A vehicle breakdown is equal to a terrible nightmare. It is more terrifying if it happens at odd hours with no help around. And if you’re in the transportation business, your days and nights might go repairing the vehicle, sending extra help, managing subsequent operations, and much more.
You can save a lot of repair expenses if you keep your vehicle well-maintained. It is inevitable for fleet businesses to avoid the wear and tear of their vehicles after an entire day on the road. However, fleet maintenance costs are notching up each year, occupying a bigger slice of the operational expense cake.
Moreover, breakdowns can harm drivers’ productivity and result in delayed deliveries. Sometimes fleet managers commit a mistake of assuming that if the vehicle is running then there is no problem. But eventually they get into trouble and spend more on repairs.
There are a lot of reasons for vehicle breakdowns;
- Potholes or debris in the roadway can affect your tyres, leading to flat tyres.
- Faulty or worn-out vehicle battery.
- Electrical problems like drained headlights, incorrect warning signals, etc.
- Excessive idling can cause overheating, leading to breakdowns.
- Clutch issues with increased wear and tear of vehicles.
Whether you are a personal car owner or a fleet manager, it is very important to run vehicle checks daily before commencing trips and ensure no vehicle problems.
Nevertheless, with fleet management becoming more challenging every year, fleet managers can find themselves in a troublesome situation to ensure routine checks and well-maintained vehicles. Vehicle tracking software is the perfect solution to improve the overall fleet maintenance plan.
With data on vehicles’ health, vehicle tracking is the best technology to track and analyse fleets, which can help you improve the overall fleet maintenance.
As fleet managers can access vehicles’ information through a single comprehensive platform, vehicle data analysis with the help of the data collected by the tracker can help analyse the money spent on vehicle repairs and fleet maintenance.
Let’s see how vehicle tracking software can prevent vehicle breakdowns.
Monitor Vehicle Performance
Vehicle tracking systems monitor vehicle performance in real-time. The real-time tracking feature of the device sends maintenance alerts to fleet managers about any faults. It enables them to take necessary steps to avoid downtime or think about a turn-around strategy. Further, drivers no longer have to call fleet admins for such problems; they’ll immediately arrange for an arrangement and automate this process.
In simple words, fleet managers are communicating with vehicles in real-time. They can use this data and pair up with fleet management systems to make appropriate before-hand decisions on vehicle maintenance and implement cost-saving strategies.
Preventive Maintenance
Until now, many fleet companies have used a reactive approach to conduct maintenance when a problem arises. This not only increases maintenance costs but hampers overall operational productivity. A fleet tracking software automatically uploads odometer readings into the fleet management system to streamline vehicle maintenance.
The fleet tracker automatically notifies admins when maintenance is due and sets fleet maintenance schedules. Predictive maintenance is one of the most notable features of fleet tracking software as it reduces the burden of manually scheduling service repairs, saving plenty of time.
Such a comprehensive approach enables you to forestall emergency maintenance costs and delivery issues and stick to a pre-decided maintenance budget.
IoT Sensor Technology
Connected fleets now use IoT technology to enhance vehicle efficiency. IoT sensors monitor the mechanical status of vehicles, like changes in light, pressure, temperature, sound, and motion. Such cutting-edge sensors transmit data in real-time while the cars are still running on the road. The tracker then notifies fleet managers about mechanical issues, and they can easily access all information through fleet management software.
We can expect more use of the IoT technology in fleet tracking solutions to take quick data-driven decisions and ensure everything is running smoothly.
Monitoring Driving Behaviour
How your drivers drive the vehicle directly affects vehicle performance. Having said that, reckless driving increases the wear and tear of cars and can cause accidents. With accidents, you’ll be squandering a lot of money into repairs as well as putting the driver’s life at risk.
Fleet tracking software monitors driving behaviour in real-time and sends early warning alerts to fleet managers of overspeeding, hard braking, cornering, etc. Fleet admins can use these insights to identify and reduce reckless driving behaviour to prevent vehicle breakdowns, avoiding repair costs as much as possible.
Conclusion
Fundamentally, fleet tracking systems can make a significant difference in the overall maintenance operations of your business. Changing from a reactive to a proactive approach helps fleet managers stay on top of maintenance-related processes.
They also provide configurable fleet reports with maintenance analytics that make it easy for fleet managers to analyse data, learn about vehicle-related issues, and ensure necessary repairs are done on time to avoid breakdowns.
The fewer the breakdowns, the better vehicle performance the better overall fleet efficiency.