Fleet Maintenance Guide

Fleet Maintenance Guide

would like to introduce you to our latest ebook: our FLEET MAINTENANCE GUIDE This ebook is a handy companion for Fleet Managers and anyone responsible for maintaining a fleet. This ebook will help you in: understanding how downtime might influence a fleet and how to minimise unplanned downtime keeping your fleet vehicles in a roadworthy condition creating a walk-around checklist for your vehicles assessing the maintenance system of your fleet building up an efficient fleet maintenance schedule... and much more... 2

WHAT IS VEHICLE DOWNTIME? Vehicle downtime can be planned or unplanned - Planned downtime usually coincides with a slowdown in a company s activity. It is a good time for fleet managers and operation managers to schedule in servicing, refresher training, vehicle inspections and so on. - Unplanned downtime would refer to the period that vehicles spend off the road due to incidents such as breakdowns, collisions, or a delay in service/maintenance and repair schedules. Planned downtime is easier to manage, for obvious reasons, while unplanned downtime is seen as much more difficult to manage. What are the costs of unplanned vehicle downtime? Costs of unplanned vehicle downtime do not just include vehicle repairing. There are also costs which are not directly related to the problem, but still arise from vehicle downtime: employee inactivity due to accident or trauma for example, or idle staff hours; the loss of business revenue, and the costs of replacing a vehicle, temporarily or permanently, to mention just a few. Hence the importance of minimising vehicle downtime. 3

HOW CAN I PREVENT DOWNTIME? Breakdowns are virtually inevitable but, on the other hand, occur when daily vehicle checks are not correctly adhered to, the same can be said for preventative maintenance, duty of care inspections and driver training schedules. Keeping vehicles roadworthy by setting up a preventative maintenance system, having a good driver training program, having a small stock of parts that are most likely to fail demonstrably reduces downtime in the long term. 4

HOW DO I KEEP THE VEHICLES OF MY FLEET IN A ROADWORTHY CONDITION? If your company drives for work, it is necessary vehicles have regular servicing in order to guarantee efficiency and drivers safety. Adequate maintenance procedures are needed as well as a recording maintenance system that in the long run will allow you to prevent excessive servicing, predict when to schedule it and have a more efficient fleet. Efficient fleets are safer, allow you to cut on costs and concentrate providing customer satisfaction. Serviced vehicles roadworthy ones, are reliable cheaper to run as checks help saving fuel less hazardous for drivers less subject to suffer breakdowns and collisions helpful in developing your business less likely to incur fines, penalty points of sentences Vehicles considered unsafe for use, can be stopped at any time by the police force, which can decide they are not safe enough to be used. The consequence is more downtime and costs. Most defects can be discovered through drivers checks if your staff goes through basic checks before starting their journeys. 5

WHY YOU SHOULD EFFICIENTLY MAINTAIN YOUR FLEET VEHICLES If you implement a preventative maintenance schedule, you will reduce costs (overall maintenance, operations, insurance, downtime, fuel consumption etc.) and increase customer satisfaction. Safety will also be greatly improved (as well as a vehicle s roadworthiness): we are talking about driver s safety as well as other road users and passengers, and there will be reassurance that your vehicles (and your company) are complying to legal standards. 6

WHY IS A WALK-AROUND CHECK PARAMOUNT FOR MY FLEET? A good first step in setting up an appropriate maintenance routine would be the implementation of a daily walk-around check on the vehicle by the driver who intends to use it: Drivers should be able to identify vehicle defects in order to flag problems, or fix them before they start to work. The daily walk-around check should be performed by drivers on their vehicles before starting their first journey of the day, even if the vehicle has been checked and used previously on that same day. Every person checking the vehicle must be sure, after the check, that the vehicle can operate safely and reliably. Daily walk-around checks do not necessarily have to take long but they all still have to be performed properly. All drivers should be trained enough to perform an effective check in order to know exactly what kind of defects to look out for. They should have a checklist appropriate for the vehicle they are operating on, and be able to report any fault according to an administrative procedure. We have prepared a FREE checklist for your drivers daily walk-around check. You can find it online and download it: you will find it essential for your fleet activity! DOWNLOAD THE WALK-AROUND CHECKLIST NOW 7

HOW CAN I CREATE AN EFFECTIVE MAINTENANCE SYSTEM FOR MY FLEET? An effective vehicle maintenance system is made up of: Routine maintenance scheduled at regular intervals of time (or mileage) Daily/weekly checks performed before using the vehicle. Reporting system there should be an appropriate protocol in place capable of reporting, recording and fixing vehicles defects. An effective vehicle maintenance system is able to: Create and maintain policies in order to make sure fleet vehicles are regularly maintained. Making sure there is a record of checks and repairs, and everyone is informed of their responsibilities in the maintenance process For an effective vehicle maintenance system to be put in place you need: 1. a person appointed who is responsible for the system; 2. a clear policy stating which person is responsible for what; 3. a precise programme of the necessary maintenance schedules; 4. daily checks; 5. clear written procedures for drivers available; 6. comprehensive documentation for each vehicle including a record of maintenance and any necessary training the vehicle may require, a history of its breakdowns, and any defections and repairs. 8

HOW CAN AN EFFECTIVE MAINTENANCE SYSTEM BENEFIT MY FLEET? With an efficient system in place you: - are able to prevent/predict vehicle defects. - save on increased repair costs that might be incurred if a vehicle is not regularly maintained. - minimise the risk of injury and collision. 9

HOW CAN I SCHEDULE MAINTENANCE IN AN APPROPRIATE WAY FOR MY FLEET? Safety inspections and vehicle servicing have to be scheduled at specific intervals of time in order to prevent problems and defects. You can schedule maintenance based on: time every three months, for example; distance travelled every 30,000 km, for example; running hours of the vehicle. Or a combination of the three. When choosing the intervals most suitable for your fleet vehicle maintenance schedule, consider: - the conditions under which your vehicles are used or work; - the expected annual mileage of the vehicles; - the manufacturers recommendations for the vehicle; - other factors that might increase wear and tear (climate or the type of terrain where the vehicle is driven, for example); - the age and mileage of the vehicle. Vehicle manufacturers, often, already have specific vehicle-maintenance schedules: make sure you have all of these details before putting in place your overall vehicle maintenance system and finalising the decisions for your maintenance and servicing schedule. 10

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