How To Service & Maintain Your Fleet Of Commercial Trucks

Creating a maintenance strategy for truck fleets

Preventing downtime and extending asset lifetime should be two of your truck fleet maintenance management plan's top focuses. This guarantees that you provide the most excellent possible service to your consumers, but it also ensures that you get the most out of your pricey vehicles.

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Many fleet managers are turning to a cloud-based software solution to monitor every element of their fleet, including maintenance activities, team efficiency, and costs. Using a centralized platform to manage your truck fleet maintenance gives you the most insight into vehicle health and enables you to communicate repair requirements to your whole team in real-time.

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Consider your fleet's specific demands while establishing your truck fleet maintenance plan. More extensive or specialized vehicles will need a different maintenance schedule than smaller trucks. To assist you in determining the best course of action for your fleet, we've divided truck fleet maintenance into three categories.

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Maintenance of truck fleets for light-duty vehicles

Light-duty trucks have a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of up to 8,500 pounds, making them perfect for service fleets that often operate through suburban areas, such as landscaping or plumbing. Pickup trucks or vans are commonly used in light-duty fleets, while specific fleets, such as personal transportation companies, may incorporate sports utility vehicles.

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Vehicle inspections and preventative maintenance should be prioritized in light-duty truck fleet maintenance programs. Taking a proactive approach to maintenance ensures that your trucks are available when needed and continue to be dependable on their daily route.

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- Vehicle inspections should be standardized

If your team doesn't do daily vehicle inspections, keeping track of asset health might be difficult. Minor problems beneath the hood might be undiagnosed for a long time, leading to significant issues and breakdowns.

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All concerns are logged, and repair may be hastened if drivers conduct daily vehicle checks. Using a mobile inspection app is the most expedient method for drivers to perform inspections. With your fleet continuously on the go, a mobile inspection app enables your drivers to conduct inspections anywhere in the field and send the findings to your fleet manager in real-time. Any problems are instantly sent to you, enabling you to decide on the best maintenance strategy.

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- Ensuring preventive maintenance

The best maintenance strategies for truck fleets are proactive rather than reactive. This signifies that your team regularly follows the manufacturer's preventative maintenance guidelines.

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For fleets that still utilize paper calendars and spreadsheets to track maintenance, sticking to a preventative maintenance plan might be difficult. Fleet management software sends service reminders to your mailbox based on odometer readings at engine hour intervals so that you can bring your vehicle in for scheduled maintenance on time.

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The mobile inspection app allows drivers to update odometer readings, or you can combine your telemetry system with fleet management software to get odometer updates automatically. Using software to automate maintenance reminders guarantees that your truck fleet never misses a scheduled service.

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Maintenance medium and heavy-duty truck fleets

Because medium- to heavy-duty truck fleets are often employed for deliveries, uptime is critical. Two of the most acceptable tactics for preserving your fleet's safety and dependability are automating truck fleet maintenance activities and enhancing asset visibility.

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Maintaining vehicle inspection reports daily

The Department of Transportation (DOT) requires daily vehicle inspection reports (DVIR) for commercial vehicles . Completing and keeping track of DVIRs ensures that your fleet complies with DOT standards and that your vehicles remain safe on the road. Truckers spend much time filling out DVIR documents on paper, and some drivers pencil-whip from the driver's seat to get back on their routes, perhaps missing major faults beneath the hood.

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Electronic DVIR (eDVIR) is a smartphone app that allows drivers to do quick and comprehensive inspections. The data from all inspections is stored in cloud-based software. This enables drivers to demonstrate compliance on the road, but it also informs fleet management of any possible difficulties immediately. You can quickly establish a truck fleet maintenance plan and guide your driver to a nearby shop for repairs, even if an asset is hundreds of miles away.

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Telematics for vehicle tracking

Whether your trucking fleet operates locally or on regional or national routes, having insight into your operations might be difficult if you're still utilizing archaic fleet management systems. Many trucking fleets use GPS or telematics devices to monitor and manage routes, but these systems may also provide valuable information about your assets' health. When you combine your telematics device with fleet management software, you have complete visibility across your whole fleet and real-time data on vehicle health and safety.

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Telematics data may help you improve your truck fleet maintenance plan by giving you insight into diagnostic trouble codes (DTC) that can alert you to underlying maintenance concerns. Combining telematics data with other fleet data gives you a comprehensive view of your fleet's health and productivity.

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Workflows for maintenance automation

To optimize operations and get your trucks in and out of the shop faster, truck fleet maintenance may be automated. Fleet management software lets you avoid downtime by building procedures that fit your fleet, from getting service alerts for future preventative maintenance to checking work order progress in real-time.

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Work order tracking software provides a detailed line-item breakdown, allowing you to analyze faults, manage staff productivity, and keep track of repair costs. Whether you handle maintenance in-house or outsource it to a third party, you may minimize unexpected expenses and remain within your budget by controlling spending.

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Final words

If you adhere to these tips and manage your entire fleet of vehicles you can ensure that you keep all trucks in your fleet in their perfect condition at all times. 

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