Despite their focus on managing costs, a significant number of fleets could be doing more to reduce the need for emergency maintenance and repairs, research suggests. 

Most of the 250 fleet managers surveyed by Autoglass reported that the main cause of time off the road for emergency repairs is general wear and tear (54%). 

Yet despite the potentially high costs and business impact of vehicle off-road time, only one-quarter (27%) of fleets perform regular maintenance checks in addition to scheduled services.

Most fleets tend to rely on their annual or recommended service to identify maintenance problems (58%) and a further one in 10 (13%) relies solely on drivers to report potential problems. This indicates a large number of fleets potentially missing maintenance problems that could be put right sooner and at a lower overall cost to the business.

Jeremy Rochfort, national sales manager at Autoglass, said: “Prevention is much better than cure when it comes to vehicle maintenance.”

A significant number of fleet managers also appear to be in the dark about the scale of the problem, with two-fifths (40%) unable to estimate the business impact costs of having a vehicle off the road – for example, lost sales or lower productivity – while more than a third (36%) are unable to estimate their average spend on maintenance and repair.

The cost of vehicle down-time across all fleet types that did give a value is estimated to be an average of £727 per day in terms of lost business revenue – even more significant in light of the fact that one in five (22%) reported having vehicles off the road for unscheduled or emergency repairs on average at least once a month. 

Almost three quarters (72%) said that on average vehicles were off the road for repairs at least once a year. 

Rochfort added: “Regular maintenance is not just important for reducing the overall cost of running a fleet, it’s also crucial for safety and to project a professional business image. 

“However, it’s striking that losing even two days of productivity per year by having a vehicle off the road can, on average, cost some fleet businesses much more than the entire annual maintenance and repair spend for that same vehicle.”

The research also discovered that per vehicle, van fleets spend twice as much as car fleets on maintenance each year – £1,392 versus £687.

On average, the operational cost of a van fleet vehicle being off the road for one day is £726, compared to £588 for predominantly car fleets.

Rochfort said: “With more regular maintenance checks, relatively minor issues can be addressed much more quickly and at much lower cost than if left to deteriorate.”

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