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Many enterprises, including manufacturers, logistics firms, and service providers, heavily rely on fleet management. Operating a fleet may be quite expensive, particularly if maintenance is not done. This can shorten the life of your cars in addition to increasing costs. Maintaining your fleet effectively is essential to reducing these expenses, extending the life of your cars, and improving your company's overall performance.
Implementing an organized and well-thought-out maintenance strategy can deliver long-term benefits. It improves fuel efficiency, extends vehicle life, and prevents costly repairs. Understanding how this works and applying it to your fleet can lead to substantial savings and a smoother business operation.
The True Cost of Poor Maintenance
Maintaining a vehicle has always been challenging, not only for businesses but also for common people. A PR Newswire article shows that around 44% of people haven't had their tires rotated as recommended. Additionally, 29% are behind on oil changes, while one in five owners are overdue on both services.
Lagging in these small vehicle maintenance tasks may seem negligible. However, when it comes to fleet maintenance, these can lead to numerous costs. The losses are further increased due to the fact that a significant part of fleet businesses depend on vehicles' performance.
Vehicle wear and tear increases with neglected or missed maintenance regimens, which eventually results in more severe failures. These malfunctions may necessitate costly emergency repairs, and vehicle downtime may interfere with your business operations and result in service or delivery delays.
What is the fleet maintenance cost?
The money you spend on the upkeep and administration of a fleet of vehicles is referred to as fleet management costs. Fuel, operating expenses, driver compensation, and equipment are the main expenses. You may also choose to take into account the expense of using contemporary tracking technologies, like GPS or telematics.
Improved Fuel Efficiency
A direct and palpable advantage of effective fleet maintenance is increased fuel economy. Because well-maintained cars operate more smoothly, they often consume less gasoline. Engines may have to work harder than necessary to compensate for problems like underinflated tires, blocked air filters, etc., which increases fuel consumption.
Even Energy.gov has cited the benefit of ongoing vehicle maintenance. It mentions that maintained vehicles tend to have similar fuel efficiency even after ten years. Moreover, tuning up an unmaintained vehicle can improve its fuel efficiency by as much as 4%. In both these scenarios, businesses owning and using multiple vehicles can save a lot of money.
By taking care of these problems with regular maintenance, you can ensure that every car in your fleet runs as efficiently as possible. Fuel savings result from this, which is important for companies whose fuel bills account for a sizable amount of operational costs.
You can also use fleet maintenance technology to improve route efficiency. This can become extremely useful in locations with heavy traffic congestion. Consider the example of Portland, Oregon, where the traffic got a lot worse in 2023 compared to 2022. As stated by The Oregonian, rush hour commuters in the city spend around a full workweek stuck in traffic annually.
It was around six hours more in 2023 compared to the previous year. The city was ranked 19th nationally for traffic congestion. In such a scenario, leveraging a fleet maintenance system to find the best route for more productivity. Top this with optimal fleet maintenance in Portland, Oregon, and you can save a lot of money.
According to T&S Automotive and Exhaust, you can save costs by reducing fuel consumption. As you find the best routes to travel, the use of fuel to drive your fleet will also decrease. Moreover, you can also save by reducing maintenance costs and accidents that can be avoided by selecting the best time and route to travel.
Preventive Maintenance: The Key to Longevity and Cost Control
One of the best strategies for lowering fleet management expenses overall is preventive maintenance. You can prolong the life of your cars and lower unforeseen costs by taking care of possible problems before they worsen.
Vehicles are kept in top condition by routine maintenance procedures like oil changes, tire rotations, brake inspections, and engine diagnostics. They not only guarantee proper operation of the car but also aid in avoiding expensive repairs that result from ignoring certain areas. For example, forgetting to change oil at specified intervals can lead to engine deterioration, necessitating expensive repairs or possibly vehicle replacement.
What is fleet rotation?
Maintaining the fleet cars as "new" as feasible is the goal of rotation. It refers to using all the vehicles in the fleet optimally and equally to give all of them some spare time. This improves fleet performance and lowers maintenance expenses. Depending on the kind and frequency of vehicles you use, you may determine the best rotation schedule.
Reducing Downtime and Maximizing Productivity
One of the unstated consequences of inadequate fleet maintenance is vehicle downtime. Even if a car is not producing income while it is being repaired, expenses nevertheless accrue. Downtime means lost production, whether it's a corporate car, delivery vehicle, or service truck.
Since scheduled maintenance can be performed and unplanned breakdowns may be avoided, efficient fleet maintenance reduces downtime. Scheduled maintenance allows you to plan ahead and prevent unexpected failures that might take your fleet by surprise. Maintaining a consistent workflow is another benefit of predictable maintenance, as it helps you prevent the disruptions caused by emergency repairs.
As stated by Expert Market, off-peak service also lessens downtime and minimizes any effects on the fleet's availability. Pre-use daily inspections of tire pressure and brake performance are another option. This will assist in deterring unforeseen circumstances when driving.
What is downtime in vehicles?
The term "vehicle downtime" describes the amount of time a vehicle is not accessible. Various reasons, including scheduled and unforeseen maintenance, repairs, and replacements, may contribute to its unavailability.
For instance, suppose a logistics company needs a vehicle to make a delivery. However, all the vehicles except for the ones already in use are under maintenance. In that case, the logistics company will either have to wait for the maintenance to be over or the vehicles in use become accessible.
Enhancing Safety and Compliance
Maintaining the condition of your fleet is important for safety reasons as well as cost management. Vehicles with proper maintenance are less prone to catastrophic faults like tire blowouts or malfunctioning brakes. These types of things might result in collisions, endangering your drivers as well as other people.
A Reuters article mentions that vehicles that have heights more than 40 inches are about 45% more likely to cause fatalities in crashes. Since your fleet might have many such vehicles, preventing accidents arising due to maintenance issues can save you a lot of money. It will also save you the trouble of going through all the legal aspects and compensation claims of the fatalities.
Moreover, regulations pertaining to vehicle maintenance apply to a lot of businesses. Penalties, fines, and even the loss of operating licenses may arise from breaking these rules. Maintaining your fleet's cars on a regular basis helps ensure they comply with all safety and regulatory requirements, preventing expensive legal issues.
Effective fleet maintenance is essential to controlling the expenses related to operating your company. Proactive maintenance may save you money, increase productivity, and enhance the general performance of your organization. Investing in systematic, routine maintenance is one of the best things you can do for your company's financial well-being.