Being a commercial fleet manager (or owner) can be a hefty assignment! You’ve got a lot on your shoulders and everything rides on the decisions that you make. So when it comes to keeping your commercial fleet in tip top shape, what are the best ways to go about that? Maintenance costs can have a devastating effect on a company. But maintenance – at least preventative maintenance – is a necessity that can actually save money down the line. To achieve an organization’s service and sales goals, the drivers and the entire fleet must be kept productive and safe on the road. That’s a tall order. But as fleet manager or owner, it’s your responsibility.
Here, we’re going to give you a few tips of the trade to follow to be a more effective fleet manager/owner and keep that commercial fleet of yours up and running.
Standard Commercial Fleet Maintenance Versus Preventative Maintenance (PM)
There is a big difference between preventative maintenance (PM) and maintenance. The cost of maintenance is unavoidable, because bad things happen sometimes. But through an effective preventative maintenance program, maintenance costs can be lessened. Emergency repairs that could have been prevented through a good preventative maintenance program involves more than just buying parts. There is downtime to consider (lost income), possible wage losses by drivers, emergency repair costs, possible towing costs, and more. If that entire scenario could have been headed off by implementing a preventative maintenance program, that’s going to fall on you as an owner or commercial fleet manager. That’s just irresponsible.
Vehicle inspections must be done on a regular basis. This can include tire rotations, oil life monitoring using either mileage or time, tire pressure, brake inspections, fluid levels, and much more.
Are Your Vehicles Properly Spec’d?
Each vehicle faces specific demands. If you take the time to outline the usage of each vehicle, you can reduce costs with properly spec’d vehicles. Your budget could be negatively impacted if, based on the load carried and usage of each vehicle, your vehicles are under-spec’d. On the other hand, increasing costs can be driven by over-spec’d vehicles.
With the spec-ing of replacement vehicles, consider what’s being carried, operating conditions, usage, etc.
Ownership Costs
Are your maintenance costs rising? Does it have anything to do with vehicle age? How is the total cost of ownership impacted by your manufacturer’s warranty coverage? Other things to consider as an owner are optimal time it takes for vehicle sale (once a vehicle is retired), trends in the used vehicle market, residual value of assets, and more.
Are you communicating with your drivers? Are they all aware of company vehicle use policies and their responsibilities? They should fully comprehend the maintenance policies and PM schedules of your company in addition to knowing what to do if an accident ever occurs in which their vehicle is involved, or their vehicle needs repair.
Mickey Genuine Parts for Service and Equipment
We’ve given you a lot to think about here as far as the best way to take care of your commercial fleet.
Naturally, however, we’re going to recommend developing a partnership with one of our Mickey certified service centers. They’re conveniently located throughout the United States for the upkeep, equipment, and servicing of your fleet. When you go with Mickey, you’re going with the best. That includes parts, service, equipment, used trailers, and more.
Mickey stands behind everything we service and sell. That’s one of the ways we’ve stayed at the top of our game in the transportation/trailer/parts industry. Find out what so many others have already realized – Mickey Genuine Parts is the place to go to fill your transportation vehicle needs. Contact one of our knowledgeable representatives today for more information.