Proper truck fleet maintenance is essential to preventing downtime and costly repairs in your business. Besides the documented compliance such as log book servicing, coming up with a maintenance schedule and adhering to it can help keep your trucks in excellent condition. A schedule will also allow you to monitor components' wear and tear and schedule for timely repairs, and this will keep your fleet on the road throughout the year. This article will teach you some useful tips that will help you to come up with a practical maintenance plan.

Create a maintenance checklist

If you have more than five or so trucks in your fleet, it can be hard to maintain your vehicles without a checklist. How will you know which parts of which truck were checked? Will you be able to remember the last time that each truck was inspected or serviced? That's why you need a maintenance checklist for each of the trucks in your fleet. The truck should include the issues and parts that should be checked on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. They include the engine, steering, suspension and braking system together with their fluids, fuel and cooling systems, electrical components, including the truck batteries, exhaust system, tires, truck lights and the seat belts.

Cooperate with your fleet crew

Preventative maintenance will never be effective if you do it alone. After all, you are not the one who drives all the trucks all around the cities. Your drivers and other crew members need to be on board with your maintenance plan. Talk to them about the schedule that you have put in place so that they can also be diligent in inspecting the trucks during each trip. Put them in charge of checking the trucks every day as it will be easy for them to identify a problem as they drive. They should also be notified to report any issues immediately to prevent extensive damage and costly repairs. When you create a team approach, it will be easy to maintain the performance of all the trucks in your fleet.

Don't forget to service

You cannot have a healthy truck fleet without adhering to regular servicing. It is during a service that problems which went unnoticed by your drivers will be unearthed. Organize for the monthly, bi-annual and annual servicing of all your trucks. Getting them serviced at the same time can be a great money-saving idea as well. Just make sure that you settle on weekends or holidays so that none of the trucks will be on the road.

Proper fleet maintenance is essential to a healthy business. Follow these tips to ensure that you remain on top of your maintenance schedule.