Fleet management is a tough job that involves juggling a ton of different responsibilities. It can be difficult to ensure that fleet maintenance remains a priority when there are so many other tasks a manager has to worry about. Unfortunately, many fleet managers run into cost overruns and poor investments.
Maintenance downtime can deeply impact your fleet operations, costs, and overall customer satisfaction. However, don’t lose hope. Planning can help you avoid issues, decrease costs, and improve the satisfaction of drivers and customers.
Predictive maintenance and maintenance schedules can help your fleet stay on top of issues before they become costly. They can also lengthen vehicle lifetime and provide continuous vehicle health monitoring.
In this article, we will outline the benefits of fleet maintenance planning. In addition, we will explain why Azuga fleet maintenance is your best choice for fleet maintenance software. Including reasons like fuel savings, better lifecycle management, improved compliance, and beneficial features of Azuga fleet maintenance.
Benefits of Fleet Maintenance Planning
The fleet industry is adopting fleet maintenance management systems in order to improve fleet maintenance planning. Fleet maintenance planning can greatly benefit your organization. It can help your fleet avoid disruption or delay in service due to vehicle problems and frequent disruptions that harm your customer satisfaction. The best way to start is with a fleet maintenance plan checklist.
Fleet repairs can be costly. Emergency maintenance (repairs) can cost 3-9 times as much as scheduled maintenance. Unplanned vehicle downtime/mechanical incidents can increase your vehicle maintenance expenses by as much as 53 percent. Fleets should do everything they can to avoid emergency maintenance and vehicle downtime.
Reactive maintenance leads to higher production losses and “good enough” fixes that do not address the root problem. Not to mention that driver management is made much more difficult when vehicles are unreliable.
Fleet maintenance planning leads to improved fleet safety. Having a safer fleet means fewer legal issues, better personnel interactions, and a good public image. Fleet maintenance planning is integral to operating a safe fleet.
For example, the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reported to Congress that in a given year 29.4 percent of all crashes are due to brake failures. Checking brakes is a simple task to perform and can save your business thousands of dollars in potential damages or legal issues. Doing so is just one small part of fleet maintenance planning.
Why Azuga Fleet Maintenance is Your Best Choice
Azuga’s fleet maintenance software is world-class. It helps fleets plan fleet maintenance in the best way possible. It can help you avoid losses by informing you of equipment failure (such as an engine fault or failing brakes). It ensures the safety of your drivers and others on the road.
Proactive vehicle maintenance improves safety and reduces the risk of unplanned outages, extraordinary expenses, customer dissatisfaction. It also increases vehicle safety.
Fuel Savings
Using Azuga fleet maintenance software can increase fuel savings. Vehicles that operate more efficiently save on fuel, reduce fleet operating costs, and can help achieve the targeted number of customer visits in a day. Not to mention that burning less fuel is better for the environment.
There are tons of ways to make your fleet more fuel-efficient you may have never considered. Did you know that low tire pressure can risk 3 percent in fuel efficiencies? Mileage drops by about half a percent when a single tire’s pressure is short by 2 psi. Over the vehicle's four tires, it can add up to a significant reduction. It pays to check the gauge! Azuga helps you pay attention to even the minor issues (like tire pressure) that can have a big impact on your fleet.
Here’s another tip on fuel efficiency: according to the United States Department of Energy, replacing an oxygen sensor can improve gas mileage by as much as 40 percent.
Also, be sure to check your wires: alternators work harder, requiring more gas when battery cables are corroded. Another tip is that using the manufacturer’s recommended oil grade will lead to vehicles running more efficiently over time.
Lifecycle Management
Azuga’s fleet maintenance management system improves your vehicles’ lifecycle management. You can set scheduled replacement alerts for aging vehicles. You can also manage leasing agreements—set limits for mileage, warranty, and other details outlined in the agreement.
The software also helps fleets to assess their actual maintenance needs based on usage, composition, and age. A rigorous schedule of inspections and timely repair is necessary for the fleet to achieve optimal efficiency.
Compliance
Azuga even helps fleets remain compliant with inspection regulations. The software stores DVIR reports, policies, and service schedules. You can build a maintenance checklist to ensure you’re fulfilling all service requirements before an inspection.
Azuga Fleet Maintenance Features
Azuga’s fleet maintenance software has many useful features designed with fleets in mind. The software supports regular alerts for engine light notifications and any off-hours use of vehicles.
Azuga also provides reminder emails about scheduled maintenance and reports on engine status and other diagnostics.
The software contains extensive maintenance records. Having this information digitized in Azuga’s software makes it easier to access records when you’re selling a vehicle.
You can set a custom Azuga alert on aging vehicles, based on odometer mileage or apply other triggers. One hugely useful feature of Azuga’s fleet maintenance software is daily emails on any DTCs (Diagnostic Trouble Code).
Fleet maintenance planning is a great way to cut down on costs and improve efficiencies in your business. Fleets can avoid disruptions in service, costly emergency repairs, and unplanned vehicle downtime by using fleet maintenance software. If you are looking to start fleet maintenance planning—or want to take your current operations to the next level—check out all that Azuga has to offer.
