1. Improve Fleet Safety

First and foremost, you never want to have unsafe rigs causing accidents or your truckers to end up in dangerous situations. Maintenance is one way to improve safety. In fact, the FMCSA found that 27% of accidents involving just a rig and passenger vehicle were a result of brake issues.

These accidents, and the lawsuits and injuries they cause, are easily avoidable with the proper fleet maintenance program.

A few of the critical components of a vehicle that are easily improved with the proper maintenance are:

• Brake issues
• Tire blowouts
• Engine issues
• Steering and suspension failure

If you’re not taking fleet safety seriously, rig failure can happen. It’s always better to maintain safety with proper rig maintenance than risk accidents or driver safety.

2. Reliability

If you want your fleet to be reliable and maintain contracts to haul goods, you need to be reliable. When a rig is out of commission, it means:

• Lost revenue for your business
• Negative impact on your fleet’s image
• Potential loss of future work

Mechanical problems can occur even with proper maintenance, but they’re much less common when you have a proper maintenance plan.

3. Improve Fuel Economy by As Much as 40%

What’s one headline that you can’t get away from in 2022? It’s fuel costs. Gas prices are up around the country, and they’re eating into fleet profit margins. If you want to improve your fuel economy, one of the easiest things to do is maintain your vehicle.

In fact, proper maintenance can improve your fuel efficiency by as much as 40%.

The key, easy maintenance procedures that will have the most impact on your fuel consumption are:

• Oil and filter changes
• Tire and wheel maintenance
• Engine maintenance

Your fleet will benefit in the short-term and long-term with the proper maintenance schedule.

4. Lower Your Maintenance Costs

Preventative maintenance comes at a cost, but it also helps you reduce maintenance costs in the long term. For example, one study on predictive, preventative maintenance found that long-term costs were 18% to 25% lower than those that didn’t perform any maintenance.

Why?

Minor maintenance issues that go neglected for too long turn into significant problems in the long term.

For example, if you have an oil leak that you don’t address quickly and continue to allow it to be a problem, it can lead to engine failure – eventually. Of course, engine failure is costly, and it will keep a rig out of service for quite some time.

Routine maintenance addresses the issue, reducing the risk of catastrophic failure in the long term.

5. Make Your Drivers Happier

Transportation is in high demand, and with a shortage of drivers, fleet owners must try and find ways to keep their workforce happy. Benefits and good pay are a great start in keeping your drivers happy, but you can take it a step further by focusing on your rig maintenance.

When your fleet is well-maintained, it will allow you to:

• Keep rigs running smoothly
• Keep drivers safer
• Improve driver satisfaction

In essence, your drivers’ happiness does rely on the maintenance of the fleet. When rigs break down or don’t run properly, it reduces the miles the driver can log and leads to an unhappy fleet of drivers.

6. Less Risk of Compliance Issues

Compliance issues are a major concern because the FMCSA is cracking down on unsafe fleets. Failing inspections can lead to compliance headaches. Maintaining high safety scores and a great inspection record will allow you to keep all vehicles in your fleet free of compliance issues.

If you want to avoid compliance red tape, maintain your fleet.

Preventative maintenance (PM+) is just one of the key types of maintenance plans that we offer to keep your fleet running smoothly, load after load. We offer multiple forms of fleet maintenance that can help you stay on the road, improve gas mileage and keep your drivers safe. A few of the maintenance programs available are:

PEG Maintenance

A contract maintenance option, which offers:

• Bumper-to-bumper maintenance
• 24-hour road service
• Discounts on fuel and washing

Contract maintenance comes at one low cost.

Preventative Maintenance (PM+)

PM+ is a preventative maintenance option that includes all of your preventative maintenance needs as well as discounts on:

• Labor
• Parts
• Fuel
• Washes

With this monthly contract maintenance, rigs are kept in good condition before any major repairs are necessary.

Time and Materials

The final option is a time and material maintenance plan. Services are provided upon request, and the plan doesn’t require a contract to be a part of it.

Click here to learn more about our flexible maintenance plans.

Fleet maintenance is one of the best returns on investment that you can make as a fleet owner. If you properly maintain your fleet from the start, you’ll prevent major wear and tear issues while saving money in the long term.

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