Still Recovering
06/02/2025
McConnon's Vehicle Recovery is an industry-leading, third-generation family business that has been delivering exceptional accident and breakdown recovery and roadside assistance services to car and commercial vehicle owners in counties Louth, Monaghan and often further afield for 43 years and counting.
It’s no exaggeration to state that McConnon's Vehicle Recovery are experts in their chosen field of expertise. With a magnificent fleet of specialist recovery and roadside assistance equipment at their disposal, operated by a crew of vastly experienced personnel, they have been promptly and professionally coming to the rescue of motorbike, car, van, truck, bus and coach drivers for more than four decades, consistently providing a customer experience that is quite simply second to none.
The business was established by Malachy and Catherine McConnon in Ivy Lane, Carrickmacross, County Monaghan in 1981 and relocated to Aclint in County Louth, just off the N2 in 1997, after outgrowing the original premises. Today, Malachy and Catherine’s son, Chris, oversee breakdown and recovery operations, having joined the family business as an apprentice mechanic in 1998.
Chris’ sister, Katherine runs the office and administration alongside Catherine senior, while the third generation is also on board as Chris’ son Ryan is currently serving his apprenticeship as a mechanic and is also working his way towards his HGV licence to help out on the road. Meanwhile, at the age of 79, the ever-youthful Malachy is still very much involved in daily activities at McConnon's Recovery, looking after the busy workshop and managing the heavy recovery contracts.
At the heart of the business is a fantastic fleet of specialist recovery equipment, which was recently bolstered by the addition of a stunning new twelve-tonne DAF LF 260 paired with a Nugent 23-foot SLA body, SLA of course standing for Super Low Angle…
“We bought the new DAF from DAF in Dublin through Paul O’Reilly,” Chris reveals. “It’s got a super low approach which has a really nice loading angle which is ideal for the likes of cars with low clearance and camper vans with long overhangs. It also has an excellent payload for the ever-increasing weight in hybrid and electric vehicles
“We have added the DAF to the fleet and will probably go again in 2026. The plan at the minute is to hopefully put an order in for another new one next year to start replacing the older trucks. It’s important to keep the fleet as fresh as possible with the volume of jobs we are doing and the distance we are covering. We also have two 2013 DAF tilt and slides, a seven-and-a-half tonner with a Nugent body and a twelve ton LF 220 with a Boniface Body, a 14-tonne Renault Midlum crew cab with a Roger Dyson SLA Body and a Mitsubishi Canter crewcab with a J&J spec lift on car and LCV work.”
Elsewhere in the impressive McConnon's Vehicle Recovery fleet one can find a Scania 164 480 with Boniface Interstater Mk4f maxireach heavy recovery unit. The second Scania, meanwhile, pulls a Landoll 48-410 sliding axle trailer for bus and coach recovery. There’s also an Isuzu D-MAX for any light off-road work, a Renault Trafic for mobile fuel drains and roadside repairs and a Renault Master for the heavier breakdown work.
The McConnon's Vehicle Recovery team are on call 24/7 and Chris is pleased to report that they are always kept busy: “We have four lads on the road – Fergal, Bob and Cory while Martin looks after the night-time runs. They’re great lads and we’d be lost without them. I float between the garage and recovery and give a hand in the office. We look after cars, LCV’s, HGV’s and buses in the workshop – that goes hand in hand with the recovery business.”
On the recovery front, no job is too big, too small, too innocuous or too awkward for McConnon's Vehicle Recovery: “We cover anything from a moped to an artic and everything in between,” Chris stresses.
Covering counties Louth and Monaghan as the recovery specialist of choice for many of the accident and breakdown insurance providers and touching into parts of Meath and Cavan, McConnon's Vehicle Recovery work also regularly for who’s who of local coach and truck fleet operators and workshops.
“The commercial recovery side of it is also very busy,” Chris continues. “We’re at that a long time and have a good reputation. There are a lot of new companies getting into the industry but we have built up our reputation over more than 40 years and are still as busy as ever. We’ve a good name for getting there on time and for not causing any damage to customers’ vehicles.
“It’s not an easy industry to be in. The overheads have gone through the roof. The price of diesel and insurance have gone crazy. In the last ten-twelve years, our insurance has gone up 400 per cent, which makes no sense. Also, the amount of administration and paperwork involved in every job has increased significantly.”
Reputation is everything in the recovery sector and McConnon’s exemplary, unblemished track record for fast and dependable service stands them in great stead, allied to the fact that this is an established family business with more than four decades of experience and knowhow.
“My father served his time as a mechanic and did recovery and plant work in England before coming back home to set up the business in ’81. Back when he started, he actually built some of his own recovery trucks. We’ve come a long way and it’s great to have him still here involved in the day-to-day work, I don’t think there are many at his age or even younger that can do what he can,” Chris concludes.
“We pride ourselves on being a close-knit family business with a personal touch. All the lads are here a long time and are treated like family. You treat them as you’d like to be treated. While we mainly serve Louth, Monaghan and surrounding counties, you could meet one of our trucks anywhere. We also have a great network of reliable recovery operators across the country so if any of our customers break down anywhere and if we can’t get there in good time, we can always get them sorted promptly.
“All of the lads are trained to a high standard, they respect the stressful situation our customers are in and they are all very friendly and professional which gives our customers that extra peace of mind. We have met the standards for PAS43 certification for well over 20 years now and all the lads are IVR [Institute of Vehicle Recovery] trained. Whatever it takes to provide the best service possible, we will do it.”
McConnon's Vehicle Recovery Ltd.
Aclint,
Ardee,
County Louth,
A92VX67.
Tel: 041 6855404
Mobile: 087 3249492
Email: [email protected]
Web: mcconnons.ie
Web: wrongfuelassist.ie
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mcconnonsrecovery
First published in Irish Trucker magazine November/December 2024, Vol 27-6
