Meet the Pros Behind A West Texas Truck Accessories’ Burgeoning Empire
Situated in Midland, Texas — a city tucked between Fort Worth and El Paso in the sprawling plains of western Texas — sits a young automotive shop aptly named West Texas Truck Accessories. As the geographic area plays home to a 12-county ranching region and financial trade hub for oil and natural gas drilling, the shop serves a clientele worthy of cowboy hats, steel-toed boots, and all-American trucks.
“We build daily drivers, but we upfit a lot of oilfield trucks — and almost everybody who owns a truck out in west Texas uses it for more than just driving,” says Shane Stephenson, one of the shop’s owners. “They may need to maintain cargo tools or air up a flat tire out on the ranch, so we try to build trucks that can be utilized for multiple fashions.”
Team Effort
Stephenson shares business responsibilities with his brother Scott and a team of buddies that includes Tony Farmer, Jason Weatherby, Mike Morales, and Josh Cook. The truck accessories shop is actually part of a larger automotive network in Midland led by the group of friends.
When the crew needed to outsource a lot of bolt-on accessory sales and installation at its original location, Platinum Collision Center, they decided to launch West Texas Truck Accessories in 2017 to keep business in-house. Demand for services was immediate, says Stephenson, noting the shop’s sales have quadrupled since that first year.
Today, West Texas Truck Accessories handles a wide array of bolt-on applications, wheel and tire upgrades, and light mechanical work. Stephenson oversees the shop with the help of store manager Tasha Hiles.
Built to Work
Outfitting and servicing many of the work trucks that are essential to ranching and natural resource extraction is big business for West Texas Truck Accessories. In fact, Stephenson says 60-75% of the shop’s business is owed to fleet customers. Because many of them have half-ton, three-quarter-ton, or heavy-duty trucks, West Texas Truck Accessories’ vast inventory caters to those needs.
Leveling kits, Ranch Hand grille guards, front and back bumpers, running steps, and Weboost cell phone accessories (for driving to remote locations, where there isn’t service) are some of the shop’s biggest sellers. “Everyone wants their trucks leveled. It gives the vehicle a whole different look, especially when we slap bigger tires on it,” says Hiles.
Other customer favorites include accessories from Weather Guard, Fab Fours, Fox, Westin Automotive, Amp Research, Road Armor, Titan Tanks, Rigid, Rough Country, and BAK Industries. Suspension systems and lift and leveling kits from Icon Vehicle Dymanics, ReadyLift, and Airlift are also popular. The shop offers spray-on bedliners from Ultimate Linings, too.
Texas-Sized
Hiles particularly loves seeing the larger trucks get upfitted at the shop. “Any time we get to put our hands on a one-ton truck, they always turn out really, really sharp,” she says. “We often lift it, put on nice wheels and tires, swap out the running boards, and have it tinted.”
The shop’s truck — which is also Stephenson’s daily driver — serves as an impressive rolling advertisement for West Texas Truck Accessories’ talents. The Chevy Silverado 1500 crew cab has an 8-inch Readylift kit, 37-inch Nitto Tires, and powder-coated factory wheels. However, Stephenson says his favorite feature is the red Mictuning rock lights. “I run around at night with red lights on and people seem to take notice.”
West Texas Truck Accessories’ bread and butter is trucks, but the shop also serves a variety of Jeeps and SUVs. For a customer who brought in a Porsche Panamera, the team added a vinyl wrap to the top, blacked out all of the emblems, painted the calipers, and tinted the windows. The 2017 Yukon XL pictured below received a complete 4” Fabtech lift and a set of AMP Research powersteps.
New Digs
In early 2021, the shop’s exponential growth inspired Stephenson and the rest of the team to move into a larger 12,000-square-foot space. The new spot has a showroom and is situated in a location with more road traffic, which helped boost walk-in business by about 10%. The move was a positive change, says Stephenson.
“If you could see where we came from and where we’re at now, it’s just night and day,” he says. “Our guys were working in a 1,000- to 2,000-square-foot area with one lift, using a kerosene turbine heater to heat the shop up. Now we have a 10,000-square-foot workshop, two lifts, alignment racks, overhead heaters, and cross ventilation. We’re driving a Cadillac.”
When the pandemic hit last spring, Stephenson was worried sales would tumble — but 2020 turned out to be the most profitable year yet for West Texas Truck Accessories. He attributes the success to the shop’s unparalleled customer service and smart management.
“We are just a bunch of good ole boys who grew up [believing] deals were done by handshakes and you stood behind your word,” he says. “And we still do the same thing here and we believe it to be true-and-true.”
“We also guarantee our work 100% forever,” Hiles adds. “If they ever have a problem, customers can come back and get it resolved.”
Looking Ahead
Within the next two years, Stephenson hopes to open up a sales-only kiosk in the local mall and two smaller retail stores in other parts of town. Expansion will create a better depth and breadth of inventory, ensuring West Texas Truck Accessories can meet its customers’ evolving needs. It also helps protect against potential supply chain hiccups — like those inflicted by the unexpected cold front that swept across west Texas in February.
“I just want to be a leader in the industry. We never want to stop growing,” he says.
In addition to becoming a go-to spot for aftermarket products in west Texas, Stephenson wants to show customers the value of purchasing from a brick-and-mortar shop — versus an online store. “It may cost them a little bit more, but they’re getting that customer service,” he says. “They know they can depend on that shop and if they ever have a problem again, they can come back and get it resolved.”
While West Texas Truck Accessories always aims to carry on-trend products — including accessories to appease the growing community of overland enthusiasts in the area — Stephenson and Hiles feel fortunate to enhance trucks with useful add-ons that never seem to go out of style in Texas.
Overall, they are just excited to continue helping customers get the most out of their vehicles — no matter what they’re used for. “We build them so they can beat them up,” Hiles says
