--- title: "Fleet Maintenance Glossary" description: "Fleet maintenance terms defined in plain language — MRC, PM, DVIR, CPM, spare ratio, telematics, and Slick's UpTime, PMI+, HD-PMI, and TruView." canonical: https://www.helloslick.com/glossary lastmod: 2026-08-01 --- # Fleet Maintenance Glossary Fleet maintenance has its own vocabulary. Here are the terms that come up in every conversation about maintenance programs, compliance, and cost — 20 definitions, no fluff. ## MRC (Monthly Recurring Charge) The fixed monthly price per asset for a Slick managed maintenance program. Your MRC is based on which services are in your program, your fleet size, and visit frequency. Parts are billed transparently at invoice level — no surprise invoices. ## Preventive Maintenance (PM/PMI) Scheduled service — oil changes, fluids, filters, brakes, tires, and wear items — performed on a set cadence to prevent breakdowns. A PMI (Preventive Maintenance Inspection) pairs that service with a documented inspection. Preventive maintenance is the single biggest factor in fleet uptime. ## PMI+ Slick's on-demand engagement: on-yard mobile maintenance without the managed layer. You decide what gets done and when — PM, tires, brakes, DOT inspections — and Slick sends the same W-2 technicians and custom vans, invoiced per visit. Nothing recurring, nothing bundled. ## HD-PMI Heavy-duty preventive maintenance inspections tailored to heavy-duty assets like Class 8 tractors, performed on-yard by W-2 heavy-duty technicians. ## DVIR (Driver Vehicle Inspection Report) The pre-trip and post-trip inspection report required for commercial vehicles under DOT regulations. Slick performs and tracks DVIR requirements as part of its rhythmic inspections, with records maintained in TruView. ## DOT Inspection The annual federal inspection required for commercial vehicles. Slick performs DOT annual inspections on-yard, maintains digital records in TruView, and keeps fleets audit-ready year-round. ## TruView Slick's proprietary AI platform. It integrates telematics, service history, inspection results, and driver reports into a single system that predicts what each vehicle needs before it breaks — with real-time dashboards for vehicle health, maintenance spend, and compliance status. ## HUB A fully staffed Slick regional base with its own fleet of custom-built service vans, a local management team, and direct accountability for every vehicle on its roster. Each HUB covers a 75-mile service radius; Slick operates 10 HUBs serving 100+ cities. ## UpTime by Slick Slick's flagship managed maintenance program. One monthly program covers your PM rhythm and prepaid corrective labor, coordinated by a dedicated Fleet Coordinator and backed by written SLAs — ≥98% availability and ≥95% PM compliance. ## W-2 Technician A technician employed directly by Slick — not a 1099 subcontractor or gig worker. Every Slick technician is trained through Slick University, a 24-month curriculum, and the workforce holds 99.5% retention. ## CPM (Cost Per Mile) Maintenance spend divided by miles driven — the standard way to benchmark fleet maintenance cost. Well-run fleets land around 9–12 cents per mile; neglected, reactive fleets can reach 70 cents. ## Reactive Maintenance The break-fix model: fixing vehicles only after something fails. It means unpredictable invoices, driver downtime, and zero visibility — and it's always more expensive than preventing the problem. ## Managed Maintenance A model where one provider owns the maintenance outcome — scheduling, staffing, parts supply, and reporting — for one predictable monthly cost. Slick delivers this as UpTime, replacing the reactive break-fix model with a managed, predictive one. ## Mobile Maintenance Maintenance delivered by technicians in fully equipped service vans at the vehicle's location instead of a shop. The only shop trips left are the big ones — engine swaps, transmission swaps, body work. ## On-Yard Service Work performed where the fleet parks — nights, weekends, after hours — so vehicles are road-ready every morning. No shop trips, no towing, no driver downtime. ## Telematics The GPS, engine, and fault-code data feed from a vehicle. TruView integrates with major telematics providers and reads that feed as one more signal — and telematics is optional; if you don't run it, nothing about your program changes. ## Uptime / Availability The percentage of a fleet that is road-ready when drivers need it. Slick UpTime carries a written SLA of ≥98% vehicle availability, backed by service credits. ## Spare Ratio The number of spare vehicles a fleet carries relative to its active fleet to hedge against downtime. Reactive fleets carry more spares as parked capital — one FedEx ISP fleet cut spares from 4 to 1 after switching to Slick. ## Deferred Maintenance Service that gets postponed instead of performed on schedule. Deferred maintenance leads to failed DOT inspections, fines, and liability — routine maintenance today prevents expensive failures tomorrow. ## Steam Cleaning Interior and exterior fleet cleaning using 290–330°F steam. It uses 1–2 gallons of water per vehicle (versus 40–100 for traditional washing), zero chemicals, and is performed on-yard during regular maintenance visits. Ready to see these terms in action? [Book a Discovery Session](https://www.helloslick.com/demo). ## Sitemap Full index of this site: [sitemap.md](https://www.helloslick.com/sitemap.md)