Comerford Recovery keep getting better

01/02/2024

Having quickly established themselves as Kilkenny’s premier vehicle recovery specialists, Comerford Recovery continue to evolve and expand at a rapid rate, with a number of key upgrades implemented to this exceptional family-run business over the past twelve months or so. We interrupted director Bernie Comerford’s busy schedule to get an update on recent and current developments.

Considering the remarkable strides Comerford Recovery made in the first couple of years since the company’s inception in 2019, one could have forgiven the owners if they chose to consolidate.

However, to the contrary, brothers Matthew and Bernie Comerford, who have a wealth of experience of working within the transportation sector through their involvement alongside father Bernard in the original family business Comerford Transport, have opted to pursue a path of growth and expansion, taking things to the next level and providing unbeatable breakdown / recovery services to an ever-growing customer base.

Thus, in a landmark departure, Comerford Recovery are expanding into heavy vehicle recovery and have also opened additional recovery facilities in Johnstown, County Kilkenny and Kildare town to complement the original site in Kilkenny city. Furthermore, a HGV garage has been opened in Johnstown as well as a second car garage in Kildare.

The comprehensive recovery fleet has been upgraded and bolstered with the addition of a second motorbike recovery unit and two fuel drainage vehicles. Meanwhile, the Comerford Transport fleet is also undergoing a period of expansion, and – through their own garage - the Comerfords keep their fresh and flexible modern fleet of trucks, trailers, vans and recovery vehicles in immaculate condition at all times, currently generating direct employment for a team of 44 between both companies.

Matthew and Bernie run the two progressive, industry-leading businesses as a partnership, with the former taking charge of Comerford Recovery and the latter managing Comerford Transport. “We’re expanding all the time,” Bernie confirms. “There have been quite a few developments in the recovery business since we last spoke, while the haulage is flying, too, thankfully. We’re always looking for ways to improve and offer a better service.”

Comerford Recovery now operate a diverse specialist fleet to cover virtually every eventuality, providing a 24/7 service nationwide from their three bases. “We’ve added five or six new trucks to the recovery fleet, which is now gone up to 20 units in total,” Bernie continues.

“We purchased a new low loader with a winch to offer a full heavy vehicle recovery solution, which is a big step. We’d always had low loaders before and were moving trucks around but this new trailer has been bought specifically to do it properly and it means we can now recover literally any vehicle from any situation.”

A vastly-experienced and skilled crew of 13 is employed in the recovery business and the nature of the work is that specialist vehicles are available around the clock for recoveries island-wide. “We cover our own areas first and that’s where a lot of the work is but you never know where a customer’s vehicle is going to be and we will go wherever and whenever we are needed,” Bernie notes.

“The vast majority of our work is repeat business with regular customers but we’re hoping the new heavy recovery unit will also bring some new business our way.”

The ever-growing range of specialist equipment in the all-encompassing Comerford Recovery fleet includes a mobile electric car charging unit, a car park unit and two motorcycle recovery units. “We’ve also added two mobile wrong-fuel drainage units,” Bernie reveals. “You’d be surprised by how busy they are.

“We had the first one based in Kildare and weren’t sure if there’d be much demand for one in Kilkenny. But we went ahead and ordered a second. Once we advertised it and got it up and running, we found that there was big demand, so it’s another busy area.”

Constantly expanding and moving with the times is very much the way at both Comerford Transport and Comerford Recovery. “The transport is also nationwide and is going very well. We’re always adding to the transport fleet, too, and currently run a fleet of twelve vans, twelve tractor units and two rigids.”

Looking to the future, Bernie says the aim will be to continue striving towards delivering the best-possible customer experience across all facets of the business(es). In this regard, it’s very much a case of the more things change the more they stay the same!

“Our goal has always been to give a good service and look after our customers by keeping our standards high all the time,” the amiable Kilkenny man concludes. “Any changes to the business will be made solely to improve our service.

“For example, we were already doing light commercial and car repairs but we have opened a second garage at the premises in Johnstown to repair and service heavy goods vehicles. We have another garage at our yard up in Kildare to repair cars. We’ll keep moving forward and providing the services we believe our customers expect and deserve.”

Comerford Recovery,

Unit 24,

Hebron Industrial Estate,

Kilkenny,

County Kilkenny.

Tel: 085 2581980

Email: [email protected]

First published in Irish Trucker magazine December 2023/January 2024, Vol 26-7