O’Neill’s lead the way

When delivering a quality service, not many businesses can compare to Kilkenny Truck Centre, which has strived to ensure customer satisfaction is guaranteed for many years.

Since first opening its doors to the public in 1989, the business has gone from strength to strength specialising in truck and car sales, service, repair, leasing as well as testing light and heavy goods vehicles in its state of the art VTN centre.

Irish Trucker spoke to family member Shauna O'Neill about the success of the business and what their work ethos has been for the past 20 years.
The business was originally opened by John O'Neill, who is still involved in the day to day running of the company and Kilkenny Truck Centre is a main dealer for Citroen and Honda cars as well as Hino, Isuzu and Iveco trucks.
Last year saw the opening of a new VTN centre for the sole purpose of testing light and heavy goods vehicles. In total there are eight qualified testers that operate the centre, which has one bay for HGV's and two for LGV's.
"We are delighted with the new VTN centre and we are concentrating on building this end of the business, especially at a time when sales have dipped on a nationwide scale," said Shauna.

"We are the only VTN centre in Kilkenny city, so the lads are kept quite busy, but we ensure to get a vehicle through as quickly as possible and if there are any problems, we would have no hesitation in repairing the vehicle and putting it straight through again, if that was the customers' wish. We are open six days a week from 7am to 7pm and this gives the customer a chance to choose a time that suits them."

The VTN centre is customer friendly and every effort is made to ensure customer satisfaction. Its staff is knowledgeable and will answer any queries before and after the test.
"All our customers want their vehicles back on the road as quickly as possible and we realise this, so we make sure to keep the downtime to a minimum."
Based on the Freshford Road in Kilkenny City, the truck centre employs 55 people in total, while they also have premises on the Callan Road, Kilkenny and Clonmel, which concentrates on car sales.
Despite reaching a very high standard of business, the O'Neill family continue to upgrade management and staff with the highest standards of training and technology to help the customer with all their everyday needs.
"The company was awarded the ISO 9001:2000 certificate and our aim is to maintain a high standard and look at ways of improving the business on a regular basis."

Shauna revealed that all the testers are sent on refresher courses every year to make sure that they are kept up to date with the latest legislation with regards to the VTN.
"In the last few years, there has been a great deal of legislation introduced and it is important for the testers to keep up to speed with the latest changes. This is why they are sent on refresher courses at least once a year."
Kilkenny Truck Centre could be described as a one-stop shop; such is the wide variety of services that the business offers on a daily basis to its large customer base.

Apart from being a main truck dealer for Hino, Isuzu and Iveco, KTC is also a service dealer for DAF, which means that there is a full range of parts in stock at all times, we also have a nationwide delivery service of parts.
Asides from the VTN centre, hauliers can have their vehicles digitally calibrated, plating and speed limiters installed, which is an important part of the industry these days.
Truck leasing is an integral part of the business also and long and short term leases are available, which has become more common given the current economic climate.

A 24-hr breakdown service is offered to customers and Kilkenny Truck Centre vans can be seen heading out on a call at any hour, day or night. For those who take great pride in their trucks, which is the majority of hauliers, the truck wash and valeting service are normally kept quite busy.
"There is a wide range of services covered here and hauliers can be assured that whatever they are looking for, they will generally find it at the Kilkenny Truck Centre."

All hauliers and customers can be reassured that their vehicles will be kept safe at the premises as there is 24-hr security monitoring the facility.
Customers can be guaranteed to be met with a friendly staff that will endeavour to deal with any enquiries and the highly trained employees will ensure that any concerns raised are alleviated.

Kilkenny Truck Centre has been at the forefront of its field of expertise for some time now and the aim of the company is to ensure they keep providing the same high standards. Even in the highly competitive haulage industry, they are leading the way.