About Us

Advantage Trailer

About Us

Our Advantage is Your Advantage.

Built on Relationships

Over three decades in business, we’ve developed trusted relationships with customers, manufacturers, vendors, and employees. Advantage Trailer is a family business, and it shows.

Focused on Quality

We believe in providing only quality, long-lasting products and going the extra mile to ensure each and every customer is happy.

Focus on Quality
Purposeful Interactions

Purposeful Interactions

Each interaction we have, whether online or in-person, should reflect our aim to be educational, knowledgeable, helpful, and solution-oriented.

Uncompromised Integrity

We won’t sell you short. We operate with an aim to do the right thing, always. That’s how we build trust with our customers.

Advantage review wordcloud

Meet the Team

  • Jodi Behrendt
    Fun Fact
    Jodi loves Hallmark movies, especially those about Christmas.

    Jodi Behrendt

    Owner
  • Sarah Groveau
    Fun Fact
    Outside of work, Sarah enjoys baking and watching Friends. She hopes to visit Italy someday.

    Sarah Groveau

    Owner
  • Jim Groveau
    Fun Fact
    Jim’s last meal would be a 36oz porterhouse steak with bleu cheese crust, banana cream pie, 2 old fashioned cocktails, and ice-cold Coke in a bottle.

    Jim Groveau

    Sales Manager
  • Mark Behrendt

    Mark Behrendt

    Service Manager
  • Chris Grecco

    Chris Grecco

    Finance
  • Justin Potts
    Fun Fact
    Justin loves to play golf, coach youth soccer, read spy novels, and cook BBQ. He spent 12 years in experiential marketing before Advantage.

    Justin Potts

    Marketing Manager
  • Dan Rocco

    Dan Rocco

    Service Writer
  • Dan Colpo

    Dan Colpo

    Service Writer
  • Tyler Behrendt
    Fun Fact
    Tyler is not a fan of spiders, but he is a fan of the Chicago Cubs, Bears, and Blackhawks.

    Tyler Behrendt

    Parts Manager
  • Don Romano

    Don Romano

    Service
  • Zach Morrison
    Fun Fact
    Zach loves to work out and is a fan of The Office

    Zach Morrison

    Sales
  • Matt Meyers
    Fun Fact
    If there was a movie made about Matt, he would pick Bruce Willis to play him.

    Matt Meyers

    Sales
  • Paul Caruso

    Paul Caruso

    Custom Projects
  • Gino Cottini

    Gino Cottini

    Service Tech
  • Jake Herff

    Jake Herff

    Service Tech
  • Drew Kuehl

    Drew Kuehl

    Service Tech
  • Jake Keating

    Jake Keating

    Service Tech
  • Marchon Webb

    Finance
  • Jon Newbolds

    Jon Newbolds

    Service Tech
  • Matt Altmeyer

    Matt Altmeyer

    Service Tech

Our History

The original Advantage Trailer location in 1989
The original Advantage Trailer location in 1989

Humble Beginnings

Marchon Webb started a family business with her 18-year-old daughter Jodi in 1989. Originally called Advantage Auto Leasing, the business began as a 1200-square foot U-Save Auto Rental franchise in a strip mall in Villa Park. In December of 1990, Mark Behrendt joined the company as the first employee hired.

Dan Webb joined the company a year later and they moved to into a car dealership in Villa Park. In addition to cars, Advantage began renting U-Haul trucks and trailers. In 1992, they added trailer hitch installs, as well as auto repair to their business offerings.

Transition to Trailers

Seeing a market for trailer sales, Advantage sold its first trailer in 1994. With the new focus, the company phased out car sales and auto repairs. Over the next five years, Jim Groveau joined the team, starting in service before moving to sales, and Paul Caruso came aboard in the service department. Advantage added snow plows and rental trucks, and by the turn of the century, became largely the company it is today.

In 2004, Advantage joined forces with ATC. The team started building large custom trailers, which propelled them among ATC’s top dealers just two years later. With a growing team and a need for more lot and shop space, Advantage moved to its current Carol Stream location in 2007. Those developments were important because tough times were ahead.

Dan Webb in the early days
Dan Webb in the early days
The Xbox Kinect trailer build that saved Advantage Trailer in the Great Recession

Experiential Marketing Saves the Day

During the Great Recession of 2008, Advantage Trailer was in trouble. Disposable income was tight, so trailer customers were few. Enter Microsoft. They had an idea for tiny-home style trailers to launch the new Xbox Kinect. Through an experiential agency, we helped them bring it to life with trailers in Times Square, Tokyo, Sydney, London, Montreal, Mexico, and Dubai. That project launched our custom marketing trailer line of business to new heights. Since then, we’ve built hundreds of custom trailers for experiential agencies and brands, large and small.

A Leader in Trailer Sales and Service

Advantage Trailer continued to grow through the 2010s, adding staff to both sales and service, diversifying trailer offerings, and amping up service capabilities. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in early 2020 and events were canceled, the market for custom trailers dried up. Again, it was time for Advantage to pivot. It did so by focusing heavily on local trailer sales, encouraging trailer repairs, and boosting office, command, and mobile response trailer offerings.

Through it all, one common theme has held true. Advantage has maintained a commitment to serving people – employees, customers, suppliers, and the community.

Advantage Sales Team
The sales team in 2023