From its base in Midleton, County Cork, Christy Robinson Tyre Services has been delivering unrivalled tyre repair and replacement solutions for over three-and-a-half decades. We touched base with the eponymous Christy, who counts numerous farmers and agri contractors amongst his regular customers.
Since its inception in 1987, Christy Robinson Tyre Services has established itself firmly as one of Cork’s premier tyre specialists, looking after a vast and varied range of vehicle owners from its modern Midleton depot as well as a providing a prompt and professional mobile call-out service.
Founder Christy has now taken a back seat and the outstanding family business is today run by his sons Liam and Brian, who have a solution for every eventuality. As well as repairing, stocking and replacing car, van and jeep tyres, Robinsons Tyres also cover tyres for trucks, trailers, tractors, agri machinery and plant, consistently looking after customers – and their vehicles! – with high-quality products and service levels to match.
As a proud family business first and foremost, Christy Robinson Tyre Services take great pride in consistently providing every customer with a personal touch. “People are always telling us we give a personal touch and we certainly go out of our way to always look after our customers as best we can,” says Christy. “If you take a look at our reviews on Facebook, which are all positive, it gives a good indication of the level of service we provide.”
Reflecting on the genesis of the business, Christy, who trained as a mechanic and fitter but spotted a niche for a quality tyre service, reflects: “I started doing jobs from home and progressed from there. I opened the tyre depot in Midleton in 1995. The two lads run the business now.”
Supplementing the exceptional service levels and proven expertise accumulated down through the years, regular investment in stock and facilities has also been instrumental in Christy Robinson Tyre Services’ continued growth and success. At present, in addition to their busy and well-appointed tyre depot at Knockgriffin Industrial Park, they run a fleet of five Renault vans, two of which are fully-kitted-out, state-of-the-art mobile service units.
“We’ve stuck with Renault for seven or eight years now,” says the company founder. “I find them to be a more dependable van and they come with a better warranty.
“From one year to the next, you do invest quite a lot of money into vans and gear. You are spending all the time in this line of work to make sure your service is as reliable as it possibly can be. It costs around €50,000 to put a new breakdown van on the road today and we have to do that on average every six or seven years.”
As for the type of tyres typically catered for, Christy continues: “We cover literally everything. Car, van and jeep tyres is a big part of the business but we also do agri, plant and also lorry tyres.”
A great selection of quality tyre brands is stocked, from all the leading manufacturers, including BKT agri tyres which offer exceptional performance and excellent feedback from operators. “We look after many local farmers and contractors within a 25-mile radius of the workshop. Regular customers are given a full 24/7 breakdown service, but staff is a big problem. There is work there for two more men if we could get them…”
Regarding the most important qualities needed for a value-added agricultural tyre, Christy adds: “A good agri tyre needs to be able to do land work and road work. They have to be versatile and show dependability in both settings.
“There’s so much choice in the heavy stuff and we carry a wide range of tyres, including Alliance, Firestone, Bridgestone, etc. We’ll give people whatever they want. At this stage, contractors tend to know what they want for their machines, although I do sometimes wonder are they all weighing it up properly…
“An average tractor tyre ends up costing around €2 – €2.50 per hour. A set of tyres could cost up to €8k or €9k and lads will look at the initial cost but do they always look at the cost over the lifetime of the tyres, and performance? It’s performance and the life of the tyre you need to measure when you are making your living out of it. A tractor tyre is a whole different ballgame to a car tyre. They simply have to perform and they have to give you the hours.
“Generally speaking, a tyre has to be dependable – that goes without saying. But we have a lot of good customers who say ‘we can buy a good tyre anywhere but we can’t buy good service anywhere’. It’s all about good back-up service at the end of the day and that’s what we have always focused on. If a tractor is broken down in a field all day, then that farmer or contractor is going to lose money and lots of it – it’s not just about the cost of replacing the tyre.
“When I started out in this business, it was all price, price, price that customers were interested in. That still comes into it, but it’s the back-up service that they are looking for more than anything.”
Although they are busy, Robinsons look after every customer as quickly and efficiently as possible. Loyal customers can rest assured that the business is in safe hands now that it has been passed down to the second generation… “The two boys are competent and enthusiastic and have a great interest in it,” says Christy. “Liam came here automatically when he left school. Brian served his time as a fitter but when things got tough in 2006/07 he joined us and he has been here since.”
Providing invaluable service to owners and operators of virtually all makes and models of vehicles and machinery, Christy Robinson Tyre Services has come a long way over the past 36 years and, with the founder’s sons now at the helm, the future of this standard-setting family-run business looks equally encouraging:
“The plan is to keep it where it is and hold on to what we have,” Christy concludes. “The main problem I can see going forward is going to be labour. We can’t compete with the wages being paid by the big pharmaceutical plants and chemical companies down here in Cork. Every company in the tyre trade has the same problem – staff, staff, staff. With more manpower, we could grow the business but realistically we’ll be more than happy to keep it where it is.”
Christy Robinson Tyre Services Ltd.,
Unit 15,
Knockgriffin Industrial Park,
Midleton,
County Cork.
Tel: 021 4636995
Mobile: 086 8350215
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/robinsonstyres
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 11 No 6, December 2023/January 2024
Christy Robinson Tyre Services
