fleet maintenance, however, is knowing that your fleet is roadworthy at all times. ">Fleet maintenance is a major concern in modern industry. When your company has thousands of dollars invested in your ground fleet of cars, trucks, vans, and more, keeping track of all your vehicles and keeping them in good repair requires savvy management. Your major investment is at the mercy of employees’ driving habits, gas prices, wear and tear, road conditions, and government regulation. Today, many fleet managers use fleet management software that helps them oversee their fleet. A click of the mouse will reveal where their vehicles are at all times and can even track the mechanical condition of each part of the fleet, by accessing data from the vehicles' computers. This is helpful to a busy fleet manager who needs to make sure that all vehicles are in good repair at all times. Even if you don't utilize software, you need to stay informed about the condition of your fleet. Why Fleet Maintenance is Important The consequences of ignoring vehicle maintenance are costly. • If your business is trucking, you pay dearly for downtime if your cabs unexpectedly need brakes, oil changes, or engine work. • If you run a limousine service, vehicles that breakdown can ruin a special occasion for your customer and decimate your business as the word spreads that you are not reliable. • If you provide company cars for your salesforce that do not receive regular oil changes, tune-ups, and other routine work, you risk jeopardizing sales when your representative misses a meeting because of car trouble. No matter what your business, you pay the price of missed maintenance. Scheduling Fleet Maintenance As helpful as software is in coordinating repair scheduling for your fleet, you still need to have a system in place for performing maintenance. The best approach for most companies is to have a relationship with a company that offers fleet services for keeping all vehicles in good repair. This is true whether your company is a small one with a handful of cars and trucks or a major corporation with hundreds of vehicles. A small company might not need to use fleet management software, but it is still important to service vehicles on a regular basis to take care of routine maintenance items, and as needed for other types of repairs. A smart fleet manager will build a relationship with a good repair facility to handle all repair and maintenance issues. The repair shop will become a partner in setting up a maintenance schedule for when cars need to be serviced. Finding a Trusted Repair Partner As a fleet manager, how do you select a repair facility for maintaining your motor vehicles? The biggest criteria is to find a facility that offers bumper-to-bumper mechanical service. When you send a car in for an oil change, you want the shop to alert you to other problems they find. Hopefully, what they find will be minor, but if they discover problems with the transmission or another major system, you want to make sure that the vehicle is in good hands. By patronizing a trusted service center, you may get discounts on services that are helpful in keeping your costs down. The real benefit of fleet maintenance, however, is knowing that your fleet is roadworthy at all times.
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