35 YEARS
35 YEARS ON THE FORCE T BY MARK KANDBORG
he evolution of DRIVING FORCE is truly one of Alberta’s great business success stories. Company President Jeff Polovick started Grove Rentals and Leasing 35 years ago this month in a small service station in Spruce Grove, just outside of Edmonton. Since then, he’s guided it unflinchingly through a mercurial economy to become DRIVING FORCE Vehicle Rentals, Sales and Leasing. With a standing inventory of nearly 10,000 vehicles at 20 locations and over 375 employees in Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, DRIVING FORCE is now one of western Canada’s largest vehicle suppliers. This month also marks the 20th Anniversary of DRIVING FORCE’s Calgary Branch. “We opened this office in 1993 to better serve the FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: MIKE CRYER, RENTAL MANAGER, JOANNA BUSHEY, USED VEHICLE MANAGER, CRAIG STRACHAN, full spectrum of the oil field sector,” says Branch BRANCH MANAGER, AND DARRELL NICKLASSEN, LEASE MANAGER Manager Craig Strachan. “Calgary is home to so many corporate head offices, from everywhere. We’re handling that the Calgary branch has just completed a full renovation. more of the white collar market here, while Edmonton services Whether in Alberta or BC, or Saskatchewan when you pull into more of the blue collar sector.” a DRIVING FORCE lot, you’ll be certain you’ve come to the Tourism is another important component of the Calgary right place. The building’s shining glass and clean lines, reflected vehicle leasing market with which DRIVING FORCE has in the polished windshields and gleaming paint of the neat rows had great success. “We rent and lease 28-passenger buses for of cars and trucks outside will let you know that when you walk six months to a year to clients who use them to tour groups through those doors, the selection of vehicles and level of care through the mountains,” Strachan says, adding that these tours you’ll receive will not only be exactly what you need - they’ll are especially popular with visitors from Japan and China. “The be consistently above what you’d expect. That’s the DRIVING glaciers are a big draw.” Winter trips through these areas pose FORCE way of doing business. certain challenges, which DRIVING FORCE has addressed by offering specially designed buses for the task. “One important feature they have is double paned glass. With any other vehicle, 2332 - 23 Street NE when you get a couple of dozen passengers looking out the win(the corner of 23rd Avenue & Barlow Trail) dows in those temperatures, they fog up. You can’t see a thing. Calgary, AB T2E 8N3 We’ve solved that problem. There are only a handful of these Phone: (403) 296 - 0770 buses around,” he says, “and we’re the only company that rents Toll Free: 1-800-936-9353 and leases them on a serious basis.” Clarity of vision isn’t just important for tourists, of course. It’s important for businesses, too. DRIVING FORCE prides itself on providing the same level of service and quality to customers regardless of which city they’re visited in. That’s one reason
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