You can’t eliminate fleet maintenance and repair costs but you can maximize the benefits.
In her IdeaXchange blog, Jane Clark, Vice President of Member Services for NationaLease, cites a recent American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) survey which notes that maintenance and repair account for 10% of a fleet’s expense. That may seem like simply an inevitable cost of doing business and, after all, how much does 10% amount to? Well, that 10% equals 15.6 cents per mile, so figure the miles your fleet travels and you’re looking at a significant outlay of dollars.
You can’t avoid maintenance and repair costs, nor should you want to. However, Jane offers six tips that will help you maximize the benefits:
- Review your maintenance practices – Don’t expect what worked five years ago to work on today’s technology-enabled trucks.
- Rely on pre- and post-trip inspections – Show your drivers the you appreciate their efforts by actually acting on identified problems.
- Track PM compliance – Setting the schedule is only half the job; making sure it happens and tracking compliance is vital for fleet operations.
- Use VMRS codes – Take the guesswork out of what has been repaired or what needs to be repaired by using codes all service providers understand.
- Monitor failure trends – Knowledge of the past allows you to act proactively to attack potential problems before they occur
- Invest in training, tools, and equipment – These are expenditures that will pay off for your fleet in the long run, helping to ensure that whatever is done to a vehicle is done correctly and efficiently.
Get more details on how you can make the most out of your maintenance and repair expenditures by reading Jane’s full blog.
