Protect Your Fleet: Understanding Truck Service Maintenance Intervals
To help protect your fleet when there’s an accident, you’ll need commercial insurance for truckers and as an owner-operatorA truck driver who owns and operates their own truck and business, contracting with motor carriers o..., you know that owning a fleet or even a single truck can be expensive. With repairs, upkeep, and the potential for breakdowns, you’ll end up spending a lot of money and time on your truck, which can lead to downtime that ultimately costs your business.
To protect yourself and your truck, you need to understand truck service maintenance intervals.
In this article, we’ll discuss truck service maintenance intervals and why they’re important to truck owners.
Truck Service Maintenance Intervals
Having a fleet preventative maintenance program will help you better manage your fleet of multiple trucks while preventing costs in the future.
Having a maintenance program demonstrates to your cheap truckers insurance company that you’re a reliable customer and deserve the best rates available.
What Are Truck Service Maintenance Intervals?
In order to understand maintenance intervals, we must first discuss preventative maintenance, also known as fleet maintenance.
Fleet maintenance means staying on top of the service requirements of all of the trucks in your fleet. This is essential because it keeps truckers safe while keeping trucks working efficiently and longer.
Scheduled and Unscheduled Fleet Maintenance
There are two types of preventative maintenance which are the scheduled and unscheduled.
Scheduled Maintenance
Scheduled maintenance means having a routine fleet maintenance schedule, allowing you to stay on top of checkups.
While there are unexpected issues or accidents that can happen, scheduled maintenance helps to prevent unscheduled maintenance from occurring. Schedule truck maintenance helps you detect problems with the fleet before they become major, dangerous, or expensive issues.
Unscheduled Maintenance
Unscheduled maintenance happens when there is an accident or a problem wasn’t solved during scheduled maintenance. If a truck breaks down, it will require unscheduled maintenance to get it back up and running.
Preventative maintenance is key for those who want to save money, while unscheduled maintenance is known to be more costly.
To answer our original question, truck service maintenance intervals are a part of scheduled maintenance. At each interval, you perform a different type of maintenance to ensure the efficiency of the truck.
This keeps your cheap trucking insurance rates low by preventing accidents and breakdowns on the road.
Benefits of Truck Service Maintenance Intervals
Having a preventative maintenance strategy in place will ensure the lowest insurance rates. Check out these other benefits of scheduled truck service maintenance intervals.
Extends Your Truck’s Lifespan
Purchasing new equipment and new trucks is expensive, which is why it’s important to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to your trucks.
Fleets can get rundown over time, just like any other vehicle that’s on the road often. With high mileage, trucks can run down in a short time frame, making maintenance increasingly important for fleet operators.
Service maintenance intervals help you identify when parts of the truck should be repaired or replaced so that you can make the repairs as soon as possible. Doing so prevents a small issue from turning into a larger one and at an even greater expense.
The key to a successful trucking business is to keep your vehicle’s operating at maximum efficiency for as long as possible.
Reduces Cost of Fuel
Fuel can have a significant impact on the budget. However, a proper maintenance schedule can help reduce fuel costs because improper preventative maintenance scheduling leads to more fuel consumption.
Underinflated or misaligned tires are just a few of the issues that may cause your truck’s engine to work harder and burn more fuel than a truck that has been regularly serviced.
Minimizes Repairs
Truck service maintenance intervals will also cost you less because it minimizes the need for repairs. Ignoring maintenance schedules means ignoring potential problems that could turn into more expensive repairs down the line.
If you don’t want to pay for quick fixes now, you may be left with a bigger problem in the future that costs even more.
You can minimize the potential for repairs with a preventative maintenance checklist that allows you to detect mechanical issues before they turn into vehicle failure. A total breakdown could result in expensive repairs or the need to purchase a new truck altogether. Not only that, but you’ll also be faced with more downtime than expected, which could cost you even more money.
Prepares Trucks for Seasonal Weather
Weatherproofing is an important part of vehicle maintenanceRegular and necessary upkeep required to ensure the safe and efficient operation of a truck, typical... as well, especially if you live in a state that gets brutal winters and calm summers. When seasons are about to change, it’s important that trucks are prepared for the upcoming weather conditions.
Vehicles operating in the northern United States should have plenty of antifreeze and coolant, and ensure that the tire chains are in decent condition.
Performing this type of maintenance ensures that the fleet is properly prepared for snow and ice on the roads.
Keeps Truckers Safe
Perhaps the most significant benefit of regular service maintenance is to ensure the safety of those who drive the trucks. Having a truck breakdown on the road can put your employees or yourself in danger as they have to stop on expressways with speeding cars.
Not only that, you should avoid starting trips without the proper preventive maintenance, you could be putting your employees on the road with trucks that aren’t working properly. If your truckers are on the road with breaks that don’t work, they are put in immediate danger that could have been prevented with proper maintenance.
Manufacturer-Recommended Service Intervals
While it’s important to determine your own schedule depending on the type of truck and how often it’s on the road, it’s best to follow the manufacturer-recommended maintenance provided to you.
It’s important to understand that your needs will vary by how often the truck is used. If your usage is normal, you’ll have different maintenance intervals than you would with a fleet that’s used more often.
The most frequent maintenance you should always perform is an oil change and battery service to ensure the proper working order of the truck. The truck manufacturer will provide you with recommended maintenance intervals so that you have a better idea of when trucks need to be serviced.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What are truck service maintenance intervals?
Truck service maintenance intervals are periods set for performing different types of maintenance on a truck to ensure its efficiency and longevity.
What are the two types of preventative maintenance?
The two types of preventative maintenance are scheduled maintenance (routine checkups) and unscheduled maintenance (repairs after accidents or unexpected breakdowns).
How do truck service maintenance intervals benefit a fleet?
These intervals extend the lifespan of the trucks, reduce fuel costs, minimize repair needs, prepare trucks for seasonal weather changes, and most importantly, ensure the safety of the truckers.
Why is following the manufacturer-recommended maintenance important?
Manufacturer-recommended maintenance schedules account for the design and operation of the truck, helping maintain the vehicle’s performance and longevity.
How does truck service maintenance influence insurance rates?
Regular and thorough truck maintenance demonstrates to insurance companies that you’re a responsible owner-operator, which may lead to lower insurance rates.
Get Cheap Commercial Truck Insurance
On top of all the service maintenance intervals mentioned above, it is also essential to get cheap commercial truck insurance for your fleet.
Want to learn more about fleets? Visit our article about the 3 things your fleet needs to have to learn more.
If you’re looking for cheap truck insurance quotes, contact our team at SoCal Truck Insurance today!
