About Us
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.
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.
Meet the Team
-
Jodi Behrendt
Owner -
Sarah Groveau
Owner -
Jim Groveau
Sales Manager -
Mark Behrendt
Service Manager -
Chris Grecco
Finance -
Justin Potts
Marketing Manager -
Dan Rocco
Service Writer -
Dan Colpo
Service Writer -
Tyler Behrendt
Parts Manager -
Don Romano
Service -
Zach Morrison
Sales -
Matt Meyers
Sales -
Paul Caruso
Custom Projects -
Gino Cottini
Service Tech -
Jake Herff
Service Tech -
Drew Kuehl
Service Tech -
Jake Keating
Service Tech -
Marchon Webb
Finance -
Jon Newbolds
Service Tech -
Matt Altmeyer
Service Tech
Our History
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.
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.
