Government and Commercial Fleet Director Mike Michnuk (center) accepting the 2025 Ford Top 25 Government Sales Dealer award in Chicago, June 2026.
In June, Chalmers Ford was awarded Ford Motor Company’s Top 25 State & Local Government Sales Dealer for 2025, ranking No. 19 in the nation and first in New Mexico. It is the third year running Chalmers Ford has made the list.
Ford recognizes 25 of its nearly 3,000 dealers nationwide each year for their work with state and local government customers. We are proud to be one of them, and we know exactly who put us there: our customers.
What the List Measures
Ford ranks its dealers on state and local government sales: the vehicles a dealership delivers to cities, counties, tribal nations, school districts, utilities, and the state agencies and first-responder fleets that serve them.
While the award is based on vehicles delivered, Andy Strebe, General Manager, celebrates the relationships behind the sales. “Agencies continue to choose Chalmers because Mike and his team have proven they can be trusted. That’s real value, and it’s what makes me proud.”
When Chalmers Ford made this list in 2024, Mike called it a team win, earned “by listening to our customers, understanding their needs, and delivering on promises.” A year later, and it’s still true.
“This award has the names of every city, county, tribal nation, school district, and department that chose us on it,” said Mike Michnuk, Government and Commercial Fleet Director. “Most of those relationships started with one question about a contract or an upfit and grew from there.”
How Government Fleets Buy, and Why They Come Back
A fleet purchase with upfitting normally means the buyer runs the project. One purchase order goes to the dealer for the chassis, a second to the body company, a third to the lighting or telematics vendor, and sometimes a fourth for graphics.
Each vendor has its own contact, its own lead time, and its own reason the truck is late. The buyer reconciles all of it and explains to a department head why the unit that was supposed to be in service in March is still at an upfitter in May. For a government buyer it is worse, because every additional purchase order is another procurement cycle, another approval, and another line an auditor can question.
The Chalmers fleet team takes that on, starting with the contract. Depending on where the agency is, that can be a state pricing agreement, a cooperative like HGACBuy or CES, or a bid, and we quote to whichever one the agency already uses.
Then the upfit. Emergency lighting, computer docks and consoles, prisoner partitions, K9 containment, gun racks, ballistic door panels, graphics: we line all of it up under a single purchase order, so the agency signs once and takes delivery of a vehicle that is ready for its first shift.
One purchase order. One point of contact. One delivery timeline. We hold the vendor contracts, coordinate the build, and keep the agency in the loop, so all the fleet manager has to run is the job the truck was bought for.
And when the vehicle is in service, we keep it there. Mobile service for fleet units, preventive maintenance scheduled around the agency’s rotation, and a parts department that stocks what police and municipal fleets actually use.
The same work put Chalmers Ford among Ford Pro’s Top 50 Volume Dealers for 2024 and 2025, one of 50 Ford stores nationwide. Different list, same reason.
Thank You
Three years on this list is not something our team can take credit for alone. It belongs to the fleet managers who sent us a spec and a deadline and trusted us to hit both. To the procurement officers who let one purchase order stand in for four. To the departments that put our trucks into service and then called us for the next ones. Thank you.
If you manage a government fleet and have a purchase, an upfit, or a contract question on your desk, Mike will walk you through it. His cell is 505.554.6447 and his email is mmichnuk@chalmersford.com.
Real Value. Real People. Real Simple.