The Benefits of Outsourcing Vehicle Maintenance

For a reliable and roadworthy vehicle, regular maintenance needs to be applied to ensure the safety of drivers is not compromised. Vehicle safety and reliability is a major concern for fleet managers, but the headache-inducing task of managing weekly and monthly checks on all fleets can be even more distressing – not to mention time consuming and costly.

The quality of the vehicle’s tyres, brakes, engine oil and fluid levels cannot be overlooked. Whilst some factors may seem irrelevant or easily delayed, it’s this neglect and postponement that will run the risk of fleet vehicles needing major maintenance. Poor vehicle management and significant expenses, combined with having to take your vehicles off the road screams disaster for fleet managers.

To alleviate the risks on your business and fleet vehicles, businesses are opting to outsource maintenance and vehicle management. As the day-to-day tasks of running your business add up, fleet managers are fast realising the positive effects outsourcing has. These benefits of outsourcing maintenance requirements are tied to measureable and intrinsic results. We take a look at how it’s a dependable solution to keeping your fleet on the road.

Gets You Back On the Road – Faster

One of the biggest benefits of outsourcing fleet vehicle servicing is your vehicle is being maintained by a team of qualified experts. Vehicle servicing may not be the core area of your business, but it is for someone else. Repairs will be arranged promptly and paperwork completed to ensure your vehicle is back on the road as fast as possible, in the safest condition with minimal productivity losses to your business. These guys know what they’re doing and will put their resources, energy and TLC into ensuring the vehicles are running smoothly.

The process in getting the vehicles roadworthy is fully managed, with minimal involvement required from you or your drivers. This ensures a time saving process for a fleet manager’s busy schedule.

Improved Company Focus

With less time wasted on worrying about regular vehicle checks, your company’s focus can stay on track for its core business. It’s easy as a fleet manager to get bombarded with constant quality improvements and enhancing your vehicles and this can chew up valuable time and money. Outsourcing vehicle servicing enables you to achieve your fleet’s goals and maintain more administrative and financial control.

Redirected Resources and Local Outsourcing

With the opportunity to redirect personnel and financial resources from non-core business activities to your company’s primary business, human resource productivity is significantly improved. Many companies opt to outsource because they don’t have the required resources within their own company from shop equipment to personnel, expertise and training. Getting a qualified team to take care of this will enhance driver/user satisfaction.

Fleet vehicles that are serviced locally will have the advantage of cutting down the time it takes for drivers to drop off and pick up vehicles. Most servicing companies will have a wide range of preferred suppliers to ensure you can choose one in a convenient location for local maintenance.

Managed Accounts and Cash Flow

Accounts are consolidated into one easy-to-manage monthly invoice when fleet maintenance is outsourced. Instead of drivers having to pay for their vehicle repairs at the point of service, it will be invoiced to your company workshop. Managed monthly accounts saves time with less paperwork and stress and ensures a smoother cash flow.

Vehicle servicing companies will carry all parts required for your fleet vehicles and inventory costs. No parts will need to be paid for by your business until it’s used on your fleet thus, increasing fleet utilisation resulting in increased cash flow and reduction in operating costs.

High-Quality and Approved Servicing

Once vehicle maintenance is outsourced, a team of experts will monitor the quality of any repairs and servicing done. Before any work can commence quotes are signed off by management, checked and approved.

Having repairs completed to the highest of quality by reputable people in the trade ensures money, and time, is saved by unnecessary work. Most companies follow the strictest standards in the industry and this quality assurance gives you a quick turnaround in repairs and improved reliability for your drivers.

Big Fleet Discounts

To further improve your cash flow, fleet management companies have the power to negotiate fleet discounts for vehicle repairs. These substantial discounts allow you to enjoy well-earned savings regardless of the fleet size.

Maintenance Alerts

These days, no one has the time to remember when their vehicle is next due for a service and when managing a fleet business remembering these things can be even harder. Email or SMS reminders are sent to all your drivers when maintenance is due so there are no excuses for services to be missed.

Servicing your vehicles on time is the most important factor to keep your fleet running in a perfect condition. This helps you to avoid nasty surprises and expensive repairs down the track by fixing any issues early.

Records and Reporting

As a fleet manager, your business is run with operational and financial goals to meet so having access to all vehicle operating costs, repair costs and turnaround, KPI’s and downtime is crucial. This in-depth reporting will be provided by the outsourced company after the completion of each job for you to update the fleet reporting system.

A clear picture will be painted on all maintenance and repairs completed across your fleet and this information accessible 24/7. Having accurate documentation will positively help in the resale of any vehicles down the track.

Reduced Risks

Above all, the safety of your drivers is priority so providing them with roadworthy vehicles is a must. The facility and vehicle risks associated with lack of maintenance operations is significant and includes various federal, state and local laws. Working directly with a trusted repair service will ensure your company is compliant with the fluctuating changes in regulations and technologies, and ultimately reduce risks and expenses for you and your drivers.

Author Bio

This article is written by Jayde Ferguson who writes for Fleetcare – Australia’s premier fleet management company based in Perth.