“This industry is the most relationship-driven of the ones we work with. Our customers buy from us because they trust what we’re offering and know we’ll be there to support them,” says Myrice.
“Danny’s done a fantastic job of leading this particular market—he relates to it well. When you look at the sectors we serve, wheelchair-equipped vehicles and executive transportation are our top two,” says Ross.
“We feel like we have a good recipe for what we do and we’re continuing to grow. The luxury ground transportation market is only so big, yet we’ve been able to grow within that space,” says Bud.
With more than 100 employees on staff, TESCO works hard to maintain a familial company culture. It’s not rare for their employees to be with the company for a decade or (significantly) more.
“One of the things we take pride in is the longevity of our team members in the TESCO family,” says Bud. “One of our paint/body technicians joined our team right out of high school, and he’s been with us for 40-plus years. We have sales guys that are 15-20 years in and shop guys that are 10-12 years in. And that comes from the way we treat our employees. They get committed to what we believe in as a company. We’re able to develop a passion in our employees for the customer.”
“We exist because of our customers. All the team understand that. It’s a customer-focused culture,” adds Ross.
“It’s like a big family here,” says Myrice. “It often doesn’t feel like work to be here.”
TESCO has two locations with facilities totaling over 100,000 square feet located on 20 acres in Northwest Ohio. They always have 200-300 vehicles available—not to mention sales representatives around the country—TESCO is equipped to meet the needs of their customers.
“The proximity to the manufacturers in the Midwest is beneficial. We can handle everything from where we’re at,” says Bud.
“What’s more, we’re a one-stop shop, as well. If a customer wants lettering and graphics, we do that in-house. Coast-to-coast delivery, financing and leasing ... We can do whatever fits their needs and budgets,” says Myrice.
“We’re self-sufficient in everything we do. We control a vehicle’s destiny from the time we quote it to a customer to when it’s received,” adds Bud. “We may not be the biggest, but we always strive to be the best in what we do.” [CD1125]
