If you have a towing business, it’s important to take care of your trucks. They’re kind of a vital part of your business, after all. One way to take care of your tow trucks is to have preventive maintenance, which means you’re catching problems before they become major problems. Anyways, since preventive maintenance is so important, we’ll go over a few things you should know about it.
8 things to know about preventive maintenance.
1. It can help keep your tow trucks on the road.
First of all, preventive maintenance can help you keep your trucks on the road. If you maintain your vehicles, they’ll be less likely to break down or have issues that could keep them out of service. They won’t have to spend ages in the shop being repaired if something happens because you’ve taken the time to head off problems before they become major.
The other thing to this point is that you can prolong the lives of your tow trucks. So, you can keep the vehicles that you have going longer – and then you won’t have to replace them and shell out a ton of money buying a new tow truck. You may as well keep your trucks alive as long as you can.
2. Preventive maintenance can reduce operating costs.
If you maintain and take care of your trucks, you can reduce the amount of money those trucks will cost you in the long run and save money. You may see fewer repairs down the line – meaning less money spent on emergency repairs. And, as we mentioned above, you can extend the life of that tow truck.
3. It boosts safety.
You can also improve safety at your business by having preventive maintenance because your vehicles will be in tip-top shape. It can also help you make a good impression on your customers – they’d much rather see a safe, well-maintained truck than a tow truck that looks like it hasn’t been properly taken care of.
4. It doesn’t matter how many trucks you have.
It doesn’t matter how many tow trucks or wreckers you have – preventive maintenance is for all fleets! You need to make sure that you’re taking care of all of your tow trucks, whether you have one truck or fifteen.
5. Different factors can play a part in your preventive maintenance.
Different factors can play a part in your preventive maintenance program, like your fleet size, the number of employees you have, and the technology you want to use. (For example, you might decide to use paper logs or you might choose to go digital, depending on your employees and what they prefer.)
6. Preventive maintenance can be rolled into your fleet maintenance program.
Your preventive maintenance program could be rolled into your fleet maintenance program. As long as it includes a checklist of tasks, reminders to do those tasks, a way to mark that those tasks have been completed, and a way to keep a record of these things, you may decide you’re good to go. And wouldn’t that make things easy, to have your preventive maintenance in the same place as your fleet maintenance?
8. You will need to tailor your preventive maintenance checklist/program to your business.
Another thing to keep in mind about preventive maintenance is that you’re going to have to tailor your preventive maintenance checklist and your program. It should be based on your tow trucks and your specific fleet. You need to consider the particular tow trucks you’ve got in your fleet and make sure you’re checking the things that need to be checked.
Pro tip: Use the manufacturer’s guidelines when you develop a maintenance checklist. The vehicle’s handbook can help you find this information. Stick to their schedule for different maintenance tasks.
8. There are certain things that should be done daily.
So, certain maintenance tasks will need to be done daily. You’ve got to do a pre-trip inspection and take care of any pressing issues. You’ll also need to take stock of all the equipment and see what you’ve got in your tow truck. And then you need to check over the cab and make sure that the cab is neat, tidy, and ready for a customer to hop into the truck in case they need a ride. You’ve also got to have a daily inspection that focuses on your lights and your safety equipment.
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Source:
McDonald, A.P. “Positive Preventive Maintenance Is Good for Your Business.”
Tow Times, Oct. 2019, pp. 27-28.
