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Diversifying and adapting
TDI Repair & Towing in Swanton, VT, specializes in heavy-duty towing, repair and roadside assistance, auto repair, collision repair, fabrication, junk vehicle, and other transportation-related services.
As a teenager, business owner Herbert Bartemy started in the transportation industry, working for his family’s towing business. After graduating high school, Bartemy became a truck driver. Eventually, he decided that being away from his family for days wasn’t for him. So, he took a job at a transportation and logistics company. There, Bartemy quickly climbed the corporate ladder and gained valuable experience, which prepared him for entrepreneurship.
In 1996, Bartemy and his wife, Lynn, took a leap of faith and created a trucking and repair company. After 9/11, the trucking industry faced financial challenges, and the business owners decided to shift their focus. “So that industry hit a hard spot, and we stepped out of it, kept some of the equipment, got rid of most of it, and continued on with the repair side of the business,” Bartemy said.
Today, TDI Repair & Towing has two facilities. “We have Swanton, Vermont, and Champlain, New York. We own part stores here at Swanton and in Champlain, where we sell parts to the public, and we have our repair shop, collision shop, road service.”
Bartemy provided additional insight into the repair business. “We're now a full-service shop from automobiles through motor homes, through commercial trucks. We work on government vehicles. We were 70 miles away the other day servicing an aircraft simulator.”
TDI Repair & Towing also has a parts business inspired by the supply chain issue caused by the pandemic. “It started getting more difficult for us to get parts. So that's why we added parts. And we also became a tire dealer.”
Bartemy provided additional details about the towing leg of TDI Repair & Towing. “Our towing business has evolved—we now run rotator wreckers (heavy-duty tow trucks that can recover vehicles from hard-to-reach areas). We also pick up specialty equipment at warehouses and move it and transport it. Next thing, we move storage sheds, storage buildings, grooming equipment for ski resorts, drilling rigs. And along with that, we run road service trucks. We do large truck wrecks. We do recoveries.”
When on the scene at large truck wrecks, Bartemy saw hazardous waste, which prompted another facet of his business. “With a truck wreck, sometimes the fuel tank has a hole and it's leaking. There’s diesel fuel on the ground or the road or into a waterway or stream. And we started picking up the messes, just looking out for our environment. I've got six grandkids, other people have families, and they don't need battery acid or engine oil or whatever floating in water that they might swim in or drink. So, we opened our own hazmat response company. So now we are hazmat certified in Vermont, New York, and soon to be New Hampshire.”
TDI Repair & Towing is a family operation. In addition to Lynn, the couple’s adult children work in the business. “I have two boys, Aaron and Adam, my daughter Ellen, my wife Lynn. Lynn's kind of in the behind the scenes, but she is what makes the glue that keeps it all together.”
Supporting the community is paramount to TDI Repair &Towing’s business. They sponsor various events in Swanton, including the Swanton Car Show, tractor parades, Big Rig Day, and the Memorial Day Parade. During the pandemic, they also sponsored birthday parades.
“We love our community. “Anything we can do to help, we’ll do it,” Bartemy said.
For more information about TDI Repair & Towing, check out their BBB Business Profile. To learn more about BBB and read more stories like this, visit Behind the Business Stories with BBB in Eastern MA, ME, RI & VT.
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