How well does your fleet inspect its vehicles? Inspections are important for two reasons: First, they reduce the risk of trouble when the vehicle is on the road, and second, they improve your chances of compliance. Remember, your fleet is required to inspect, maintain and repair its vehicles, and your pre-trip inspections are an important part of this.
Why should you make inspections part of your regular fleet maintenance schedule? While compliance may be your No. 1 concern, there are actually a number of benefits of inspections.
First, regular inspections will increase the expected life span of your vehicles. This can boost your return on investment and reduce the cost of replacement. These savings are significant!
Next, inspections reduce your drivers’ liability. If your driver performs the proper pre-trip inspection, and a problem happens on the road, the driver can’t be held liable for vehicle negligence. This, in effect, lowers the liability risk of your entire fleet.
Finally, fleet inspections reduce the risk of on-the-job failure and emergency repairs. During inspection, your drivers can find problems and fix them before they turn into a major repair issue.
The FMCSA requires specific parts and equipment to be inspected for safe operation, and also requires that the inspection process is documented with accessible records. Required inspections include annual inspections, preventative maintenance inspections and pre-trip driver vehicle inspection reports. If your fleet and your fleet drivers are not staying current on inspections, you face the potential for hefty fines at a roadside inspection.
Pre-trip fleet inspections are the responsibility of your drivers, and you need to know that your drivers are going to do these inspections thoroughly, each time they take the vehicle out. Here are some tips to help improve driver compliance:
The key here is to make it easy for your drivers to perform and record inspections while providing them with clear information about why it’s important and what will happen if they don’t comply.
One of the best fleet maintenance tips is to use fleet management software. Track Your Truck offers fleet tracking programming with built-in maintenance alerts and reports. The system also is complaint with records-keeping regulations, so your maintenance reports are always available when needed. Contact
