If you run a fleet of vehicles, you likely have a large customer base. Being able to deliver your products and services on time is essential to your reputation. While you can’t prevent every type of breakdown, there are some things you can do to get your fleet vehicles back on the road faster.
Have a Fleet Towing Company on Call
When your fleet vehicles breakdown, you’re going to likely need them towed to your repair facility. Having a fleet account set up ahead of time with a good towing company can help to eliminate unnecessary confusion when a breakdown occurs. In addition, towing providers are more likely to respond faster to your vehicles when you set up fleet accounts where they know they’re doing a fair amount of business with your company.
Keep Spare Parts in Stock
It’s likely that your fleet vehicles are similar in make and model. If so, you should be keeping some spare parts that will fit all the vehicles, or the majority of them, in stock. These include things like a Scania left hand headlamp, windshield washers, and other basic parts. These basic parts can be easily purchased in bulk to get cheaper prices. You can opt for storing them at your maintenance garage or in a compartment in your fleet vehicles.
Setup Fleet Maintenance Accounts
If you don’t do the fleet repair work yourself, then you should have a sole location that does the work for all your vehicles. You should be setting up a fleet account with this garage to ensure that your vehicles are worked on immediately when they arrive. As an added bonus, have your fleet account repairs set up to be billed to your business. This way, your employees don’t have to wait around until you call the garage with a credit card number.
Inform Employees of Your Chosen Repair Location
It’s very important that your employees know what to do in the event of a vehicle breakdown. When they’re not prepared, they can waste a lot of time communicating back and forth. Instead, have a protocol that your employees are to follow when a breakdown occurs. This way, the repair process goes effortlessly and they can get back on the road sooner.
Preparing for fleet vehicle breakdowns is something that every good manager must do. While necessary vehicle maintenance and regular inspections are a great way to limit the number of breakdowns that you experience, they can’t stop them all from happening. You should be employing the four tips above to ensure that your fleet vehicles get back to being operational as soon as possible.