Where It All Started

Colonial Equipment Company’s humble beginnings began in the basement of Don and Flo Combs’ home with a borrowed desk, filing cabinet, trash can and telephone in July 1982. Don desired to acquire and distribute transportation and special mobility products including small to medium sized buses, specialty vans, wheelchair lifts and other accessibility items. Later the same year, with high expectations of growth and development, Colonial moved into a small house, turned office (affectionately referred to as, ‘the bungalow’) on Ridgeville Boulevard in Mt. Airy, MD.

Colonial expanded again in late 1994 to a new specially designed and constructed ‘bus facility’ on Bailes Lane in Frederick, MD. At this new building, we were able to provide sales, repair and maintenance that efficiently handled any problem our customer’s encountered. Remaining located within the same general area made this move easier and more convenient for most of our customer base. The new and much larger facility improved the experience for both our current and prospective customers.

In July 2009, Colonial, once again expanded and moved into a larger (30,000 sq ft) specifically designed and purpose built facility in Monrovia, MD. The design and construction was more focused on vehicle servicing, maintenance, and parts distribution. We increased the number of service bays from 5 to 15, and our facility now has a drive through service lane. The Parts Department square footage increased to three times larger than its previous location and contains over 400,000 line items in inventory. This new facility has provided us with the basis for all aspects of our future growth and expansion plans.

Colonial’s management strives to provide only the best products and represent the best manufacturers for our clients. We accomplish this through careful and deliberate study of how manufacturers handle business with other distributors and individual customers. As one of the founding members of the North American Bus Dealers Alliance (NABDA), Colonial provides a higher level of support for our customers. We accomplish this through a cooperative agreement with other Bus Dealers nationwide for parts, service, sales and support. Our customers enjoy the same support at the national level as they would locally no matter where they travel.