Maintenance is one of the pillars of fleet management, and a good fleet manager knows that keeping vehicles in their best shape is crucial to a fleet’s efficiency, safety, and cost savings. However, many fleets forget to keep up with their fleet maintenance and let it fall by the wayside.
You must keep ahead of maintenance for your fleet business’s success. You can ensure your fleet remains well maintained by engaging in predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance, also known as preventative maintenance, is the only way to ensure your fleet vehicles stay on the road for the long haul. What is preventative maintenance, and why is it important? We will discuss that now.
What Is Predictive Maintenance?
Predictive maintenance refers to planning your maintenance to keep your fleet in optimal condition before breakdowns occur. Doing so helps you save on costs, keep your vehicles on the road, and maximize your fleet’s efficiency. Most fleets accomplish predictive maintenance by way of fleet maintenance software. To learn more about fleet maintenance software, check out our blog article: A Guide to Fleet Maintenance Software.
What Are the Benefits of Predictive Maintenance?
Reduce Expenses
When a vehicle breaks down, that’s a nasty shock for many reasons. First, that’s downtime where that vehicle isn’t earning money for your fleet, meaning lost revenue. On top of that, you’ll have to take the vehicle in for repairs, meaning more expenses on top of the lost revenue. And problems that cause breakdowns usually aren’t a quick, cheap fix. Your vehicles will spend more time in the shop, losing money, and raking up more costs.
With preventative maintenance, you’ll find problems and nip them in the bud before they escalate to this level. In most cases, a breakdown won’t even occur in the first place, and the repairs you need will be far cheaper than the massive fixes that come after a breakdown.
Maintenance on Your Schedule
A significant advantage of fleet maintenance software and creating a fleet maintenance plan is that you can plan for your vehicles’ maintenance needs. This means combining repairs with other routine maintenance, like oil changes. As we mentioned, the more time your vehicle spends in the shop, the more money you lose. If the repairs come up unexpectedly, you have to scramble to plan around them. When you plan ahead, it’s far easier to fill in the gaps and remain productive while your vehicle is in the shop.
Boost Safety
Anything that increases safety for your fleet is a massive advantage for your business. Putting your drivers in safe vehicles should be a top priority. A mechanical failure on the road can be dangerous for your drivers and anyone else on the road with them. Predictive maintenance helps ensure the safety of your drivers by keeping your vehicles in their best shape and preventing these mechanical failures that would put them in danger.
Get the Best Maintenance Software
When you’re searching for fleet software, you want to work with experts in the industry. Azuga’s representatives have worked with fleets of all shapes and sizes to accomplish their safety and efficiency goals. Our comprehensive fleet management software paired with our fleet maintenance solution will protect your fleet from any surprises and keep you at top efficiency all the time. Learn more about our products by trying a demo with one of our experts.
