Located in Kilconnell, near Ballinasloe, in County Galway, renowned John Deere specialists Paraic Dwyer Agri & Auto Parts are main Farmhand dealers (covering Krone, Amazone, Quicke, APV and Zuidberg) and have recently been appointed main dealers for Cross Agricultural Engineering. We touched base with founder Paraic Dwyer to find out more about this versatile, progressive business, which has been servicing farmers in the west for a decade and counting.
Twenty-nineteen has been a landmark year for Paraic Dwyer Agri & Auto Parts as the County Galway based agricultural machinery dealer, service and spare parts specialist celebrated its tenth anniversary. Based in Kilconnell, just outside Ballinasloe, the business has steadily expanded its offering over the years to give farmers an exceptional choice of equipment and parts, all backed up by customer-orientated service levels that simply cannot be beaten.
As members of the Farmhand dealer network, they stock the full range of Krone mowers, tedders, rakes, balers, and forage wagons; as well as Amazone spreaders, sprayers, seed drills, power harrows and disc harrows; alongside APV seeders; Quicke and Trima loaders; Yes sprayers; and Zuidberg front linkage systems.
Meanwhile, having this year taken on the Cross Agricultural Engineering dealership, Paraic Dwyer Agri & Auto Parts also stock a full range of Cross machinery, including slurry, manure, tillage, fencing and beet products, covering Galway, Roscommon and Sligo not just with sales but also as a main service agent and parts supplier.
For Farmhand, service, repairs and parts are offered to customers across counties Galway, Roscommon and Clare. They’re also renowned near and far as John Deere parts and service specialists. While the workshop is busy around the clock, the business also comprises a comprehensively-stocked stores which provides parts, filters, oils, lighting, bearings, seals, etc. for all makes and models of tractors and farm machinery.
Supplementing the agri parts business, a full motor factors carries genuine and aftermarket parts for all makes and models of cars, jeeps and vans. A keen hydraulic hose repair service is also provided.
Paraic set the business up in March, 2009. After studying Agricultural Engineering in Tralee, he joined Quality Tractor Parts in Mullingar in 1986 before taking up employment with Murphy’s Garage, Headford (which was then a main John Deere dealer) in 1990. He initially started selling John Deere parts from the garage at the side of his home and gradually expanded the business to include parts for all makes and models of tractors.
Reflecting on the expansion and growth of Paraic Dwyer Agri & Auto Parts to serve an ever-widening client base, Paraic reveals: “In 2015, Sean Doyle, who had years of experience working with filters specialists RedMac, joined me.
“Then, in October, 2015, Trevor Kelly joined as manager. Trevor came from a car background, having worked for 20 years as salesman with a main car dealership. We started doing car parts in January / February 2016 and now have a full motor factors with a delivery van on the road. Trevor became a partner in the business last year.
“My son, Shane, who also had a Degree in Agri Engineering from Tralee, started with me in 2015 and is our service engineer, specialising in Krone, Amazone and John Deere repairs and servicing.”
Paraic agrees that providing top-class back-up service to match the quality of the products and parts supplied has been instrumental in the enduring success of Paraic Dwyer Agri & Auto Parts. “You simply have to provide the service,” he continues. “We have really increased our sales since Sean and Trevor joined … between the three of us, we have driven it on, but you really need to offer service as well and we go out of our way to look after customers so that they will keep coming back.”
Paraic Dwyer Agri & Auto Parts’ reputation for excellence precedes them and the fact that the business is so multifaceted is another major plus. “We find that when the agri is quiet the car business picks up and one sort of feeds the other, with a steady stream of business all year around.
“We do full hydraulic hose repairs from quarter-inch hoses to 1.5 inch, providing a 24/7 service. We stock machinery parts for all our dealerships and a range of others. In total, we’d have around 250,000 parts in stock and we specialise in genuine and aftermarket John Deere parts. That’s the background I came from and that was my bread and butter in the early days; it’s another area where we have vast experience and expertise.”
The key to Paraic Dwyer Agri & Auto Parts moving to the forefront of the agri machinery, parts and service market in counties Galway, Roscommon, Clare and Sligo? “It comes down to having the right part – or product – at the right time and at the right price,” says Paraic. “If you can get all three of those right, you’re not doing too badly.
“Knowledge and experience are also important as people like to talk to people who know what they are talking about. We know John Deere inside out and can service, diagnose and repair them. Shane operates a service van and goes out on a regular basis to provide that service on-site.”
Looking to the future, Paraic will focus on further improving the high-quality service provided. “If we can improve what we are doing and provide all these services to the best of our ability, then we’d be happy with that,” he comments. “We’re busy enough for now and don’t want to overstretch ourselves and compromise on quality as a result.
“I see some dealers who take on a lot of agencies but we are happy with Krone and Amazone and Cross, while we only repair John Deere tractors. The day of a mechanic who can fix all makes and models of tractor is gone because they have become so specialised and complex.
“We’re in an excellent location 25 miles from Athlone, 28 miles from Galway city and 23 from Portumna. We have parts coming in and going out every day and we provide a next-day delivery service to anywhere in the west or the midlands.”
Sean Doyle is delighted with the position the business is in at present: “The main thing now is not to take on too much,” he adds. “It took us three years to build up Krone and Amazone to where people were calling us first and we’re not going to relinquish that. I’d rather sell less stuff and guarantee a better back-up service than go chasing more and more sales. We get a serious amount of business from word of mouth and you have to be mindful of the fact that bad news travels fast.
“We’ve been offered many other agencies but are going to stick to the premium brands that won’t let people down when the pressure is on. We have quality products and two great mechanics in John and Shane, who will answer the phone any time of the day and get machinery going again. Once you build up a good reputation and protect it, word of mouth is the best advertising of all.
“We’re also very particular about trade-ins,” Sean concludes. We don’t take in bad machines and anything that we sell on will go out of here in excellent condition, performing well. Everything is thoroughly checked and, on the rare occasion that something does go wrong, we will look after people and get them sorted.”
Looking after customers has brought Paraic Dwyer Agri & Auto Parts a long way in the past ten years and the signs are encouraging that there are a few more chapters remaining to be penned in this particular success story!
Paraic Dwyer Agri & Auto Parts,
Buxtown House,
Kilconnell,
Ballinasloe,
County Galway.
Tel: 090 9686860
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pdparts
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 7 No 7, Dec 2019/Jan 2020
