When your fleet vehicles break down during service, the cost of unplanned fleet maintenance can add up—fast. There are the hard costs associated with the vehicle repairs. There are wages to pay. Plus the cost of delayed service or shipments to your customers while you wait for your out-of-service vehicle to be repaired.

Did you know that a repair performed at an outside location as opposed to an in-house shop can make maintenance costs up to 40% higher?

How Much Does Fleet Maintenance Cost?

When it comes to estimating the cost of maintaining a fleet, there’s a caveat: it depends. For instance, a poorly maintained engine can burn up to 50% more fuel. When fleet maintenance knows about the health of a vehicle thanks to telematics data and drivers are actively monitoring the health of their vehicles, costs will be much lower than in those fleets where maintenance is all reactive.

How Can Fleet Maintenance Costs Be Reduced?

Reducing your fleet management costs is something that you can absolutely do, provided you take the right approach. Making sure that your fleet vehicles are wired with telematics hardware is critical so that you can monitor error codes across your vehicles in real-time. This could mean the difference between planned maintenance and a costly breakdown.

Additionally, it’s important to know the lifespan of your core engine parts and peripherals. Scheduling benchmarked replacements and repairs before they are needed is a great way to reduce the cost of maintaining your vehicles.

Preventing costly issues is often a simple matter of maintaining the details of day-to-day maintenance. For instance, Hardworkingtrucks.com reports over 90% of all automatic transmission failures are caused by overheating.

The Importance of Your Preventive Maintenance Checklist

Having drivers monitor their vehicles regularly is a low-cost, high-impact endeavor.

Some example inspection points for drivers to track should include:

• Telltale signs of engine & transmission malfunction
• Rough idle
• Jumps or skips
• Difficulty shifting
• Stalls
• Regular check of all engine fluids
• Tire tread
• Brakes not slipping
• Interior & exterior lights

Note: this is by no means an exhaustive list — these are just a few of the important factors to monitor when implementing a more sophisticated and value-generating fleet management system.

When it comes to getting drivers on board with their logs, GPS Trackit makes it easy for anyone, no matter how tech-savvy (or not) they are:

The software is easy to use, easy to navigate, and has everything you could need for your fleet and then some! My Fleet utilizes the E-Log side of things, and during a recent routine audit by California Highway Patrol of our drivers’ logs, the Officer couldn’t have been more pleased. Their support team is attentive and quick to locate any issues, and their training staff is thorough and patient with “non-tech savvy” drivers. If you haven’t given them a try, I strongly recommend you do, you won’t regret it! Chris C.

Is Predictive Fleet Maintenance Possible?

With the rise of AI and data analytics, the question of predictive fleet maintenance or management arises. In short, you can cultivate a predictive maintenance plan with the help of your data and the right software. GPS Trackit provides an easy way for businesses like yours to monitor their vehicle assets from one simple dashboard which will save money in the long run while giving back more valuable hours during busy work days.

If you’d like to learn more about how GPS Trackit can help to improve safety, increase productivity and reduce costs for your business, speak with one of our knowledgeable Fleet Advisors at 866-320-5810 or get a quick Custom Quote.