Struggling with unexpected truck breakdowns? Discover how preventative truck maintenance can save you time, money, and headaches.
Running a trucking business comes with challenges, but preventative truck maintenance can save you from costly breakdowns. Let’s explore the top mistakes to avoid and keep your fleet running smoothly.
Preventative Maintenance for Trucks: Avoid Common Costly Errors
If you’re running a trucking company, then you probably understand that maintaining your fleet of vehicles is one of the most crucial things you can do. If one of your trucks breaks down when a driver is on the road, then that can be disastrous.
They probably will not be able to get the shipment to its destination on time. This, in turn, will lead to your clients not trusting you as much. You might start to see some negative online reviews of your business. That will definitely be a problem going forward.
You should always have a relationship with a company that distributes international truck parts that your vehicles need to continue running smoothly. The best companies are ones that always have the parts you need in stock and that also give you reasonable prices on them.
Having a steady supply of truck parts is not all you need to do to keep your trucks on the road, though. You should also know some basic preventative truck maintenance strategies.
Let’s talk about three of the most costly mistakes you can make with commercial trucks and what you must do to avoid them.
Neglecting Maintenance Documentation and Record-Keeping
This is possibly the most vital mistake that some trucking companies make, especially new ones that are trying to establish themselves within this ultra-competitive industry. You need to not just maintain the trucks, but to keep meticulous records that show what has been done to them and when.
There are inspections, repairs, and regular maintenance that must be done with commercial trucks. There are also governing bodies who might ask to see those records at any time. They will want to see them if anything goes wrong, but they may also stop by for a surprise inspection at any time.
If you don’t have the right documentation, then you might not be sure about what maintenance has been done, or even if it has been done at all. Keeping such documentation is a great way to spot any problematic trends that indicate you need to switch to different truck parts.
If you don’t maintain careful records of the work that gets done, you might also have redundancies. The same work could be done more than once. That would be a waste of both time and money.
The data that you collect from maintenance lets you make informed decisions for the future. It lets you predict which components of your trucks are mostly likely to need frequent attention as well.
Using Low-Quality Parts When You Maintain or Repair Your Vehicles
Another relatively common problem with trucking companies comes about when ownership decides that they want to save money by using lower-quality parts. Running a trucking company is expensive. It can be hard to stay solvent, especially when you are starting out and you have not established yourself quite yet.
However, when you start trying to cut corners by buying lower-quality parts, you are almost always asking for trouble. If you buy low-quality parts, then they might damage other truck components.
That can increase vehicle downtime. You are also more likely to need more frequent replacements, which renders this whole strategy ineffective.
Remember that the best parts are the ones that are specifically rated for the exact truck make and model that you have. These are the ones you always want to get instead of some of the cheaper, aftermarket alternatives that are widely available.
Skipping Regular Inspections
If you skip regular inspections, that can be another practice that may lead to disaster if you’re running a commercial trucking company. Some companies might feel that if their trucks are running okay, then getting regular inspections is unnecessary. That is a dangerous mindset to get into, though.
If you miss an inspection, it’s essentially a form of gambling. There could be problems with a truck that are gradually getting worse, but a driver will not realize it until it’s too late.
Once again, the vehicle could break down when a driver is in the middle of a run. They may find themselves stranded on the side of the highway somewhere in a desolate part of the country.
Also, minor problems that regular inspections catch can grow worse over time, at which point the truck will need more costly repairs. It’s a foregone conclusion that trucks need things like regular oil changes, but there are many more basic maintenance tasks that should go into a thorough inspection.
An inspection should cover things like the vehicle’s electrical components, suspension, tires, brakes, and more. If you can spot a problem with any of these relatively early, then it should be a cheaper fix.
Heavy-duty vehicles and long-haul trucks that spend a lot of time on the road and rack up a ton of miles are particularly susceptible to damage. It’s the everyday wear and tear that frequently causes issues, such as parts needing to be recalibrated or replaced.
Having a rigid schedule for truck inspections makes sense, but you will also want to have both mechanics and drivers do a point by point pre-trip inspection. The driver and mechanic should both be mindful of things like fluid levels, tire pressure levels, whether the vehicle’s lights work correctly, etc.
The final component that should go into your fleet maintenance will be the installation of maintenance tracking software. If you implement one of these systems, then you will know exactly when each vehicle was inspected last and when you are supposed to inspect it again.
Preventative Truck Maintenance: Avoid These 3 Costly Mistakes
There are various bespoke software suites that you can look into as a commercial trucking company owner. Most of them belong to the software-as-a-service category, though some software suites you can buy rather than rent.
Whichever option you choose, make sure that the tool is easy for you to use and understand, especially if you’re not the most tech-savvy person. You want to be able to quickly and easily go into the system and get all the pertinent details about any vehicle in your fleet.
Jessi is the creative mind behind The Coffee Mom, a popular blog that combines parenting advice, travel tips, and a love for all things Disney. As a trusted Disney influencer and passionate storyteller, Jessi’s authentic insights and relatable content resonate with readers worldwide.