This article wraps up the third and final post in our “Third-party maintenance provider direct and indirect costs” series. In addition to the previous areas discussed in part 1 and part 2, you should consider the below when searching for an outsourced fleet maintenance provider.
What’s the Downtime?
Be clear in your questions about downtime, specifically how long your vehicles will be out of service for different types of repairs, and how quickly the vendor responds to demand repair requests. Factoring downtime into the cost equation is a critical step when deciding on an outsourced fleet maintenance service provider.
In the current economy many companies are running lean fleets, with few or no back-up vehicles, requiring that their trucks be back on the road as soon as possible after a repair or PM. Being able to reliably predict how long your truck will be down for service is often the critical factor in whether you have enough trucks to make your routes or not. When downtime is considered into the vendor selection process, it is clear that a responsive vendor not only saves money on repairs but prevents revenue losses from missed routes, disgruntled customers, and more.
Amerit’s custom service solutions work around your fleet’s schedule and needs to ensure that your fleet is serviced properly and efficiently, reducing downtime. Each of Amerit’s service platforms is customized with shop hours that are centered on key times- when your fleet is down at night or weekends, when your fleet starts up in the morning and when they are returning home after a long day on the road. In each case, Amerit has the technicians on duty to get your fleet in, serviced and back on the road.
Outsourced Fleet Maintenance: Is It Safe?
You spend considerable funds, time, and manpower ensuring that your vehicles and drivers are moving down the road as safely as possible — so you want to make sure that your outsourced fleet maintenance provider is doing the same. What does its safety record look like? Does it follow all OSHA and HAZMAT requirements? Is your company protected from workplace injuries and lawsuits? Your provider should be ready, willing, and able to answer all these questions, and more, truthfully.
Further, you should investigate the vendors training program. A provider that invests in training their technicians and safety programs will keep the workplace, your fleet, your drivers, your community, and your company safe from risks, injury, and, in extreme circumstances, death.
Mission Critical Total Transparency
While hard costs associated with using an outsourced fleet maintenance provider are important in your budget considerations, in the final equation, transparency may be crucial deciding factor. Having a provider that is open, clear and forthright about what they can provide and the real costs associated with their services, will set the foundation for your vendor to become an important ally to your fleet and will build a long-term business relationship that will benefit the fleet, its customers, and your bottom line.
Want to read more about this topic? Check out the following blog posts: