Sonny Merryman Revenue and Competitors

Sonny Merryman, Inc. was founded in 1967 by F.W. "Sonny" Merryman, Jr. and his wife Lou, the company has grown from a small used trailer and school bus body dealer to one of Virginia's largest transportation equipment distributors. Originally located in Rustburg, the company relocated in 1993 to its current site on U.S. Route 29 South in Campbell County near Lynchburg in south central Virginia. From 1967 until 2001 Sonny Merryman, Inc. was a family owned and operated business. In 2001, Sonny Merryman, Inc. became an "Employed Owned Company" (ESOP). However, the Merryman family remains active in the day to day operations of the company. The company has two primary divisions - Buses and Trailers. On the "bus side" the company is the statewide dealer for Thomas Built Buses of High Point, North Carolina. Thomas is recognized worldwide as a leading manufacturer of school and transit buses. Thomas is a subsidiary of the Freightliner Corporation which is a division of DaimlerChrysler. Sonny Merryman, Inc. is also the exclusive dealer for the Freightliner FS-65 conventional school bus chassis. Sonny Merryman, Inc. is by far Virginia's leading school bus distributor with over 60% market share for the past decade. Sonny Merryman has been recognized three times as "Thomas Dealer of the Year". We also represent the Startrans Bus Division of the Supreme Corporation headquartered in Goshen, Indiana. These custom units are popular with small and urban public transit operations as well as churches, colleges, retirement communities, hospitals, airports, hotels and resort properties. Many of these buses are equipped with wheelchair lifts (paratransit units) to assist the physically disadvantaged with transportation services. The company also represents DaimlerChrysler Commercial Buses of North America with its CL100 shuttle buses and the SLF200 series low floor city transit buses. In 2001 the Sonny Merryman acquired its newest transportation product - the Freightliner Sprinter Vans. Designed and powered by Mercedes Benz, the Sprinter is the ideal vocational service vehicle (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, communications, couriers, florists, etc.), cargo vans, and passenger vans (hotels, resorts, churches, etc.). Sonny Merryman is one of the Mid-Atlantic's largest used bus dealers. Our customers include private schools, churches and exporters. We have shipped units to many foreign countries including - South America, Africa and the Middle-East. On the company's "trailer side", Sonny Merryman is a distributor for Fontaine (flat beds), Winston (low boys) and Sun (log trailers). The trailer customer base consists largely of local independent truckers, loggers and small truck fleets. In addition to new trailers, we maintain a large inventory of used trailers and storage containers. Storage customers include large mass merchandisers, contractors, businesses and individuals with a need for temporary on-site storage. "We are an employee owned and operated business built on experience and personal service. We welcome the opportunity to assist you with your transportation needs".