5 ideas to reduce maintenance costs for fleets of commercial vehicles

5 ideas to reduce maintenance costs for fleets of commercial vehicles

According to Automotive Fleet magazine, the owners of commercial vehicles fleets around the world are confronted with two major challenges:

  • Reduction of maintenance costs
  • Fluctuation in fuel prices

Since the price of fuel is a challenge that you cannot directly control as owner of a fleet of commercial vehicles, your priority in this respect is to find ways to reduce costs in terms of fleet maintenance.

See below 5 ideas that can help you keep costs under control, so that fleet maintenance does not affect your profit.

1. Constantly measure and analyze figures

The saying "what cannot be measured cannot be managed" applies in this case too. If the answer to questions like "how much does it cost?" or "how much saving potential is there?" is "I don’t know", it's time to change it.

Make sure you set out clear criteria by which you measure cost areas aiming at the maintenance of your commercial vehicle fleet (consumables, repairs and inspections, personnel costs etc.).

2. Review your lease agreements

Given that most vehicles from a fleet of commercial vehicles are purchased in leasing, you should regularly monitor the leasing rates to make sure they remain competitive throughout the agreement’s period.

Also, their monitoring will help you make sure that the predictions of the leasing provider on rates are correct and do not grow more than expected.

3. Invest in safe driving courses for your employees

Risk management is a constant challenge for any owner of a fleet of commercial vehicles. Work accidents can have negative effects in terms of cost optimization, so you can save a lot of trouble by avoiding them.

We all know that prevention is superior to healing, so the investment in safe driving courses for employees who use commercial vehicles can represent an advantage for any company.

By simply avoiding accidents, you will make significant savings both in terms of human resources, and regarding any potentially necessary repairs after an accident.

4. Spend less on consumables

In addition to fuel consumption, consumables such as engine oil involve some costs for the maintenance of your fleet. The use of high performance synthetic oils, such as those from the Mobil Delvac 1 series, can bring you substantial savings in this respect. Thus, you will optimize the oil change interval and you will be able to reduce costs associated with consumables.

5. Save the used fuel

Even if you cannot control the cost of fuel, it does not mean that you cannot have a say regarding the amount used. Use lubricants such as Mobil Delvac 1 LE 5W-30, which were precisely formulated to achieve fuel savings. In addition to using high performance lubricants, you can also save fuel by:

  • Encouraging employees to drive preventively
  • Properly maintaining the tires
  • Running on the speed with maximum efficiency for the commercial vehicle

Even if each commercial vehicle fleet has specific needs and operate in a different way, maintenance costs represent the main aspect on the agenda of any owner.

Therefore, the above ideas can help you reduce the value of these costs. Beside these ideas, see here how the owners of 3 fleets of commercial vehicles managed to achieve savings in relation with the maintenance of their commercial vehicles.