Guide to Fleet Maintenance

Have you ever had a delivery that fell behind schedule?

It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to get goods to customers on time, waiting for spare parts to complete maintenance work, stuck in traffic, or even just wondering why your lunch order is taking too long. In one way or the other, we’ve all felt the inconvenience of delayed schedules—many of which are due to traffic and fleet maintenance.

Organizations in verticals across the board—haulers, couriers, sales, service, utilities, public transport, and emergency services—depend on fleets to stay productive, meet deadlines, and serve key stakeholders. Vehicle conditions can directly impact company profitability, making fleet maintenance crucial for any company dealing with vehicles. Without a robust fleet maintenance strategy, you might struggle with missed delivery deadlines due to mechanical failures, which can threaten your brand reputation, jeopardize business, and threaten safety.

What is fleet maintenance?

Fleet maintenance is the practice of keeping company vehicles in good operating condition for safety, reliability, and longevity. It involves performing recommended periodic maintenance, replacing parts, and tracking asset history to avoid unexpected breakdowns.

What is fleet maintenance management?

Fleet maintenance management refers to the approach a company takes to oversee and coordinate the maintenance of its fleet of vehicles. This management approach could be preventive and includes scheduling regular maintenance tasks, tracking vehicle performance, managing repair work, and maintaining detailed service history records. Effective fleet maintenance management helps minimize downtime, reduce operational costs, extend vehicle lifespan, and ensure compliance with safety regulations.

What is fleet preventive maintenance?

Fleet preventive maintenance refers specifically to proactive maintenance work that a team embarks on to keep vehicles in good working condition. Comprehensive fleet preventive maintenance (PM) programs strive to improve vehicle inspection outcomes, reduce operating and maintenance costs, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

Examples of fleet maintenance activities

Fleet maintenance work generally falls into two buckets: short-term activities and long-term activities. Here, we explore them both.

Short-term vehicle maintenance

Short-term fleet maintenance work includes immediate or near-term activities aimed at keeping fleet vehicles operational and preventing unexpected breakdowns. These tasks typically include regular inspections, minor repairs, and other routine services.

Short-term maintenance aims to address immediate issues and ensure that vehicles remain in good working order between more comprehensive, long-term maintenance schedules.

Short-term vehicle inspections typically include:

• Oil and filters: Engine motor oil must remain at optimal levels to lubricate moving parts, seal against debris, and keep the engine cool.
• Tires: Well-maintained tires are crucial to safe, fuel-efficient rides. Technicians must check tire pressure, depth, and need for rotation.
• Air filters: Not only are properly flowing air filters good for driver health, but they’re also vital for engine health. Regularly changed air filters increase fuel efficiency, decrease harmful emissions, and extend engine life spans.
• Coolant levels: Low coolant levels lead to engine problems.
• Headlights, turn signals, and breaks: These elements are vital to safety.

Long-term fleet maintenance

Long-term fleet maintenance includes maintenance activities that ensure the sustained health and performance of fleet vehicles over an extended period. These tasks are more extensive and less frequent. For example, they include major overhauls, engine rebuilds, transmission repairs, and comprehensive inspections of critical systems. Long-term maintenance planning considers the entire lifecycle of the vehicles, scheduling major services based on manufacturer recommendations, mileage, or time intervals. The primary aim is to extend vehicle lifespans, prevent major breakdowns, and maintain overall fleet efficiency and safety over the long term.

• Transmission Fluids: Similar to engine oil, transmission fluid lubricates moving parts that keep transmissions working.
• Transfer Case Fluid: Transfer cases shift power from the transmission to the axles in both four-wheel and all-wheel drive vehicles.
• Shocks and Struts: Wearing shocks cause a decrease in smoothness, steering control, and driver safety.
• Coolant Fluid Exchange: Regularly flushing coolant systems rids engines of contaminants and ensure radiators are properly operating.
• Spark Plugs: Malfunctioning spark plugs cause engines to slowly lose power over time, which can lead to costly replacements.
• Serpentine Belts: Belts play an important role in powering peripheral devices, including alternators, power steering pumps, and air conditioner compressors.
• Front/Rear Differentials: These devices help transfer torque, or power, from the engine to the tires. Differentials must be kept lubricated.

Remember that fleet vehicle needs vary by season, weather, and driving conditions. For example, batteries are more prone to draining during hot weather than in the winter. Other fleet parts that are heavily influenced by external factors include windshield wipers, tires, and coolant levels.

Importance of fleet management

Organizations increasingly recognize the benefits of adopting good fleet management programs. In fact, the fleet management market is expected to grow to over $55 billion by 2028—up from $23 billion in 2023. Some of the gains inspiring more companies to prioritize fleet maintenance and management include:

• Improved inspection and testing outcomes: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires vehicles to undergo routine inspections and testing to ensure safety on public roads. Organizations with solid and credible fleet management programs have better chances of getting positive results and safety approval.
• Reduced operational costs: Robust fleet maintenance programs translate to reduced operating costs. One reason is that good-working vehicles use less fuel. An even bigger reason is the reduction in unplanned downtime, which translates to increased organizational productivity.
• Reduced repair costs: It’s cheaper to perform periodic maintenance than to prematurely replace expensive parts. This helps to manage maintenance costs for the organization. Fleet management enables an organization to detect problems and take care of them before they escalate.
• Retained resale values: When leasing, selling, or disposing of vehicles, companies can provide maintenance service records to prove vehicles are in good working condition. This enables them to get the best price possible.
• Ensured regulatory compliance: According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), transportation contributes the largest portion of carbon emissions in the United States, at 28 percent. The agency has introduced a number of regulations for the automotive sector to protect the environment. Implementing a fleet maintenance program helps companies ensure adherence to the regulations and do their part to fight climate change.
• Improved customer satisfaction: Fleet management contributes to excellent customer service by ensuring that products and services are delivered to customers on time.

Companies that don’t prioritize proper fleet maintenance run the risk of unplanned downtime, costly emergency repairs, and safety hazards. Put simply, fleet management is integral to the forward momentum of any organization dependent on motor vehicles for success.

Which industries practice fleet maintenance?

Several industries implement fleet maintenance programs to ensure their vehicles operate optimally at all times. Organizations that use fleet maintenance include:

• Government institutions: Government institutions have transport departments that oversee the maintenance of all vehicles. They ensure that the vehicles regularly undergo inspection and maintenance.
• Car rental companies: Car rental services need to ensure that every vehicle leased out to a customer is safe to use. Because customers have different driving styles, car rental companies have individualized fleet maintenance programs for each car.
• Agricultural companies: Farm vehicles such as pickup trucks, plows, harvesters, and tractors also need to be put under a maintenance program.
• Various corporations: Many organizations provide transportation for their employees. Employers who want safe, happy, and productive employees practice fleet maintenance.
• Long-distance trucking companies: Long-distance cargo trucks travel many miles through varying conditions. The cost of delayed deliveries due to breakdowns can be massive. Preventive fleet maintenance helps minimize disruptions.

Other companies that use fleet maintenance programs include: utility companies, courier companies, home maintenance companies, learning institutions, and mining companies.

How MaintainX improves fleet maintenance

The easiest way to improve fleet management and maintenance programs is through the use of fleet management software. These platforms enable organizations to track all vehicles within one centralized database. Managers can also assign standard operating procedure (SOP) checklists, monitor driver behavior, integrate inventory and parts management, and schedule recurring work orders.

Often referred to as Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), fleet management software also sometimes provides tracking systems, remote speed and engine revolution control, and remote security features. The software enables managers to monitor assets for maintenance efficiency, cost control, and optimized driver scheduling opportunities. MaintainX is one such provider that includes smartphone compatibility, instant messaging, and a user-friendly interface. MaintainX optimizes fleet maintenance by enabling you to:

Assign and track fleet maintenance work orders: Easily create, schedule, assign, and track work orders from one centralized system, whether you’re on desktop, a tablet, or your mobile phone. Take advantage of MaintainX’s workload-based scheduling with labor insights to ensure you assign tasks based on actual staff capacity.

Streamline inventory and parts management: Prevent any delays in maintenance work due to scarce spare parts. With MaintainX, you can monitor your inventory levels in real-time with automated low-quantity alerts that immediately let you know when you’re at risk of running out. You can enable leaner inventory by buying only what you need, thereby reducing carrying and storage costs. In addition, you’ll be able to reduce long lead times on parts orders and avoid expensive rush orders.

Simplify maintenance processes with checklists and SOPs: Simplify your technicians’ jobs with easy-to-follow work instructions, checklists, and SOPs. You’ll eliminate any guesswork when it comes to maintenance tasks, and ensure that everyone is following the right procedures.

Make data-driven decisions with reporting and analytics: MaintainX can help you gain full visibility into how your fleet operations are performing. Custom dashboards provide you at-a-glance insights into your most important metrics, including asset health, parts usage, maintenance reporting, and more. Eliminate inefficiencies by analyzing key data to identify which processes are working and which aren’t.