In December, Mike Hughes – trading as MH Services – was granted the main Deutz-Fahr agency for County Galway. Renowned as a tractor repair and servicing specialist, Mike boasts vast knowledge of the prestigious Deutz-Fahr brand.
Having served his apprenticeship and worked extensively with a local SAME/Hurlimann tractor dealership, Mike Hughes established MH Services in Cummer, County Galway in 2010. Over the past 14-15 years, he has worked extensively with Deutz-Fahr tractors – importing, repairing and servicing them – in the process building up a considerable customer base for the marque.
It was no major surprise therefore when MH Services was offered a main Deutz franchise for sales and service covering County Galway – and the knowledgeable, amiable tractor technician didn’t hesitate in accepting the invitation:
“It’s definitely an honour and a privilege to take on the franchise – and a big step forward for MH Services,” says Mike. “We’re a long time at them, so we know them top to bottom and it’s a good fit. Since I went out on my own as MH Services 15 years ago, I’ve specialised in Deutz-Fahr tractors and I’d say that up to 90 per cent of my work was Deutz-Fahr even before we got the franchise.
“Even before that, I spent another ten years with a SAME/Hurlimann dealer, so I’m well used to the product, with 25 years’ experience in total.” [SDF Group is firmly established as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of tractors, combine harvesters and diesel engines, with its products commercialised under the brand names SAME, Deutz-Fahr, Lamborghini Trattori, Hürlimann, Grégoire and VitiBot.]
Mike was humbled when SDF approached him with the offer of taking on the main dealership. “They needed a dealer and they had seen us sell a lot of fresh second-hand stuff in the area, so they knew we were the logical choice,” he comments. “To be honest, this is probably the way I always wanted it to work out. Don’t get me wrong, I was more than content with things the way they were as the business was ticking along nicely, but there’s always that next stage to move on to and this is it for MH Services.
“It’s nice to have direct access to new products and to parts. We have full access to everything overnight now, which is great. I’d always carry a good stock of parts anyway and always try to have as much on the shelf as I can, so that we can always get people back up and running again as quickly as possible, because obviously downtime is very expensive to operators these days.”
As so many of his customers were already more than familiar with Deutz-Fahr, Mike hit the ground running and began selling brand-new models pretty much instantly… “We sold a lot of second-hand ones over the years and there’s a lot of interest in the new ones now. People around here know they are a very good product – they’re good on the ground and they put up the hours and, look, I wouldn’t be at them all these years if I didn’t like them.
“They’d be a very popular brand around here – perhaps not as popular as John Deere but we’ll see what we can do about that!”
Mike comes from a farming background himself so he can see things from both sides of the counter, so to speak. While he moved into the machinery side of things, his brothers continued with farming. “They run SAMEs at the minute, which is the same brand really, but we’ll see if we can entice them over to Deutz,” the driving force behind MH Services quips.
“For a small tractor, I have to say the smaller Deutz are particularly well priced and worth considering. At the same time, I still have full access to the SAMEs, if anybody needs or wants them. The brothers like them and a lot of lads like them…”
Did Mike have to take on additional staff after accepting the dealership? “Getting good staff can be a real problem but luckily enough I had already hired a second mechanic just before Christmas, while my brother has also started to work in parts, which has freed me up to divide my time out between the workshop and sales.
“Good mechanics are hard to come by but I’m very happy with the two I have. I’m also training up a couple of apprentice mechanics – my nephews, actually, great lads… – and it’s nice to see the next generation having an interest in it and coming on board.”
MH Services pride themselves on service and that’s one of the many reasons why Mike and his team are such a good fit for Deutz-Fahr. “Service is everything as far as I’m concerned,” he confirms. “It’s the biggest thing. We pride ourselves on always giving a good back-up service with a very short downtime. I make sure that everything is as good as it possibly can be when it leaves the workshop. We definitely pride ourselves on service more than anything else.”
That’s how Mike earned his corn and built up his reputation steadily and patiently through word of mouth. “Exactly. There was a Deutz dealer here before in the early ‘noughties, but no real service to go with it. Since we came on the scene over the past 14-15 years, that has changed and we have been building it up and customers have full confidence in the level of service we provide. Lads know we can repair and service it because we have that’s knowledge and experience. They trust us and believe in us.”
Now, with the Deutz-Fahr franchise, MH Services is reaping the rewards for building up that loyal customer base for a decade-and-a-half. “The number of high-quality second-hand tractors I sell has gone up year on year,” Mike concludes. “Last year, I sold 53 or 54 and there is always going to be a future there for that second-hand market. Meanwhile, if I can turn some of those second-hand sales into new sales, then all the better!”
MH Services
Corbally South
Cummer,
Tuam.
County Galway.
Tel: 087 616 5542
Email: [email protected]
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 13 No 1, Spring 2025
