The traditional way of maintaining a fleet of vehicles involves a number of time-consuming activities and tasks.
Here are some of the most significant ones:
Regular Servicing and Inspections: Fleet vehicles need routine servicing, including oil changes, filter replacements, tire rotations, and other maintenance tasks. Coordinating and scheduling these services for multiple vehicles in a one vehicle to one shop manner is time-consuming and costly.
Repairs and Breakdowns: Dealing with vehicle breakdowns and repairs is time-intensive. Arranging towing services, coordinating repairs with mechanics, and managing the downtime of the affected vehicles can all consume a considerable amount of time.
Vehicle Inspections and Compliance: Fleet vehicles often require regular inspections and compliance with various regulations, such as safety inspections, emissions testing, and licensing requirements. Ensuring all vehicles are up to date with inspections and meeting compliance standards can be a time-consuming administrative task.
Preventive Maintenance: Implementing a preventive maintenance program for a fleet is essential to identify potential issues before they become major problems. This involves scheduling maintenance tasks based on mileage or time intervals, tracking maintenance history, and proactively addressing maintenance needs. It requires ongoing monitoring and planning.
Fuel Management: Monitoring fuel usage, managing fuel cards or accounts, and tracking expenses can be time-consuming for a fleet manager. It involves reconciling fuel receipts, analyzing fuel consumption patterns, and implementing strategies to optimize fuel efficiency.
Tire Maintenance: Ensuring the proper maintenance of tires is crucial for fleet vehicles. This includes monitoring tire tread wear, rotating tires, aligning wheels, and replacing worn-out tires. Managing tire maintenance schedules and coordinating with tire service providers can be time-consuming.
Record Keeping and Documentation: Maintaining accurate and up-to-date records for each vehicle in the fleet is necessary for compliance, warranty claims, and effective maintenance management. This includes documenting service and repair history, maintenance schedules, inspections, and other relevant information. Organizing and managing this documentation can be a time-consuming task.
Parts and Inventory Management: Managing the inventory of spare parts and coordinating their availability for repairs and maintenance is another time-consuming aspect. Tracking inventory levels, reordering parts, and ensuring timely delivery can require significant effort.
Driver Communication and Training: Communicating with drivers regarding maintenance requirements, safety protocols, and reporting of issues is crucial for maintaining a fleet. Providing training and guidelines to drivers regarding vehicle care and reporting procedures can be time-consuming but essential to ensure the longevity of fleet vehicles.
Data Analysis and Decision Making: Analyzing maintenance data, vehicle performance metrics, and cost reports is important for making informed decisions regarding fleet maintenance strategies, budgeting, and replacement cycles. This requires dedicating time to review data, identify trends, and make appropriate decisions.
So the next time you are calculating the cost of maintaining your fleet, make sure you calculate the cost of "time" and not just the "shop" cost.
And just remember this...
With Slick's managed service offering, we dramatically decrease the amount of time businesses spend maintaining their fleet. We like to call these time-consuming activities "distractions."
Distraction is the enemy of profit and margin.