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How GPS Tracking Devices Improve Maintenance Planning

As a fleet manager, you probably dream of the day fuel efficiency and vehicle maintenance takes care of itself. At Skypatrol, we understand. Your day is most likely closer to vehicle maintenance lagging behind because everyone assumes someone else will take care of it. Unfortunately, you’re not the only one struggling with this part of fleet operations. There are fleet managers across the nation that forget, ignore, or don’t know the importance of routine vehicle maintenance. It doesn’t make sense to take a vehicle off the road for an oil change when it could be on the road making money. It’s a common misconception that running a vehicle until it dies is the best way to do things; however, we have a solution to that belief.

In this post, we will share five ways GPS Tracking Devices will improve vehicle maintenance planning. If you’re ready to take advantage of the best fleet management software in the industry, contact Skypatrol today. Otherwise, continue reading to learn more.

Five Fleet Maintenance Tips

It’s tough in the busy daily routine as a fleet manager to remember vehicle maintenance. In fact, every minute a vehicle is not on the road, that vehicle is not making money. So how do you optimize routine maintenance? Here are five tips:

Assign Maintenance Duties

It’s common in a fleet for drivers to assume someone else is going to take care of the vehicle maintenance. As a fleet manager, the lifespan of your vehicles are directly affected by how they’re taken care of. Take the time and assign someone the fleet maintenance duties. In fact, if you have a large enough fleet, it may be advantageous to hire someone full time to keep up with routine maintenance needs.

Create A Vehicle Maintenance Checklist

A checklist allows for nearly anyone to take care of the vehicle maintenance, which means you can rotate duties every week or give each driver autonomy over their vehicle. No matter how you decide to handle maintenance, a checklist like the one below saves time:

  • Leaks
  • Mounts
  • Drive shafts
  • CV joints
  • Belts and hoses
  • Exterior and interior lights
  • Frame and undercarriage
  • Horn, seat belt and other safety features
  • Checks of all major systems (fuel, auxiliary, braking, exhaust, etc.)
  • Checks of cabin comfort controls
  • Checks of tires, wheels and rims
  • Checks of all fluids
  • General tuneup

Schedule Preventive Maintenance

It’s not enough to wait for a vehicle to break down before a tune up or routine maintenance is completed. Schedule preventive maintenance to stay ahead of any moderate to major issues with the vehicles.

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Use GPS Tracking Devices

Take advantage of technology to make better operational decisions. Also, through fleet management software, you can automate alerts for you and/or the drivers on when a vehicle needs routine maintenance or a general tune up completed.

Rely on Your Drivers

As much as you might think you know your vehicles, your drivers probably know them better. They drive them daily, and they’re aware of how the vehicle is running. Ask your drivers and other driving professionals about how they would maintain specific vehicles in your fleet. Take the time to learn as much as you can so you can stay ahead of the inevitable repair.

Effective Fleets Start with Maintenance

As routine or uneventful as it sounds, vehicle maintenance is the cornerstone to a long lasting fleet. As the fleet manager, you need to stay on top of maintenance and use tools available to you for better operational effectiveness. If you’re ready to discuss in more depth how fleet management software and GPS tracking devices can better your fleet, contact Skypatrol today!