A A well-maintained fleet A vital part of any business is the use of vehicles. Your company’s image is impacted by fleet vehicles. They not only transport your employees to their jobs but also help you brand your business. A dirty truck can reflect badly on your company’s image. It is important to maintain preventative maintenance. You can avoid expensive repairs by regularly servicing and inspecting your fleet vehicles. Preventive maintenance plans can be a great way to increase your vehicle’s fuel efficiency and extend the life expectancy.
Preventive maintenance is key to keeping your fleet in good condition and making a lasting impression on potential clients.
Preventive maintenance is important for fleet vehicle maintenance
Fleet vehicle maintenance is about maintaining your vehicles in top shape to ensure that your company can continue to provide reliable and safe service.
When done right, fleet maintenance will also keep your fleet’s vehicles on the road for longer and, therefore, save your business a ton of money. You will enjoy greater safety, better logistics, as well as greater savings. How do I sign up
Plan preventive maintenance
Your starting point fleet’s preventive maintenance plan There should be a set of thresholds that, when crossed, will cause a pit stop at an Auto Repair Shop like All Around Auto Repair.
What are these thresholds? Many managers choose to have their fleet’s Vehicles sent in for preventive maintenance when certain mile markers are passed (e.g., every 3,000 miles), a certain number of time has passed between servicings, or when enough engine hours are logged.
But determining which of these metrics will trigger a preventive maintenance pit stop is only part of the solution – fleet vehicle maintenance needs a more comprehensive plan to be successful.
Checklist of Maintenance performed
A checklist should be included in every fleet vehicle maintenance plan. It should list all preventive maintenance tasks that you expect to perform on your vehicles.
While different classes of vehicles in your fleet may require different maintenance schedules, the following are typical items on most preventive maintenance checklists for fleet vehicles: engine oil and transmission oil, belts and hoses, suspension and steering, exhaust system, and inspection for fluid leaks.
Many preventive maintenance intervals will vary based on whether the majority of your fleet’s vehicles are operating under a normal duty or severe duty.
You might have to make frequent pit stops to maintain your vehicle. Severe duty may include: trailer towing and/or frequent idling, frequent stop-and go driving, frequent offroad driving, frequent driving on pothole-ridden roads, or fleet vehicles that are frequently motor paired by different drivers.
Driver Inspections
Although the ASA-certified mechanics at All Around Auto Repair have electronic diagnostic tools to quickly and accurately gauge mechanical issues in your fleet vehicles, encouraging your fleet’s drivers to note any problems they experience can be beneficial.
Drivers may notice difficulty switching gears, for example, which could indicate that there are underlying problems with their fleet vehicles’ transmissions. A similar sound could be heard when they attempt to brake, making it clear that an inspection of the brakes is needed.
The thing to do is have a process in place so that your fleet’s drivers can submit a record of any anomalies they’ve noticed while making deliveries or transporting goods.
Preventive Maintenance Hub – Record Keeping Hub
You’ll ideally want a place to ultimately store all of this information.
You want a record of 1) the service that’s already been done to your fleet’s vehicles, 2) a timeline for service intervals in the future based on certain thresholds, and 3) a record of any observations that your fleet’s drivers have made through the years.
You might even consider fleet vehicle maintenance software to allow you to do all three, and further enhance your logistics.
Fleet management software allows fleet drivers to be closely monitored, which results in more efficient dispatching, improved fuel economy, and automated reports.
Stop-and-go driving is really bad for your fleet’s vehicles since it prematurely ages your fleet vehicle’s components (e.g., engine and brakes). Fleet management software can help you identify which vehicles are idle and/or do a lot of stop/go driving. You can then reroute drivers and improve your driving habits.