5 Tips to Simplify Fleet Maintenance

Fleet maintenance is—not to put too fine a point on it—not simple. There’s a lot you need to keep in mind.

You also don’t have time to track everything. There’s just too much to do, and the details required for deft fleet management are too specific and fast-changing to keep a handle on by yourself.  

For example, staying on top of fleet maintenance may require:

• Keeping track of each vehicle's maintenance history and schedule
• Conducting regular inspections to identify potential issues
• Dealing with unexpected breakdowns and repair emergencies
• Monitoring vehicle status updates, such as fluid levels and tire pressure
• Maintaining, referencing, and updating accurate vehicle maintenance records
• Implementing preventative maintenance strategies

It’s a lot. 

Yet there’s a reason you’re investing all of this time, energy, and resources in your fleet. And that reason is simpler than you think. 

Why Fleet Maintenance? Your Fleet’s Health = Your Business’s Health

If you don’t keep up with fleet maintenance—as demanding as that fleet maintenance schedule is or as minimal as some types of maintenance can seem—you’re playing with fire. 

Why? 

Some vehicle maintenance tasks, such as filter replacements, fluid checks, wheel alignments, and tire rotations, need to happen on a set schedule. Otherwise, you risk setting off a cascade of chain reactions that could result in frustrating, unpleasant, and even dangerous vehicle health events ranging from decreased fuel efficiency to brake failure and engine damage.

At the very least, skipping maintenance now always results in more costly repairs later. 

However, every car owner takes on that risk. It’s a little different for you as a fleet manager in charge of numerous vehicles comprising a professional fleet. If you start to get mired in overly confusing fleet maintenance schedules and if things start to slip through the cracks, you’ll start to see: 

• Poor customer experiences due to delayed or canceled services
• Loss of revenue from vehicle downtime and reduced productivity
• Damage to the company’s reputation from unsafe or unreliable vehicles
• Driver safety concerns from poorly maintained vehicles
• Expensive repairs or replacements that could have been prevented

These are all effects that could hurt your business—and they’re directly related to your fleet’s health. But on the flip side, a fine-tuned fleet that performs impeccably leads to the types of things your business needs to thrive, such as glowing customer reviews. 

Let’s talk about proactivity. What can you do to make stellar fleet maintenance more manageable without cutting corners? 

How GPS Tracking and Fleet Management Solutions Can Help with Fleet Maintenance

Your GPS tracking and fleet management software can take a significant amount of tracking, reporting, data analysis, and paperwork off of your shoulders. 

For example, today’s top fleet management solutions can assist with: 

• Monitoring vehicle health and maintenance schedules
• Alerting managers when vehicles need maintenance or inspections
• Providing data and insights to optimize vehicle usage and reduce wear and tear
• Improving driver behavior and safety with real-time feedback and coaching
• Streamlining maintenance processes and reducing downtime

Imagine how much simpler your life as a fleet manager would be with all these tasks taken care of! (Go on; we’ll wait—but not too long because it gets better.) 

You can find different tools that handle all of the above.

What’s next-level game-changing is having all of your relevant vehicle and fleet data in one place, so you can automate and track maintenance in the same place you handle all your other fleet management tasks. 

The Specific Benefits of an All-in-One System

One fleet management system to rule them all may sound like a great idea, but what unique perks does this setup bring to the table? 

An all-in-one platform gets you access to the data you need, from mileage to engine hours. Then, with that data at your fingertips, you can set relevant automated reports, notifications, tasks, and maintenance intervals without hopping back and forth between spreadsheets or systems. 

This type of maintenance software—one that makes your job easier and does most of the work for you—drastically simplifies fleet maintenance. As a result, you’ll feel less stressed and more capable. And your fleet health and business health will soar. 

Intrigued? Here are practical tips that you can leverage to make this happen. 

Practical Tips for Simplifying Fleet Maintenance with GPS Tracking

Want to achieve simpler maintenance practices and see more efficiency within your fleet-based business? We’ve got tips for you!

1. Use your all-in-one-place system to schedule routine or timed maintenance tasks, keep track of service history, and receive automated notifications for anticipated maintenance or significant vehicle milestones. 
2. Monitor vehicle health stats with your tracking system to identify potential issues before they become major problems. 
3. Integrate your GPS tracking and fleet management system with fleet maintenance scheduling software that can schedule appointments with your preferred service providers.
4. Leverage GPS tracking and vehicle location data to optimize routes, reduce unnecessary driving, and extend vehicle life spans.
5. Use your vehicle data and associated pieces of tech (e.g., dashcams) to provide drivers with real-time feedback and coaching to improve driving behavior and reduce wear and tear on vehicles.

Interested in Seeing How a Simplified Fleet Maintenance Schedule Could Work for You? 

If you want to see how this works, we’ve got you covered. Request a demo. We look forward to chatting about your fleet maintenance and management needs! 

Want to learn more first? Here’s the perfect resource for you: Top 5 Ways to Leverage GPS Tracking for Your Business.