{"id":2438,"date":"2021-01-26T11:48:30","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T11:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chevinfleet.com\/en-au\/?p=2438"},"modified":"2025-11-20T11:27:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T11:27:04","slug":"fleet-vehicle-maintenance","status":"publish","type":"training","link":"https:\/\/www.chevinfleet.com\/en-au\/learning-zone\/fleet-vehicle-maintenance\/","title":{"rendered":"The importance of fleet vehicle maintenance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Why is fleet vehicle maintenance important?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Reduce\u00a0downtime,\u00a0control costs,\u00a0meet\u00a0compliance regulations and keep your customers through effective maintenance management.<\/p>\n

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Any asset that has mechanical components, be it a car, lorry or piece of machinery, needs regular maintenance to enable it to function correctly and increase its lifespan.<\/p>\n

An asset that is out of commission costs money. Each day taken\u00a0to carry out maintenance or servicing\u00a0of an asset is a day that it fails to make you money. These losses can\u00a0stack up quite quickly if such\u00a0downtime runs into unscheduled weeks rather than days, perhaps\u00a0due to waiting\u00a0on parts or\u00a0not having the man-hours available to fulfil\u00a0tasks.\u00a0A\u00a0similar scenario across the entire fleet and this\u00a0‘waste’\u00a0can soon\u00a0have\u00a0a\u00a0negative impact on the\u00a0profitability of a\u00a0business.<\/p>\n

There’s no escaping it, car or vehicle maintenance\u00a0means unavoidable downtime. The skill lies, however, in minimising this through\u00a0careful planning and management by\u00a0having the technicians and parts in place to\u00a0complete a\u00a0task and\u00a0get that vehicle back out on the road. Fleet maintenance software<\/a> can be\u00a0an integral part of managing\u00a0this downtime,\u00a0reducing unnecessary time and costs.<\/p>\n

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Know your fleet vehicles<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The first aspect in running an effective workshop is knowing your vehicles\u00a0– when they need servicing, what is required, the parts needed and\u00a0an allocation in the planning schedule or programme\u00a0for downtime. An accurate assessment of the costs for both parts and labour can then be made.<\/p>\n

There is a temptation to opt for cheaper parts instead of choosing\u00a0the manufacturer recommended ones\u00a0to save money. This often\u00a0proves\u00a0a false economy in the long run as the life expectancy of substitutes may be less and a vehicle manufacturers warranty could become invalid.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0job needs to\u00a0be completed\u00a0within a set time allocation. If a\u00a0technician exceeds this\u00a0on all jobs, it is the responsibility of the\u00a0workshop manager to investigate and action. After all, time is money.<\/p>\n

In addition, allocations for carrying out preventative maintenance on a vehicle with\u00a0renowned troublesome issues can minimise the risk of\u00a0longer periods of\u00a0costly downtime later on down the line.<\/p>\n

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The benefits of\u00a0creating a vehicle or fleet maintenance programme<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As already discussed,\u00a0it is essential for any fleet’s\u00a0workshop to successfully deliver a scheduled, prepared and fully compliant fleet\u00a0maintenance programme<\/a>. This can\u00a0reduce downtime by having a detailed schedule of jobs to be completed with a time and cost allocation against each asset.<\/p>\n

Compliance is often\u00a0seen as\u00a0paperwork for the sake of completing paperwork, but\u00a0it is\u00a0much more than unnecessary work and ‘red tape’. It’s there to ensure safety for employees and other road users, incorporating\u00a0a culture of safety across the workforce thereby\u00a0reducing accidents\u00a0and\u00a0boosting\u00a0staff morale.<\/p>\n

Should the unfortunate happen, and an accident does occur, having\u00a0the paperwork in place provides some peace of mind in\u00a0knowing that regulations and standards have been met. Vehicles need to be maintained to the highest of standards, ensuring\u00a0that they are fully roadworthy to reduce the likelihood of an accident<\/a> through a mechanical or functional failure.<\/p>\n

Vehicles themselves have evolved and in effect, incorporate\u00a0onboard computers that manage functions and performance.\u00a0Using\u00a0telematics, faults can be detected and alerted seamlessly for the workshop to action, minimising\u00a0downtime. Such maintenance tasks can therefore become automated within a fleet\u00a0maintenance\u00a0programme.<\/p>\n

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The importance of fleet\u00a0maintenance\u00a0software<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Fleet managers\u00a0can help an operation improve efficiency\u00a0through specialist fleet\u00a0maintenance software in four key areas –\u00a0reducing costs,\u00a0<\/strong>minimising downtime,\u00a0<\/strong>meeting\u00a0compliance regulations<\/strong>\u00a0and customer retention<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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1. Reducing costs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Quality fleet maintenance software such as FleetWave can maximise efficiencies and help discover those areas of cost savings that are often hidden or too time-consuming to trace through paper-based reporting practices.<\/p>\n

Fleet\u00a0maintenance\u00a0software, in effect, is a large database that has many tools and reporting procedures to\u00a0speed up processes, provide transparency across the business and improve efficiency. Such systems integrate\u00a0easily with other software applications including\u00a0parts suppliers and account management<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The cost-saving benefits of software for maintenance technicians are numerous<\/a>. Add to this the flexibility of\u00a0a mobile app that can\u00a0collate and update information from the shop floor in real time and\u00a0paper-based administrative duties are reduced and\u00a0productivity increases\u00a0by creating\u00a0more time to complete tasks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fleet maintenance software can also:<\/p>\n