Whelans Garage Ltd is based in Kilrush, Co Clare, with two other branches located in Ennis and Loughrea, Co Galway. The company was established in 1966 by Joe Sr, who grew up working on the family farm and agricultural contracting business. This is where he gained his passion for machinery before he started training as a mechanic with the Air Corps in Baldonnell, Co Dublin.

One evening, on his way home to Clare Joe stopped at a service station for fuel, which happened to be the main Zetor importer at the time on the Naas road. Joe bumped into the owner Sean O’Shea and got talking to him. After hearing that Joe was both a mechanic and from Clare, Sean asked him would he service three tractors which they had sold around Clare. Joe agreed and returned Monday morning to inform him that he was finished. Sean was so impressed that he offered Joe the agency for Zetor in Clare, which he promptly accepted. That was to be the start of what we now know as Whelans Garage.

Joe came home with the Zetor agency and set up in a small building at the old railway station in Kilrush. The business grew from there and, 10 years later, in 1976, he bought a new premises where the main garage is still located.

A new opportunity arose for Joe in 1982 in the form of the Ford tractor agency which the family acquired. They sold Ford alongside Zetor up until 1995, when a new dealership was appointed to cover Clare and Limerick for what was by that time the New Holland agency. Whelans also joined the FTMTA in the early 1980s, which they say has benefited them greatly as a dealer support system as well as adding to customer confidence.

Yellow tractors, in the form of Renault, arrived into the garage in 1996, which it continued to sell up until the Claas and Renault merger in 2004.

Joe’s son, Joe Jr, also joined the business in 1996 as a sales executive, a position he still holds today.

Massey Ferguson

An important year for Whelans was 2005 as it took on the Massey Ferguson franchise. Joe’s other son Kevin also joined the business that year as a parts and store manager, which again is a position he still holds.

Massey Ferguson was to be the brand to really get the business going and within five years Whelans had expanded to another branch in Ennis, which according to Joe Jr was opened in order to offer a better service to their customers in east Clare.

Fast-forward to 2012 and the business was once again expanding, opening another branch in Loughrea, Co Galway.

This expansion was brought about by the closure of another dealer who offered the same service and franchises as Whelans, making it a perfect fit.

Joe Sr also took a step back from the business that year to pursue other interests, but is still very much active in the business.

Each of the three branches cover on average a 30-mile radius and, although some people would see their proximity to the coast as a disadvantage, Whelans has used it as an incentive in making the business concentrate more on its customers and to continuing its long-standing relationships.

Over the past 50 years the business has grown and evolved to offer customers the best possible service that they can find, something Joe says is key to running a successful business.

“We have a very large customer base between our three branches that range from part-time suckler farmers to full-time dairy farmers as well as agricultural contractors and plant hire companies. On top of that the lawn and garage branch of the business attracts people from the town so we have customers from all walks of life and with different needs, but we treat them all the same way, by offering a top-class service, be it from a lawnmower all the way up to a tractor.”

He went on to explain: “Service is not just mechanical repairs anymore, it’s a broad range of things from advising customers to what will suit their needs or business, which can only be done by building up a relationship over time. We still have many customers with us today that dealt here way back at the start, with 98% of our business coming from repeat customers.”

In relation to modern farming, Joe believes: “People cannot afford downtime, be it a small part-time farmer or large dairy farm, people are far busier and demand an instant response, which we are able to give them.”

It’s this attitude to service that has seen Whelans grow and become one of the largest dealers in the country for Massey Ferguson. The business has invested heavily in staff, with over 30 employees, and six service vans on the road, as well as a fully stocked parts backup and an out of hours service, if needed.

“We carry over €1.5m worth of parts in stock so as that the part is on the shelf when the customer needs it,” commented Kevin.

Since joining the business Joe Jr has seen a big change in machinery and farming: “Machinery has got much more complicated and expensive. Twenty-five years ago people were more conscious of the price and less about the service backup, today it’s the other way around.”

“It’s service that sells machinery. The sales man will sell the first one, but it’s the service man that will sell the rest. Farmers now look at their farms as businesses and demand a reliable machine with the backup to match.”

Joe went on to say that 25 years ago new sales accounted for 30% of the business, with secondhand machinery making up the other 70%. Today it is 60% new and 40% secondhand, something he believes can be put down to farmers putting more value on their time and wanting a reliable machine that does its job without any hassle.

This can also be put down to a change in work situations – more and more people are working another job along with farming, putting more strain on their time. Other farms, such as dairy for example, have expanded considerably over recent years, which again puts more pressure on both farmers and their machines to get the work done quickly.

The freeing up of finance from lending companies as well as subsidised schemes has made buying new machinery a much more attractive option as opposed to buying secondhand. People don’t have time to shop around anymore – the internet has made buying machinery much easier, however, you take the risk of having no parts or service backup, so there are many benefits in building a relationship and trusting your dealer as opposed to going it alone.

To further commit to its customers, Whelans is about to embark on the second stage of development, by building a new showroom, stores and workshop over the next two years at the original garage in Kilrush. Whelans has already upgraded the display yard and built a wash bay and paint shop last year.

To make room for this expansion and the upcoming new season, Whelans made the decision to hold its first annual auction of secondhand machinery which it says will give their customers the opportunity to buy used equipment at great value for money, with many machines for sale with no reserve.

“An auction is a new sales tool for us and we want to be proactive rather than reactive,” commented Joe.

The auction will take place on Saturday 12 November at the company’s premises in Kilrush starting at 11.30am. This is a very interesting development coming from this progressive and evolving farm machinery dealership.

It is clear, when talking to the Whelan brothers, that they have a strong belief in running a professional business that can provide a quality service to its customer base and the family business has grown in line with this.

The relationship between the dealership and its customers is strong, with both sides recognising the importance of the other to their respective businesses. This epitomises the role of a modern farm machinery business in the local farming sector.