Written by In a fleet business, time is money. If your trucks sit idle even for a single day, your profits will slip away. Whether you own a mid-size or a huge fleet business, in this game of logistics, downtime costs you more than just money.
When you are waiting while your trailer is getting repaired or inspected, you are not just off the road, but you are
- Losing money
- Paying drivers to wait
- Missing deadlines
- Dissatisfying customers
- Risking late shipment penalties
- Missing opportunities because your trailer isn’t road-ready
The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) published a report in 2023, in which it claimed that unplanned maintenance and downtime costs each vehicle $488 per day. Now multiply the number by the trucks you own, and you will know how much you are underwater.
The good news is that you don’t need an MBA or a full-fledged team dedicated to reducing downtime. This is no fluff talk. You just need some real-life hacks, practical fixes, and field-tested strategies from people who have already gone through these problems. This shall help you reduce downtime and stay longer on the roads to fulfill clients’ demands and generate revenue.
Hack #1: Shift from Reactive maintenance to Preventive Maintenance
It’s yesterday’s news when you could afford to wait until something gets broken. Today is the era of tight schedules and fast deliveries. If you’re still following the “fix it when it breaks” model, you’re going to pay for the fix as well as the other surprises it will bring along. So, don’t wait for the situation to worsen:
- Schedule a basic inspection at least once in a month, which includes lights, brakes, tires, and seals.
- Keep a digital record of all the repairs and inspections
A small fleet business in Indiana implemented a simple preventive maintenance schedule using Google Sheets and calendar reminders and observed a 23% decline in unexpected trailer breakdowns.
Hack #2: Optimize routine trailer maintenance
For further optimization and turning the maintenance procedure, schedule the on-site maintenance overnight during low usage periods, so the trucks are ready to go by the morning. This strategy results in maximum uptime, no disruption during working hours, and less risk of vehicle failures. For the fleets operating on less cooperative working schedules, flexibility is a game-changer. EPIKA fleet goes an extra mile for its customers and offers off-hour and even weekend repair options.
Sometimes open slots of service stations do not align with your delivery windows, and cancelling or rescheduling the repair may extend to weeks of long waits. Delaying the maintenance can worsen the situation for the vehicle. Therefore, routine inspections are must to catch minor issues before they turn into costly breakdowns, which demand thousands for emergency repairs.
Hack #3: Partner with a reliable repair service
Nobody has got time to chase mechanics and wait for multiple days to get simple fixes done. Having a trailer repair service provider to whom you can go whenever you need is a game changer. And if they have got mobile services too, then it’s a cherry on the cake.
EPIKA fleet’s trailer repair service has got your back. They provide services of exactly same kind of hustle. They have qualified technicians to handle everything. From brake work to full axle replacements, EPIKA helps to get on the road faster than ever.
Tom R., a fleet manager from Nashville, says “We used to have 3 days of trailer downtime per incident. Since using EPIKA, it’s under 24 hours, and that includes nights and weekends.”
Hack #4: Get drivers in the game
Your drivers are your frontline. They are the ones who spot the issues first. Make it a team sport and get your drivers on board. Train them and build their mindset to make them understand how their inspection and feedback affect uptime.
Train them to:
- Report issues earlier
- Drive more cautiously
- Avoid violations at roadside checks
- Capture images of defective parts of the truck and send them to the fleet manager
- List down the issues in a shared document or an app.
You can give them little incentives, maybe $50, to appreciate them when they do a good job and encourage them to remain mindful of these guidelines in the future.
A Fleet Equipment Magazine study in 2022 found that fleets with active driver inspections had 18% less unscheduled downtime than the rest.
Hack #5: Pre-trip and post-trip inspections
Pre-trip and post-trip inspections are part of the law, especially for commercial use trailers, but most drivers rush through them or even totally skip them, and later face the consequences of it.
To get this checkpoint, the drivers must make a checklist on their phone or clip it in the vehicle. The focus should be on:
- Brakes
- Tires
- Lights
- Seals
- Suspensions
This quick inspection can prevent 90% of the issues that later become a reason for unplanned downtime because of emergency trailer repair required.
Hack #6: Don’t fall for cheap parts
You may get attracted to cheaper prices of the parts, but they are of low quality and can cost you more than you saved in the long run. Low-quality tires wear out 30% faster, and lights burn out faster and fail DOT inspections. So, go for solid vendors.
A global research and consulting firm, Frost & Sullivan, noted that fleets that use high-quality parts had 27% fewer repeated trailer repair services.
Hack #7: Build a system to prioritize repairs.
Not all trailer issues are equally significant, some can wait. Build a system to prioritize repairs so you don’t miss out on critical ones. You can categorize them as:
- Red flags (fix as soon as possible): brakes, lights, suspension
- Yellow flags (schedule within a week): door seals, minor rust
- Green flags (can be fixed during off-hours): brake pad replacement
Final word
Make downtime an exception, not a norm. In a fleet business, you are not just managing trailers, but you are managing trust. Every time your trailer is off the road, it is a risk to customers’ trust and your company’s reputation. Use these hacks and stay ahead of the curve. You can trust the trailer repair services offered by EPIKA fleet to minimize your downtime as much as possible.
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