With modern vacuum truck innovations, your portable restroom company can send out one driver to deliver or pick up restrooms, do pumpouts and perform regular service, all on one truck. In addition to more trips per day, you’ve also freed up more workers to do more routes per day to bring in more revenue. That’s a win- win, and doable with a flat vacuum tank truck built by Matthews Motors.
Family-owned vacuum truck outfitter, builder and repair company Matthews Motors is the exclusive distributor and upfitter of Crescent Tank Mfg.’s patented flat vacuum waste tank. At 12 inches in height with a 750-gallon capacity, this unique space-saving design works both as a vacuum tank and flatbed trailer, holding six standard portables, plus two on the liftgate.
Co-owner and sales manager Aaron Matthews says a flat-tank truck’s role in the fleet depends on number of drivers and job site conditions on a route, meaning it’s not necessarily a replacement for round-tank trucks, which trade transporta- tion versatility for higher tank capacities.
“Most [PROs] own a flat-tank truck in addition to their other trucks,” says Matthews. “But there are some customers who only have a fleet of Crescent Tanks, and they love the flexibility of being able to service a full route on top of delivering toilets.”
The enhanced efficiency also extends to fuel economy, saving drivers an estimated $600 per month with its perforated liftgate, says the maker. No CDL is required, and its small footprint allows access to close-quarters job sites.
“In Southern California and other metropolitan cities, there’s so many people and so little room to get in and out of places,” Matthews says. “They love the maneuverability of the small trucks.”
The trucks are built on Isuzu, Ford, Ram, Hino or Chevy chassis and equipped with a 350-gallon freshwater tank with a 5 gpm, 50 psi water pump. The waste tank comes with a 25-foot Tiger Tail vacuum hose. The larger, non-CDL Model 1350 uses a 1,000-gallon waste tank and carries 10 restrooms. Ready-to-ship and custom-built units are available.
Matthews Motors has built vehicles for the portable sanitation industry since 1999, working closely with Crescent Tank since the beginning. The truck builder took over upfitting operations in 2023 in its home state of Georgia and has ramped up production since.
“We’ve grown tremendously over that time,” Matthews says. “We’ve roughly doubled our production each year for the past two years, with plans to grow it even more.”
762-273-4135; www.matthewsmotors.org
