Freightliner of Maine plans to buy DBJ McGuire, Inc.

    HOULTON, Maine — Freightliner of Maine will soon be expanding its business farther into The County, when it plans to purchase DBJ McGuire, Inc. on the North Road later this month.
Doug McGuire had been working with Tim Caldwell, president of Freightliner of Maine, Inc., to forge an agreement where DBJ McGuire, Inc. would become an associate dealer.
    “I was looking for a way to improve this business,” explained McGuire. “Everything was going quite well until we hit a stumbling block toward the end of the agreement. We couldn’t proceed the way we wanted to.”
McGuire and Caldwell were trying to work out an arrangement that would allow DBJ McGuire, Inc. to become a satellite dealership for Freightliner of Maine.
“Freightliner of Maine has done those in the past,” said Caldwell, with one in St. David and the other in Oxford. “These dealerships are basically authorized to do warranty work, sell parts and service trucks.”
With the sale proceeding as planned, the District Service Manager for Freightliner of Maine inspected the DBJ McGuire, Inc. garage. and was pleased with the building, the location and staff, said McGuire.
“About the same time, Daimler Corporation terminated its relationship with Whited Ford/Sterling, a former Sterling truck dealer in Presque Isle, Auburn and Bangor.”
“Well, there are still alot of Sterling trucks out there,” said Caldwell. “A lot of those trucks are vocational or logging trucks, which don’t get too far from home.”
Daimler, the parent company of Freightliner, gave the Sterling parts division and authorization to do Sterling and Detroit diesel engine warranty work to Freightliner dealers in the country.
“They wanted us to establish a location in northern Maine,” said Caldwell. “Daimler felt there was a large enough concentration of Sterling trucks that still would need to be served.”
It seemed to be falling into place, as Caldwell and McGuire were working toward that end.
“It looked like it was perfect timing,” Caldwell said. “But, we ran into an unexpected roadblock. Daimler was not authorizing any new satellite locations in the country.”
This is what we found out at the very end of the deal,” added McGuire.
“We were close, but we couldn’t proceed,” said Caldwell.
At a crossroads, Freightliner of Maine had several options. They could purchase a building in Houlton, build a new garage or form a partnership with DBJ, McGuire, Inc.
“We had a year to do it,” Caldwell added.
As the two began to work out details, neither one felt a partnership would be the right match.
“We figured we’d end up disliking each other intensely,” said Caldwell as he and McGuire both laughed aloud.
That’s when Freightliner of Maine and DBJ McGuire, Inc. agreed to the buyout.
“It’s going to be the dealership I have always tried to get here, but was unable to,” said McGuire, who will be able to focus more on his logging business.
“This is going to be a good opportunity for the business we started to continue on,” McGuire added. “I don’t have any bad feelings about the deal. I think it is going to do really well and it will be very good for the employees, as well as the community and our customer base. I think it is a win for everyone.”
DBJ McGuire, Inc. was started by the late Darrell McGuire, his wife, Barbara and their sons — Doug, Brent and Jon — in 1993 when they purchased Hagerman Brothers. The McGuires invested financially into the building with several renovations, along with their time and effort.
In 2000, the brothers Brent, Jon and Doug bought out their parents when they retired. Brent managed DBJ McGuire, Inc. until early this year.
McGuire works with his brother Jon in the logging and other companies, as well as his three sons Brad, Nick and Bailey and Jon’s son Jared. Doug’s other son, Dillion, is staying on with Freightliner.
The McGuire brothers will concentrate on their logging business, along with other businesses, as they look to expand and move those forward.
Caldwell and Freightliner of Maine have plans for DBJ McGuire, Inc.
“We’d like to see double the number of mechanics or maybe more,” said Caldwell. “We’d like two shifts and half a day Saturday. We are looking to build this business. We aren’t looking to maintain what is here. We are looking to grow and do it quickly.”
Freightliner of Maine will sell Western Star and FUSO trucks in addition to Thermo King transport refrigeration and auxiliary power units. They will also be a Goodyear and Ohtsu truck tire dealer, while manufacturing retread tires at their Bangor location.
“We will have the full product line of Freightliner and FUSO trucks on display, along with a good  assortment of all makes and sizes of used trucks with an experienced sales staff on site,” Caldwell said. “We are looking to really grow.”
Freightliner of Maine was a dealership operated by A.J. Cole and Sons — Cole’s Enterprise, Cole’s Express and Cole’s Storage and Cole’s Land Management. In 1992, Cole Enterprise sold everything to Roadway Corporation, which just wanted the freight company. Even though part of the initial purchase, Roadway wasn’t into truck dealerships, so they were looking to sell that business off.
Tim Thornton, the Interstate battery distributor in Milford, “jumped at the opportunity to buy the dealership,” said Caldwell. He and his friend, Joe Cyr of Cyr Bus Company,  were now in the truck dealership business.
Starting with just two locations, Bangor and Portland, Freightliner of Maine now has locations in Bangor and Westbrook, with parts stores in Auburn and Waterville; and satellite locations in St. David and Oxford and now they will add Houlton to their impressive resume.
With the DBJ McGuire, Inc. employees still onboard there will not be a disruption in service.
“We also have an advantage as a dealership,” noted Caldwell. “We buy parts at a lot better price than McGuires could buy parts. We already do a tremendous parts and tire business in The County.”
Freightliner of Maine has a [mobile service] truck that services its clientele in northern Maine. With the acquisition of DBJ McGuire, Inc., the truck will be based out of Houlton and do its daily runs from the North Road location.
“We are well established,” said Caldwell. “We do a lot of business with lots of customers and trucks up here to service. But, we also feel we are going to be able to attract business. We also have a lot of cross-border traffic that we are looking to capitalize on.”
Caldwell also stressed that Freightliner of Maine in Houlton, like the rest of the locations will stock parts for and work on every make of truck on the road today.
“If it will fit in the yard or the shop, we don’t care what it says on the hood. We are going to be a reliable partner for truckers in northern Maine,” he said.
Freightliner of Maine is celebrating 20 years of business this month.
“We’ve had steady growth,” said Caldwell. “We have quadrupled the size of the company in 20 years, and this [DBJ McGuire, Inc.] will add to that.
“I  am particularly excited with this new County location,” added Caldwell. “Being from Sherman, I feel like I’m coming home.”