Prairie Kenworth dealer celebrates milestone

REGINA — Custom Truck Sales is celebrating its 40th anniversary with major customer events at its four locations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Brent Leach, Custom Truck Sales president in Regina, Sask. says his grandfather and father started the dealership in 1965. They expanded five years later to Saskatoon, Sask., opened in Winnipeg, Man. in 1986, and added a parts and service facility in Estevan, Sask. in 2001.

“Our territory stretches 12 hours driving time east to west from western Ontario where we sell to loggers to western Saskatchewan where we sell to the oil patch,” said Brent Leach, who has been with the dealership for 20 years.

Custom Truck Sales is part of the Kenworth dealer network of nearly 300 locations throughout Canada and the U.S. and is also affiliated with PacLease. The dealership’s Winnipeg location is its largest with a 35,000 square-foot facility, 24 service bays, and 75 employees. The 25,000 square-foot Saskatoon location with 16 bays and the 18,000-square-foot headquarters in Regina with 12 bays both employ about 40, while the Estevan branch has five employees.

Both the Winnipeg and Saskatoon facilities have an indoor truck showroom, with designs for a similar setup in Regina in the works.

While the trucking market in Saskatchewan and Manitoba has changed significantly over the years, Leach said that Custom Truck Sales has kept pace with an assist from Kenworth. “Having the Kenworth product has enabled us to sell to mining companies, the logging industry, construction companies, agricultural users, over-the-road fleets, and the oil and gas industry,” he said.

Leach says his employees also have been a huge part of the dealer’s success. “We have several in Regina and Saskatoon with us 25 years or more and many in Winnipeg approaching 20 years,” he says.