Fleet Maintenance Software: Benefits, Costs and Best Practices

Preventive maintenance is one of the most important parts of managing a fleet. Breakdowns and last-minute failures can lead to major profit losses, and ongoing maintenance is the key to keeping these losses to a minimum. Planning this maintenance ahead of time saves both time and money in the long run.

Fortunately, modern technology makes it easier than ever to manage preventive maintenance schedules and details. The preventive maintenance software from Track Your Truck is a highly efficient program that helps you plan and monitor fleet maintenance and implementing it is a great way to keep your fleet competitive in the current market. Among the many benefits of our preventative maintenance software are providing a centralized repository for data and reducing your reliance on tedious paperwork, making it a powerful solution for managing your fleet.

The Basics of Fleet Maintenance Management Software

Fleet maintenance management software offers an easier way to organize your preventive maintenance data including schedules, service histories, fuel consumption, and costs. Instead of having to keep track of multiple vehicles by hand, you can use tracking devices and software to determine the best times for maintenance or repairs.

It can be easy to let these requirements fall to the wayside when your employees are constantly on the move. Luckily, maintenance software helps you stay current with important appointments and dates to prevent equipment failure. Automated alerts can let you know when it’s time for regularly scheduled maintenance such as oil changes, inspections, and part replacements. With software that connects to each vehicle, you can record service histories, track fuel usage and monitor costs. It also sends you automatic weekly reports alerting when a vehicle needs an inspection based on driving hours, mileage or other relevant factors. This can be one of the most essential tools for preventing downtime and keeping your fleet on the road and productive for as long as possible.

Key Features of Maintenance Software

When looking for fleet maintenance software, managers should watch for a few key features:

Service schedule creation: Keeping an automated schedule of regular maintenance tasks makes it much less likely that any will be overlooked or forgotten.
Mileage and hour tracking: By recording these metrics, maintenance teams can make better-informed decisions about equipment lifespan and service intervals.
Parts inventory tracking: Maintenance technicians shouldn’t be caught off-guard by unexpected stockouts that keep vehicles in the garage longer than they should be.
Work order management: This feature prevents duplicated efforts and keeps maintenance work on track to be completed when it needs to be.
Reporting: With automated alerts, fleet managers will always know what needs to be done and how soon it will be finished. Detailed reports also support compliance efforts.
Fuel tracking: Monitoring consumption and costs ensures vehicles will always be optimized for maximum fuel efficiency and productivity.

Implementation and Integration

Key to the success of any preventive maintenance software is how it is implemented and integrated into a fleet’s existing processes. Here are some tips for successfully choosing and integrating a preventive maintenance platform into your operations:

Choose a vendor that can meet your needs: Not all platforms are created equal, and your business has unique requirements. Be sure to do your research to find the vendor that offers the best set of features and functionalities.
Use standardized data: Your system can’t be successful if you’re using competing data standards. Make sure to standardize all your information as you migrate it over to the new platform.
Configure schedules based on your fleet: Taking a one-size-fits-all approach to scheduling preventive maintenance tasks means there are sure to be some gaps in your maintenance that will make their presence painfully obvious in due time.
Onboard your staff as soon as possible: It isn’t enough to install and integrate a new software platform. Your employees need to understand how it works and why it’s necessary to have any hope of realizing the benefits.

Cost and ROI Considerations

There are bound to be some costs involved with implementing a new maintenance software platform. In addition to the cost of the software itself, there are usually also costs related to scaling it to the size of your fleet, any customizations you require, and receiving technical support. Even if you’re apprehensive about the upfront costs, it’s important to remember that there can be substantial ROI that comes with this type of software.

With routine maintenance carefully managed through this software, you can extend asset lifespans and deal with fewer emergency repairs. You’ll keep your vehicles on the road for as long as possible, resulting in less unplanned downtime and lower costs overall. If you’re still not fully convinced this kind of software could be of benefit for your business, it’s recommended to start with a pilot preventive maintenance program that allows you to try it out in one small area of your company. That way, you can see the savings with your own eyes before you make the decision to roll it out to your entire fleet.

Best Practices and Common Pitfalls

Although preventive maintenance software can lead to major improvements when it comes to fleet management, they aren’t guaranteed. Far too many fleets slip up during the implementation process, which leads to them missing out on getting the full benefit. Some of the biggest mistakes they make include:

Under-training staff: If employees don’t have a strong handle on how to use the software, chances are they’ll fail to use it properly — if they choose to use it at all.
Ignoring data quality: The saying in software engineering goes, “garbage in, garbage out.” Incomplete, incompatible, or inconsistent data must be ironed out before it goes into the system or else it will lead to major issues and inefficiency.
Failing to review reports: When managers and technicians don’t pay attention to the reports this software generates, they lose out on all the insights they could be using to guide their decision-making.
Leaning too much on the software: A software platform can only do so much. Ultimately, it’s a tool that drivers, mechanics, and managers should use to coordinate their efforts with greater efficiency and precision. It should facilitate collaboration between co-workers, not substitute for it.

How Can Preventive Maintenance Software Benefit Your Company?

Preventive maintenance technology gives you more control over the way you run your fleet. The range of features creates a convenient, customized experience that meets the requirements of your business. Fleet maintenance management software offers a range of benefits, including:

Better fuel efficiency: A vehicle that’s behind on maintenance and repairs can lose fuel efficiency. You may start to notice this as fuel costs increase. While there are many factors that can affect fuel costs, one of the best ways to improve expense management is to keep a regular maintenance schedule with monitoring software. Keeping your fleet more organized with inventory management and tracking will help ensure that each vehicle burns fuel normally.
Increased fleet uptime: As a business, your goal is to stay active as much as possible, reducing inefficiencies and maintaining a productive workflow. Preventive maintenance software streamlines the management process so your vehicles stay up and running longer. It takes less time to schedule maintenance than it does to respond to an emergency.
Safety improvements: Letting your employees drive vehicles that are falling behind on maintenance is risky. The good news is that you can reduce safety risks by making sure all your trucks are up to date 100% of the time. Set alerts using preventive maintenance software so you know exactly when it’s time for the next oil change or engine inspection.
Reduced maintenance and repair costs: Instead of having to stop for maintenance or repairs after a breakdown happens, you can prevent incidents altogether while saving loads of time and money. Keeping maintenance costs to a minimum with the latest software will help you stay competitive and give your business room to grow.

Contact Track Your Truck for a Demonstration

Track Your Truck helps trucking and delivery companies manage their fleets more efficiently. Our solutions are intuitive and affordable, so enhance your maintenance strategies today with Track Your Truck. Contact us for a quote to learn more.