Preventative Maintenance Tips for the Health of Your Fleet
17 Oct 2013Small business owners have enough to worry about without the distraction of fleet vehicles falling into states of disrepair or breaking down altogether. That’s why it’s so important to practice fleet preventative maintenance so that you’re aware of small problems before they become major disasters for your business.
Preventative maintenance, after all, is much less costly to the business than making unexpected repairs. Keeping vehicles on the road, keeps your company generating revenue. With that in mind, it’s definitely in the best interest of your business to practice prevention when it comes to fleet vehicle maintenance.
Schedule Maintenance Ahead of Time
You can schedule some maintenance tasks well in advance. Cooling systems, for instance, should be flushed every two years to avoid corrosion. Cooling system meltdowns at critical times for your business are quite costly. Brakes must also be checked frequently, every two years or so, in order to avoid wearing out. Brake failures could prove costly – not only to equipment and to cargo – but also as a liability concern.
Tire pressure needs to be checked regularly to help extend the life of your tires and to determine, in advance of a blowout, when tires need replacing. Check odometer regularly to schedule oil and transmission fluid changes, which require changes at 3,000 and 50,000 miles respectively.
Require drivers to conduct a visual inspection of vehicles before departing and after arriving. Pilots have preflight checklists and after landing checklists to go through. Offer your drivers something similar to go through. That way, drivers recognize new problems quickly in order to schedule repairs.
These steps will save your business a lot of money over time by extending the life of your vehicles while minimizing their downtime and repair expenses.Small tasks, such as these, make a big difference in the life and value of all your fleet vehicles. In addition, well-maintained vehicles with properly inflated tires will consume less fuel than those in varying states of disrepair that have worn out filters and improperly inflated tires.
Getting Your Schedule Under Control
As a fleet operating business owner, you have a lot of things on your mind at all times. Maintenance schedules and mileage checks can often fall through the cracks if you aren’t careful. That doesn’t diminish their importance, however. These things are too important to ignore or forget.
For this reason, investing in GPS fleet tracking services that monitor mileage and hours on the road, in addition to providing maintenance scheduling and alerts is a good plan for your business. It prevents these important tasks from falling through the cracks.
While even the most diligent preventative maintenance is no guarantee that vehicles will have long lifespans free of breakdowns, it greatly improves the odds.
If you are a fleet operator interest in GPS fleet tracking services, call us toll-free today at 1-888-544-0494 for a free 5 minute demo and learn about all of the GPS fleet tracking benefits.
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