Owner-operator Darrell Davis believes he's found a friend he can call on when he breaks down on the road. It's the Kenworth PremierCare Customer Center, which recently came to his aid.

Davis, 40, an OOIDA member who wheels his Kenworth W900L from his home base in Ochlocknee, GA, near the Florida border, was hauling frozen chicken quarters in his refrigerated trailer. He was heading for a meat distributor in Bryan, TX, late one sultry Friday night in Mississippi when he heard a noise in his 1994 truck and noticed the air conditioning wasn't working in his cab.

Davis stopped at a repair shop and had a quick fix made to get him on the road again. Somewhere in Louisiana, the problem worsened. Outside temperatures were topping 100 degrees, and he was hot and dirty. But with Davis, the load comes first. He made it to his delivery stops on time early Monday morning.

This is when customer service by the Kenworth PremierCare Customer Center entered the picture. Tammy, Davis' wife of nine years, had read about Kenworth's roadside assistance service in Land Line Magazine and called 1-800-KW-ASSIST for help for her husband.

"I called the number and got Kevin (Brown). He was like an angel," she said. "He immediately found a dealership (Performance Kenworth) in Beaumont, TX. They said they could have the part the next morning," and that Davis could stay with his truck.

"Kevin never quit. He followed up on every little detail," Tammy said. "I didn't expect all the service I got. With my husband being tired, hot and exhausted as he was, to have somebody find a dealership and the part and schedule the repair, made it so much easier. We were just tickled with the service."

Davis was grateful for the Kenworth PremierCare Customer Center service and the way he was treated at the Kenworth dealership. "They made me feel like somebody," he said. "They were very professional and ready to help."

Davis, who figures he's driven millions of miles during his 26 years as a trucker, says he was impressed with the free Kenworth road service. "I've never seen anything like it in all the years I've been on the road. I'd recommend it highly."

The Kenworth PremierCare Customer Center offers a toll-free call (1-800-KW-ASSIST or 1-800-592-7747) for fleets and owner-operators needing help on the road - regardless of truck make - 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information on the Kenworth PremierCare Program, visit www.kenworth.com and click on Parts & Service.