Even if your fleet comprises top-of-the-line vehicles, they will need regular preventative maintenance to ensure your fleet operations run smoothly. Regular fleet maintenance helps you save money by avoiding costly repairs and parts replacements. It can also prevent costly downtime across your business operations. Using a GPS tracking system for vehicles can help you stay on top of your fleet’s maintenance requirements at all times.
So, what are the different ways that GPS tracking can help you improve fleet maintenance and keep the maintenance and repair expenses in control? Find out the answers here.
Benefits of GPS Tracking in Vehicle Maintenance
GPS tracking systems support maintenance tracking as well. This empowers you to save money, as you are equipped with data to ensure timely maintenance. Some of the different ways, this can help with your fleet maintenance routine are as follows:
- Real-time odometer tracking to provide instant and accurate mileage reports
- Engine hour tracking for timely vehicle or equipment maintenance
- Generating automated maintenance reports and alerts to be sent directly to fleet managers and concerned mechanics
When GPS tracking systems are integrated with in-vehicle monitoring systems, it becomes much simpler to keep fleet vehicles well-maintained and in good condition.
Reducing Fleet Maintenance Costs
Here are different ways that GPS tracking systems can work to reduce your fleet maintenance costs:
Creating More Efficient Routes to Reduce Miles
Using GPS tracking systems, you can determine the optimal routes for your fleet vehicles. This can help reduce the number of miles your vehicles have to cover, thus leading to reduced wear and tear.
When you refine your fleet’s routes, you will be reducing mileage. This can benefit your vehicles in many different ways, especially by prolonging the life of their key components such as engines, transmissions, belts, and tires.
The benefits of efficient routing go beyond and include:
- Your vehicles stay longer on the road
- Cost factors related to fuel, tires, and operational costs come down
Set Up Alerts
The latest fleet tracking solutions provide options for setting up and customizing maintenance alerts. For example, fleet maintenance reporting systems can be set to raise alerts after a specific number of miles being driven or hours. Many systems also allow you to enter date reminders for maintenance inspections, which helps you avoid delays.
Change Driving Habits
When you improve driving habits across your fleet operations, you will be taking a big step toward reducing fleet maintenance costs. When integrated with GPS tracking systems, your driver management systems can help you identify activities such as:
- Hard starts
- Hard stoppages
- Speeding
- Harsh driving behavior
And other bad driving behaviors that can increase wear and tear, chances of breakdowns, and other issues. All this can lead to reduced maintenance costs.
The data provided by these systems can be used for training your drivers. This can not only improve your vehicles’ condition but also result in the following benefits:
- Reducing chances of accidents
- Limiting potential injuries & fatalities
- Improved fuel efficiency
- Reduced insurance costs
GPS tracking, thus, helps you maintain a fleet that stays in good condition at all times. Thus, your drivers can become more productive and efficient when they have access to vehicles that perform well.
Creating Schedules
GPS tracking also enables you to get a bigger picture of your fleet. This means having the knowledge of where your trucks are at all times and when you will need them. This data can be used to create optimal maintenance schedules. Thus, you can service your vehicles at times when they are not needed.
Thus, using GPS tracking systems can play a big role in ensuring timely fleet maintenance and reduced maintenance costs. This can further lead to improved vehicle performance and fuel efficiency. All these factors can work together to make your fleet operations more efficient and productive.