Based in Cillín Hill, Co Kilkenny, Philip Ireland Tyres Ltd provides a 24-hour call out service which sees it supply, fit and repair agricultural and earth moving tyres. Irish Tractor Agri & Plant touched based with the man himself recently to find out all about what is a thriving business in the south east and also learn more about the Tractor Wheel Alignment service which has become hugely popular amongst customers.
Business has been good as of late at Philip Ireland Tyres Ltd and the company’s owner and founder
means to keep things that way right through to next year.
Operating with seven full-time staff, the company currently has three vans on the road and is an agent for BKT Agrimax Tyres in Kilkenny an even decade now.
The business itself has been established since 2009 and, right now, it is very much “growing and growing” according to owner Philip Ireland.
Irish Tractor Agri & Plant spoke with the Kilkenny native to learn more about a company which holds an excellent reputation for quality work amongst its clients.
“Right now, we have three vans on the road and business is very good,” Philip outlined.
“It took off very well to start 2022 and we’re growing and growing. The way things are at the moment, I’d definitely put another van on the road if we could get the right man for it.”
Getting the right person for the job can often prove more difficult than it looks when it comes to
Philip’s line of work.
Since its inception, Philip Ireland Tyres Ltd has been about providing a reliable and quick service to its customers and it takes hard work and skill to deliver it week in, week out.
2021 proved to be one of the company’s busiest years to date – even with all the challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and the government lockdowns which followed in order to combat the spread of the virus.
“We were very busy during the lockdown,” said Philip. “It was just constant throughout it and there
was no let up really.
“We were stopped for the first week of it back in March 2020 but, since then, we’ve had at least
three vans on the road all of the time.”
BKT Agrimax Tyres remain the most popular tyres among the company’s customers, while Maxam,
Bridgestone and Firestone continue to sell strong as do Continental tyres when it comes to cars.
In the last two years, Philip Ireland Tyres Ltd has seen its Tractor Wheel Alignment service taking off with customers all throughout the south east of Ireland and even further afield.
“We invested in it two years ago and it’s been a big runner for us since,” said the Managing Director.
“It saves on 20-30% of your tyre wear which, of course, saves on fuel too. When we started it two years ago, I bought a system for it from Tech Plus and the service has proven popular with our customers.”
The service itself has been getting rave reviews from customers since Philip adopted it early 2020.
He’s eager for it to grow further and perhaps see the company gain more new business along the
way.
“I did one this morning and, at the moment, we’re probably doing three to four a week,” he
explained.
“We travel to bring this service to our customers. We’ve been to Dublin, Wicklow, Clonmel, Waterford and Tipperary with the new alignment system and it’s been getting more and more popular through word of mouth.
“There’s actually one contractor in Tipperary who wants 30 done and, on average, it usually takes an
hour and a half per tractor, so there’s a good bit to be done there when we go down.”
Cars, buses, tractors – you name it and Philip Ireland has a tyre for it and now you can add Tractor Wheel Alignment to the company’s list of services.
All of that considered, it’s little wonder why customers continue to choose Philip Ireland Tyres
Ltd ahead of other competitors out there.
For Philip, he reckons that customer care is what separates his venture from the rest and the main reason why it continues to thrive some 13 years after his first van went on the road.
“They probably choose us because they know we know what we’re doing and that they can rely on us every time,” he said.
“We treat customers like family and look after them as best we can here.”
Speaking of family, Philip’s wife Ann-Marie is a key part of the team down in Cillín Hill and the hope is that Philip and Ann-Marie’s baby son Shane, who was born in 2020, will one day be so as well.
Looking towards the months ahead, Philip doesn’t sugar-coat it when he talks about his hopes for what the company can achieve in 2022.
“The hopes are to grow, grow, grow,” he stated plainly.
“That’s our plan anyway and if we can get one or two more lads that would be great. The only thing is that they’re hard to get these days and, as I said, if I had more lads, I would definitely be adding more vans to the fleet we have here.”
Watch this space.
Philip Ireland Tyres Ltd
Unit 07A,
Cillín Hill, Kilkenny, R95 RYC1
Tel: (056) 779 0857 Mobile : 086 8249804
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 10 No 3, May/June 2022
