NORMAL, Ill., Sept. 4, 2019 – CIT Trucks is among those Kenworth dealers that have made investments in facilities and services to enhance customer support to a high level. Based in Normal, Illinois, CIT Trucks has attained the prestigious Kenworth PremierCare® Gold Certified status at nine dealerships (Champaign, Joliet, Mokena, Morton, Normal, Rockford, Springfield and Troy, Illinois, and Fenton, Missouri).
“We receive positive comments on the service we provide throughout our dealerships,” said Erick Miner, CIT Trucks president and dealer principal. “That is a direct result from the customer service efforts of our employees and the investments we’ve made to enhance the customer experience. Since 2015, we’ve invested $30 million into our facilities and have expanded the services we offer, enabling us to achieve Kenworth PremierCare Gold Certified status at nine of our locations.”
As part of the Gold Certified requirements, Kenworth dealers, such as CIT Trucks, go above and beyond industry standards by providing rapid diagnosis and estimated repair time within two hours, extended hours of service, along with a range of premium services.
To maximize customer uptime, CIT Trucks added more service bays to its dealerships, and hired more technicians who were either already PACCAR MX-engine certified or willing to participate in the PACCAR engine training program. CIT Trucks employs 73 PACCAR MX-engine trained technicians at its dealerships.
“The training involved to become a certified PACCAR MX-engine technician is extensive,” said Miner. “Our technicians complete one year of online training before taking instructor-led courses. This training, combined with actual field experience, helps provide our technicians with the skills required to solve our customers’ maintenance issues and get their trucks back on the road as soon as possible.”
CIT Trucks utilizes the Kenworth TruckTech+® Remote Diagnostics and Service Management system to identify and expedite repair events, assist in diagnostics, track information (build data, service, warranty history and product updates) for customers to easily view and provide a platform for instant-communication between the dealer and customer.
“Throughout our Kenworth Gold Certified dealerships, we’re able to get our customers’ trucks back on the road faster. Our goal is to provide diagnosis within two hours of arrival and have the ability to service those trucks – that do not require extensive repair – that same day,” said Miner. “If a diagnostics test reveals an issue that takes four hours or less to repair, we often are able to service that truck and get it back to the customer within 24 hours. This enables us to maximize customer uptime by providing the quality service that our customers expect.”
To assist service technicians in diagnosing issues, CIT Trucks utilizes dynamometers which, when hooked up to a truck, mimic a truck operating under load. This assists technicians in pinpointing issues not easily seen, unless a truck is operating under regular driving conditions.
“When customers bring in their trucks to be serviced, it’s typically just the tractor. Sometimes it’s difficult to identify the root issue without seeing how the truck operates when it’s pulling a full load. The dynos enable us to find these issues and fix them more efficiently, helping us get our customers’ trucks back on the road faster.”
Vincent Luckey is president of Luckey Trucking, Inc., a logistics and distribution company based in Streator, Illinois. According to Luckey, a CIT Trucks customer since the late 1970s, the service he has received just keeps on getting better.
“The relationship I’ve developed over the years with the people at CIT has only gotten stronger,” said Luckey. “There is no need for me to go anywhere else. CIT does a tremendous job of servicing my trucks and getting me back on the road as soon as they can. If our trucks run into any issues when they’re out on the road, CIT helps me find another Kenworth dealership that will provide top-quality service to the trucks in need.”
Luckey oversees the operation of 100 company-owned trucks, including 70 aerodynamic Kenworth trucks. Fifty of those are T680s – a mix of 76-inch high-roof and 76-mid-roof sleepers – purchased since 2015. This year, the fleet’s T680 purchases were specified for the first time with the PACCAR Powertrain of PACCAR’s MX-13 engine, 12-speed automated transmission, and 40K tandem rear axles.
To assist technicians in providing its customers the high-level service they have come to expect, it is crucial that CIT Trucks keeps its parts department well-stocked. For example, PACCAR engine parts have a more than 97 percent fill rate at Kenworth Gold Certified locations operated by CIT Trucks.
“A well-stocked parts department is instrumental in our efforts to maximize customer uptime,” said Miner. “We work closely with PACCAR Parts and their Managed Dealer Inventory system, which tracks our parts sales and ordering history and recommends proper parts inventory quantities. So, we always have plenty of the most commonly needed parts. In addition to the parts warehouses at our individual dealerships, we own two large regional warehouses in Chicago and central Illinois to store bulk parts (transmissions, rear-ends, engines, crash parts), and safety stock. Both warehouses are in close proximity to our dealerships, so if a part does need to be ordered, it doesn’t take long for the dealership to receive it.”
For Luckey, the personal relationships with employees at CIT Trucks, coupled with the consistent, quality service he receives is why he has been a customer for 40-plus years. “The people at CIT Trucks are really what makes them a great dealership to work with,” said Luckey. “They’re always so friendly to my staff, and I know they work hard to solve any issues my trucks may have. They’ve been a pleasure to do business with all these years, and I look forward to our continued relationship.”
To find your nearest Kenworth PremierCare Gold Certified dealer, visit the Kenworth Dealer Locator at: www.kenworth.com/dealers, enter a city and state (or province), choose a distance, check the box next to the Kenworth PremierCare Gold Certified logo and click Find.
