Unscheduled vehicle downtime due to a lack of parts improving

Vehicle off-road (VOR) data suggests that parts availability and technician shortages have improved in 2023, according to R2C.

Its connected software platform for vehicle compliance and maintenance management allows fleets and workshops to record the reason for a vehicle being off road and the number of days too.

Consequently, it has been able to shine a light on trends in maintenance and repair by comparing data for different time periods.

Its figures, based on more than 30,000 records across accident damage and unscheduled repairs, show that there has been a general improvement across the board when it comes to delays as a result of parts availability and shortage of labour – two issues that have plagued the service, maintenance and repair (SMR) sector for the past few years.

Records of unscheduled delays due to a lack of parts show on average the number of days off road have dropped from 16 in 2022 to 11 in 2023.

However, Debbie Fox, managing director of R2C, says that this is still a high figure and there are ways for fleets and repairers to reduce this further.

“A week-and-a-half to two weeks off the road because the right parts can’t be sourced is still too high,” she said.

“We’re seeing that the general level of parts is higher now, so what this means is many fleets need to employ better stock management processes.

“Often delays occur quite simply because the part does exist, but is just in the wrong place or depot, and can’t be found or moved.

“With R2C’s stock management system, we’ve seen fleets and workshops have much better visibility of what they already have to hand, and crucially where it is being stored.

“It enables them to get the part to the right location far quicker. But as the figures show, parts availability is still a hugely critical element of VOR.”

The other major problem in recent years, labour and technician shortages. The data shows that there has been a small drop in unscheduled delays due to workforce problems, down from 16 in 2022 to 14 now.

While movement in the right direction is to be welcomed, Fox says two-week delays because there is nobody to do the job is still unacceptable and suggests that the industry has still not been able to solve the problem. Instead, it is time to find other solutions.

She explained: “Any fleet operators who have had vehicles sitting in a compound, unable to be worked on because there is nobody to do it, will know the frustration, hassle and cost this causes.

“And it seems that for all the best efforts of industry bodies and repairers, it is going to take a while to ramp up the workforce to a level operators require. So instead, it’s time to look for other solutions.

“One of the key elements of this data is that the work we’re talking about is unscheduled.

“Obviously, when it comes to breakdowns there may not be a lot you can do, but it’s important to ensure that you’re covering every other possible problem and spotting it before it takes the vehicle off the road.

“That’s where a rigorous driver check system provides a huge benefit. If vehicles are being inspected thoroughly every day, then we tend to find that unscheduled problems become scheduled – and these planned events place far less stress on the repair network, its technician capacity and parts availability, and the positive trend we’re currently seeing should improve further still.”

Further analysis of the R2C data shows significant improvements in VOR for unscheduled work delays for MOT-related issues, down from an average of 33 days in 2022 to 23 in 2023 year-to-date, and major reduction in delays with insurance company authorisation for accident damage, reducing from 65 days to 18.

“Through the R2C system, we’ve seen workflow freeing up in many operationally critical areas of SMR this year,” added Fox.

“There’s still plenty of room for improvement though, but with r2c, you can see where those sticking points are, and plan your SMR strategy accordingly.”