Are You Proactive or Reactive?
How do your trailer maintenance decisions affect your vehicle? Many owner-operators and fleet managers are unwittingly lighting their earnings on fire with poor maintenance habits, losing money on downed vehicles, spending thousands more on parts and repairs than necessary, and replacing vehicles with increasing frequency. How can you adjust your habits to save money and extend the life of your vehicles?
Understand There are Two Approaches to Vehicle Maintenance
Some people are proactive when it comes to vehicle maintenance, while others are reactive in nature. Your chosen maintenance style can make or break vehicle productivity and profitability. Which one should you choose?
Reactive Maintenance
Reactive maintenance is by far the easiest vehicle maintenance style. Though it seems cheaper in the beginning, it is also the most costly over the long-term. While reactive maintenance requires very little planning or spending from day-to-day, when problems arise, vehicle maintenance needs are more complicated and expensive.
While you may not be spending time on monitoring the health and life of your vehicle(s), when issues do occur, they’ll be more substantial. You could find yourself with a downed vehicle, stuck roadside, spending hundreds to thousands of dollars on unnecessary repairs, or pondering if replacement is a better option.
Wondering if that’s an overstatement? The cost to rebuild the average diesel engine with issues resulting from insufficient coolant or overlooked oil changes is a whopping $15-40,000 from a certified repair shop depending on the necessary repairs. The cost of those oil changes suddenly pales in comparison to that monstrous repair bill, or the cost of replacing a vehicle that suffers an untimely death.
Proactive Maintenance
Proactive maintenance is the best vehicle maintenance style. Proactive maintenance requires an upfront investment in time and money preventive and routine maintenance tasks. With proactive maintenance, it’s essential to stay on top of scheduled maintenance such as oil changes, brake jobs, and alignments. However, this is not enough. Part of proactive maintenance is also monitoring for tractor trailer repair needs that are likely to present a problem down the road, like worn tires and air system issues that can leave you stuck roadside, searching for mobile repair service.
Your proactive maintenance program should include an accurate and up-to-date service history, timetable for upcoming routine maintenance tasks, compliance with Federal Highway Administration inspections and knowledge of upcoming deadlines, as well as a log or tracking program for suspected vehicle issues. This will require more time and spending in advance, but will save you the headache of unexpected breakdowns, emergency roadside service, and thousands in repairs in the long-run.
Properly operating vehicles are the backbone of your business. Knowing this, which fleet maintenance style will you choose?
Whether you need emergency repairs or are looking to ensure the performance of your fleet with a proactive monthly maintenance program, we’ve got you covered. Contact Ainsworth Trailer Repair for a competitive quote on your fleet maintenance and repair needs today.
