Kumho Says It’s AOK In Caboolture

Kumho Tyres has announced that Caboolture based AOK Tyres has been named as its 2023 Queensland Platinum Dealer of the Year after delivering outstanding performance over the past 12 months in terms of sales, customer service and overall management.

AOK Tyres in Caboolture is a family owned and run business with husband and wife team Josh and Kim Conolly having started the operation in 1998 and have since built it into one of the state’s best independent tyre dealerships. The dealership has been selling and focussing on Kumho Tyres for more than 20 years and was a Kumho Master Dealer before becoming a Kumho Platinum Dealer.

Kumho has recognised the performance of AOK Tyres as a consistently strong performer over many years, making it a Kumho Platinum dealer a decade ago in 2014. Kumho Tyres Australia, director of sales and marketing, David Basha congratulated Josh and Kim for their latest awards and their ongoing achievements as Kumho dealers.

“AOK Tyres is very much a family owned and run business and they have work very hard for their achievements over many years, and while these awards are a way of recognising their performance, Kumho salutes them and looks forward to AOK being one of our strongest dealers many more years to come,” he added.

Josh and Kim Conolly steered AOK Tyres to a 37 per cent performance increase year on year for the 12 months which combined with good management and customer service clinched the Kumho Tyres Queensland Dealer of the Year for the couple.

It’s not the first time that AOK Tyres has won major Kumho plaudits, being names Kumho National Dealer of the Year in 2015 along with a variety of other gongs, including marketing awards and sales achievements across a the various tyre and achievement categories.

Just like Victor Kiam who bought the shaver company because he liked it so much, Josh Conolly as a young man had worked as a tyre technician for AOK’s previous owner and when he decided to sell the business, Josh took the leap and bought the business in 1997.

Josh’s partner Kim came to Australia to work as a school teacher and met Josh, but quickly found herself in a relationship with him, and never actually took up a teaching role, working in the tyre business alongside her husband for the past 27 years.

Asked what the secret to AOK Tyre’s success is, Kim answered quickly that it was centred around the way they treat customers.

“It’s all about treating people like they are part of our own family and treating their cars like they are our cars,” said Kim Conolly.

“It is also important to know and understand your customers because different people have different needs, requirements and particularly different budgets, so it is important to recommend the tyres that are best for them in every way,” Kim added. AOK Tyres has been a loyal Kumho dealer for many years which is for a very good reason Kim says.

“Kumho Tyres has looked after us and we sell the product with pride, they are very good tyres and our experience with them has built our confidence not just in the product but in the brand,” said Kim.

The Conolly’s have worked so long together that their daughter Rebecca, who was not even born when they bought the business, has now joined them in working at AOK Tyres. However Rebecca has her heart set on a university course at the end of the year, although it sounds like Josh and Kim will encourage her to continue to learn the ropes and work part time with them while studying.