No matter if you have a personal fleet of vehicles or your business has a fleet of vehicles for its operations, keeping them running properly is important. Keeping your fleet well-functioning means staying on top of fleet vehicle maintenance. You can’t avoid every factor that can cause a collision or breakdown, but maintenance can make a drastic difference in vehicle downtime and the cost of repairs. Follow these five fleet maintenance to ensure your fleet stays on the road.
1. Understand the Importance of Cost Savings with Preventative Maintenance
Properly maintained vehicles reduce unscheduled repairs and downtime. While plenty of people put off vehicle tasks that are accompanied by the word “routine”, those routine maintenance tasks can end up saving you a lot of money down the road. Routine maintenance tasks can:
- Allow vehicles to operate a greeted fuel efficiency, and therefore save you money
- Prevent damage to adjacent engine parts or functions
- Avoid the cost and downtime of repairs related to poor maintenance
2. Identify Responsibilities
Fleet maintenance is the responsibility of everyone who drives the vehicles. For that reason, it’s important that you identify and assign responsibilities. Who is responsible for checking and inflating tires? Who will be responsible for receiving and responding to manufacturer recall notices? Who will be the one to schedule timing belt replacements? Identifying various responsibilities is one way to stay on top of fleet maintenance and ensure that your fleet stays in tip-top shape.
3. Keep Your Vehicles Clean
Keeping your fleet clean is an easy way to keep them well-maintained. Your fleet’s exterior is a representation of you and your company. Not only does it represent you and your company, but a clean fleet also helps you catch issues like rust and deterioration early. Therefore, you can keep your vehicles looking and operating like new for longer. Develop a schedule for washing your vehicles and a procedure for when a vehicle needs to be cleaned ahead of its scheduled time. Additionally, make sure to have all drivers clean out the vehicles regularly.
4. Communicate Company Policies with Drivers
It’s not enough to assign fleet maintenance responsibilities to a few people. Instead, fleet maintenance policies should be shared with all drivers. They should have a complete understanding of your company’s preventative maintenance schedules, maintenance policies, and what to do if the vehicle needs repair or is involved in an accident.
5. Have an Auto Technician You Trust
Having a well-maintained fleet requires an auto mechanic that you can trust with all your vehicles. A trustworthy auto mechanic will look after your fleet, develop a maintenance plan, and help you stay on top of vehicle maintenance appointments. Be sure to look for an auto repair technician that is trustworthy, has a great reputation, and has experience maintaining fleets.
Here to Help Maintain Your Fleet
The automotive technicians at Thunderbird Automotive Specialists can help maintain your fleet. No matter if you have company vans, diesel trucks, SUVs, or sedans, we can help maintain them all. Our technicians have years of experience working on various types of vehicles and can ensure yours are always running smoothly.
Contact us today to get started.
