A Lesson From Grandpa: Best Practices for Municipal Fleet Management

When I was a younger man, my grandpa offered me a valuable piece of insight. 

After an afternoon spent lamenting the financial constraints of trading my clunker for something girls might notice, he told me this, “The cheapest car you’ll ever own, is the one that’s paid for.”  And with that, he excused himself, presumably for an afternoon nap. 

At the time I bristled because, to be honest, I was hoping he’d offer to buy me a new car.  So with my sorry, malnourished pocketbook in tow, I was forced to drive-on in shabby style. 

As I saved my hard-earned dollars for a new car, I set about a maintenance routine that my grandpa swore by. 

Any given day might find me changing oil and checking fluids, replacing wipers and brake pads, or airing-up and rotating my tires.  The slightest clank, bang, shimmy, or thud was promptly reported to my local mechanic and delivered to the garage for resolution.  Every six months, the car received a regular tune-up.  And for good measure, each maintenance action was recorded in a small notebook that I kept in the glove compartment. 

Despite my strongest, most impractical teenaged hopes, that beat-up Chevy persevered for nearly 15 years before it was finally deemed beyond repair. 

So what lessons can you learn from my grandpa? 

Correct me if I’m wrong; but isn’t a fleet of vehicles and equipment one of the biggest and most important investments that a municipal organization makes?  And I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you’re not exactly thrilled by the thought of replacing thousands of dollars worth of vehicle inventory every year — especially when, with a little effort and preparedness, the scenario can be lessened or avoided. 

It’s like my grandpa said, the cheapest vehicle you’ll ever own is the one that’s paid for. 

• Are your vehicles and equipment living long enough to earn that distinction? 
  
  
• Do you have a fleet maintenance strategy that focuses on preventative maintenance to maximize your investments and the service life of your vehicles?

All too often, municipal organizations rely on reactive maintenance to keep vehicles and equipment functioning.  But let’s face it, “band-aid solutions” are just that — a cover-up.  In other words, quieting a squealing belt is less annoying; but has it solved the problem? 

Ironically, this reactive approach has somehow been associated with saving money.  And it’s this lack of foresight that often prevents a vehicle from garnering a return on investment and fulfilling a long, useful service life that outlasts the terms under which it was purchased. 

The easiest and most effective way to establish a regular fleet maintenance program is with a small investment in technology.  A simple-to-use application such as Cartegraph’s WORKdirector for FLEET is made specifically for the management of equipment and vehicles.  With this technology you begin to craft a fleet maintenance strategy that is both sustainable and efficient. 

Best Practices for Fleet Maintenance

• Create a detailed service schedule for each piece of equipment and vehicle in your fleet. 
  
  
• Establish maintenance actions based on measurable indicators — such as vehicle age, mileage, or service hours — and schedule per vehicle maintenance activities at regular service intervals.
  
  
• Track unique vehicle directives, including specific maintenance needs, part numbers, warranty information, and materials needed to perform each assigned activity.
  
  
• Integrate your fleet maintenance program with your work and fuel management systems to better detect problematic vehicles.

When your vehicles break-down, you not only incur the cost of repair and/or replacement, your workforce is prevented from getting its job done.  And the resulting loss of productivity costs you time, more money, and compromises your ability to provide good customer service.

By gauging the condition of your equipment and vehicles on an ongoing, proactive basis, you can anticipate the future condition of your entire fleet and begin to address problems before they arise.

And you’ll make my grandpa really proud.