You may think it makes financial sense to hold on to your trucks for a longer period of time rather than replace them with newer, more expensive models. Think again.
Everything ages with time…sometimes that’s a good thing if you’re talking about wine. Sometimes it’s a less positive thing when you’re talking about trucks…or any vehicle for that matter. Jane Clark, Vice President of Member Services for NationaLease posted an IdeaXchange blog discussing this very issue.
As Jane notes, newer trucks are more fuel-efficient, with technology that helps not only better utilize fuel but also increases other efficiencies. In addition, older trucks need more repairs and parts and that means more downtime. All of these issues must be considered when trying to assess your TCO for each vehicle in your fleet.
Although the optimal timeframe for retire an asset will vary, Jane offers a list of factors to consider before you make any decisions. These include, but are not limited to the following:
- Initial purchase price ot current asset vs initial price of new asset
- Fuel efficiency of current asset vs. fuel efficiency of new asset
- Cost to maintain and repair current asset vs. cost to maintain new asset
- Number of breakdowns between PMs
- Cost of downtime
- And more
Read Jane’s full blog to learn all of the factors you need to consider when assessing the right time to retire an asset.
