On Valentine’s Day, we focus on the special someone in our lives. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be? Flowers, chocolates, special treats? Those things don’t just show up – truckers bring them. (So thank a trucker this Valentine’s Day!)
For a fleet manager, Valentine’s Day is a good day to show your rigs some love.
It’s not just about getting the cab cleaned out or the entire rig power-washed, although taking care of the interior and exterior is important, especially in the winter. Showing the love moves down under the hood.
Love Benefits of Proper Fleet Maintenance
Not that we want to equate loving a person with caring for a piece of machinery… You know what we mean when we say we have to show the love to our rigs. Properly taking care of vehicles means getting them repaired at the first sign of needing attention.
Keeping your rigs in ideal condition means they’ll be on the road with fewer breakdowns. The vehicles won’t suffer from additional wear and tear that puts their long-term condition at risk. Taking proper care of them means they stay in service longer, so the fleet manager won’t have to replace vehicles as often.
Preventative fleet maintenance is more cost-effective than emergency maintenance. When a fleet manager has a preventative maintenance plan, they’ll save money and be ready for a DOT compliance review when it happens.
The amount of savings proper maintenance provides fleet managers with is immense. It may be the key to helping fleet managers grow their fleet.
Business Effects of Neglecting Maintenance
When a trucking business fails to take care of its vehicles, the effects are felt on every side. Problems with vehicles get worse when they aren’t handled within a reasonable time frame. Drivers won’t want to take that vehicle out. Some shippers demand trucks in pristine condition. While a fleet manager might not be able to get a vehicle serviced right away, the wear and tear that results from continuing to drive a vehicle that needs maintenance are risky.
One of the biggest mistakes a fleet manager can make is to keep a vehicle that needs work out on the road. It’s asking for trouble More damage can result, not to mention the safety aspect of having a multi-ton truck on the roads. What would the DOT say if they found out that a truck with safety issues was still in service? Especially if there’s an accident that could have been prevented with proper maintenance?.
The domino effect that can result from not taking care of vehicles can be difficult to recover from.
How Trucking Software Helps Fleet Managers With Fleet Maintenance
TruckingOffice software can help fleet managers build preventative maintenance plans.
The software collects the data a fleet manager needs. Fuel records. Miles per state. Revenue per load. Expenses per mile.
Each of those are the result of the trucking software program collecting data from the dispatches, from the ELD, and from entering expenses and maintenance records and schedules..
When fleet managers use TruckingOffice trucking software, they get alerts when it’s time for vehicles to receive preventative maintenance. That data might also give an early heads-up that something mechanical isn’t working well. Increased fuel consumption can indicate that the engine needs some attention.
Whenever fleet managers that use TruckingOffice have questions about work that was performed, they can get answers easily. It allows users to quickly and easily search records for any particular repair. Ultimately, there are a variety of ways trucking software helps fleet managers create preventative maintenance plans.
So, fleet managers? This Valentines Day, show your rigs the love and create a maintenance plan that your vehicles will thank you for all year long.
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