Checkered Flag Equipment Sales and Transport Inc. of Thornburg, VA, has taken on the full Terex line of mostly large earthmoving equipment. The used equipment dealer became a qualified Terex dealer, specifically serving the Virginia area, in late September 2002. A month earlier, the company took up residence in its new $2-million facility.
Checkered Flag, located directly off Interstate 95, close to Fredericksburg and Richmond, operates its equipment sales and rentals division out of the new facility. The 13,000-sq.-ft. (1,208 sq m) two-story building is on a 14-acre (5.6-ha) site and includes a mezzanine and a glass-encased facade. The company can park two 35- to 40-ton (32 to 36 t) trucks within the 5,000-sq.-ft. (464 sq m) showroom. The site also has space in the back to stock other equipment and to park tractor trailers.
“We built it ourselves,” said R.D. Christopher, president and owner of Checkered Flag Equipment. “Everybody I’ve talked to says that this is the best-looking facility around.”
The company is still making use of its old 10,000-sq.-ft. (929 sq m) facility a half block away, for the parts and service departments. The parts department sells parts for any Terex product, mostly within the big earthmoving equipment line, and also for other equipment manufacturers. Additionally, the company has two brand new field service trucks to perform work at job sites.
Checkered Flag Equipment has met all the requirements in sales, maintenance and product support to become qualified to represent the Terex product lines. The staff at Checkered Flag knows the Terex products, the service technicians are Terex factory certified, and the company is directly linked to Terex’s Centralized Parts Ordering and Distribution Center.
Within the Terex line, Checkered Flag offers equipment such as backhoes, mini-excavators, wheel loaders, lifts, articulated trucks, scrapers and rigid trucks. The Terex line also includes compaction equipment with rollers of all sizes.
“That’s just the Terex line,” said Christopher. The company’s transactions consist of 80-percent new equipment, which leaves the rest of the sales as used equipment. Checkered Flag offers a variety of used equipment from a number of manufacturers, including late model pre-owned Caterpillar, John Deere and Hitachi lines.
Christopher stated that his company will sell almost any type of used equipment “as long as it is not too old or has too many hours.”
As a licensed ICC hauler, Checkered Flag offers local and long distance transport services. Its two, 50-ton (45 t) lowboys are able to haul machinery weighing from 1 to 50 ton (.9 to 45 t). The company hauls equipment all over the eastern United States.
“We are for hire,” said Christopher. “We can haul for anybody.”
Even though Checkered Flag is the Terex dealer for Virginia, the company’s prime location off I-95 brings in customers from across the map. According to Christopher, he has had customers stop in from Canada and New York. “We’ve sold backhoes to as far away as North Dakota,” he said. “People stop.”
That said, the customer response to the addition of the Terex line has been overwhelmingly positive. In a matter of three or four months Checkered Flag is now considered one of the top five Terex dealers in the nation.
In order to better serve other parts of Virginia, the company is hiring more sales representatives. However, there are no plans for any more expansions in the near future.
“We are having growing pains because we are growing so fast,” he exclaimed. “One day we might have some other stores, but right now we’re trying to keep up.”
R.D. Christopher founded the company after 25 years in the road-building industry. He was already transporting equipment himself, which lead to equipment sales. Checkered Flag has grown from a two-person operation in 1999, to approximately 16 employees. The company anticipates hiring three additional mechanics very soon.
“We do things differently. We’re open seven days a week,” concluded Christopher. “I’ve sold more equipment on Sundays some weeks than the other days.”
For more information, call 540/582-7704.
This story also appears on Agricultural Equipment Guide.
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