How Often Should Fleet Vehicles Undergo Maintenance?

Keeping your vehicle fleet maintained and ready to travel at all times is part of your responsibility as a fleet owner or manager. Routine fleet maintenance in Everett, WA is the key to protecting your business assets and ensuring that you’re fully in compliance with all state and federal laws.

Why fleet maintenance is important

First and foremost, fleet maintenance keeps you, your employees and your customers or clients safe. Having safe and well-maintained vehicles on the road is not just legally mandated, it’s important for your business’s success.

Keeping your vehicles maintained could be an on-site job—if you have the manpower, tools and skills to do it in your own facilities. However, working with a professional fleet maintenance company like Auto Truck Service Inc. can take the burden off your team and deliver outstanding results with minimal effort on your part.

To find the right fleet maintenance company, look for a company that can not only perform everyday physical maintenance, but are adept at working with the electronic and computer systems your fleet uses. Ask your potential maintenance providers how they monitor and keep track of routine maintenance like oil and fluid changes, brake service and more. Will they be proactive about contacting you, or will you be in charge of contacting them? Will they be on call if a fleet vehicle breaks down unexpectedly? What is included in the service fees? Can you add additional services as needed? Who can approve changes to the plan? Make sure you understand exactly what to expect from your maintenance provider, so there are never any surprises or unexpected downtime when you can least afford it.

Scheduling your regular maintenance appointments

Depending on your fleet, your maintenance requirements will be different. Some fleet managers opt for a standard 3,000-mile maintenance plan, while others schedule monthly or bi-monthly appointments. We suggest collecting the service records for each vehicle in your fleet, then presenting them to your fleet maintenance company. They’ll be able to go over each vehicle and its documentation to get a better idea of how the vehicle is operating, and whether there are any red flags you both need to watch out for.

Occasionally, your fleet maintenance company will have different maintenance schedules for certain vehicles. This depends on the vehicle’s previous service appointments, how it is currently functioning and what needs to be done to ensure the longest lifespan possible. Don’t hesitate to ask your maintenance provider why they’ve recommended certain intervals.

Conducting quality control

Finally, you’ll need to conduct quality checks after the vehicles are serviced. Many maintenance companies are reliable and honest, but there’s no way to know you’re getting the right level of quality and service unless you monitor changes yourself. It’s a smart way to verify not only that you got what you paid for, but that if there’s an issue, you can address it immediately.

To learn more about our approach to fleet vehicle preventative maintenance in Everett, WA, reach out to the team at Auto Truck Service Inc. today.

Categorised in: Vehicle Maintenance