Every day you’ll find a smile on a driver behind the wheel of a Select 1 transporter. Not only because he drives a Kenworth T660, one of the most driver friendly trucks in the industry, but because he’s also delivering a payload of cars, test vehicles, and vintage autos that makes customers giddy when the door of the trailer is lifted.

In business since 1997 and based in Phoenix, AZ, Gary Carlson began Select 1 to put customer service first while developing innovative and cost-effective transportation solutions.

It’s been a strategy that works. Today, Select 1 has 70 company drivers and owner-operators transporting all kinds of vehicles throughout North America making it one of the country’s largest auto transporters.

“We have a quality statement that is very formalized and engrained in each of our employees,” said Carlson. “We exceed customer expectations every time through on-time delivery and damage-free service.” According to Carlson, he expects no less when it comes to the performance of his trucks – the company runs a fleet of Kenworth T660s, T600s and W900s – and the customer service and flexibility of his finance company -- PACCAR Financial.

“It’s extremely important to us that our finance group understands what we do and who we are,” said Carlson. “We’re a sector of the transportation industry, we’re automotive related, we’re asset marketing. When banks saw the automotive industry in a bad spot like it was just a short time ago, they were reluctant to do business with us. I can’t do business that way. I have to operate my business through the thick and thin of things, and with PACCAR Financial, they know us and know the trucking industry. Plus we gain that advantage of its relationship with the truck builders -- Kenworth and Peterbilt. It’s in our mutual interest to work together.”

Carlson said understanding customers is a key to PFC’s success with its customers “If we’re trying to up our growth, or slow our growth in response to market conditions, the folks at PFC seem to understand that and work with us to make us successful,” he said “We may need support from them in ways that are different from what we might get from a conventional bank. And because we are a customer buying their product, I feel like that relationship goes a long way.”

Case in point was the middle of 2010. “We had some growth we were concerned about and how we were going to fund that growth,” recalled Carlson “We picked up the phone, gave PFC a call and said, ‘here’s what we thinking of doing. We’d like to change our truck financing a little bit.’ Without hesitation, they worked with us. Obviously we showed them a good, well thought-out proposal and it allowed them to work with us on a refinancing package. That will go a long way for us over the years to come.”

What makes PFC special,” concluded Carlson, “is that I can call my local dealer or the folks in their corporate office in Bellevue, WA and get the same level of service. They believe in what we believe: if you provide customer service beyond that of your competition, you’ll be highly successful.”