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Maintenance

Coverage of preventive maintenance, diagnostics, repair, shop operations, parts, technicians, and service strategies that help fleets improve vehicle availability, reduce downtime, control costs, and keep assets productive.

Articles•by Mike Antich•November 5, 2020

How the Pandemic Disrupted PM Compliance

Preventive maintenance (PM) expenses in CY-2020 were lower compared to 2019, primarily due to the pandemic-induced economic shutdown resulting in fewer miles driven as many fleet vehicles were idled. 

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Articles•by Mike Antich•November 4, 2020

Forecast of PM Costs in 2021

The trend of increased PM costs per service will continue as more and more vehicles requiring conventional oil are taken out of service and replaced with models that require synthetics. 

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Articles•by Mike Antich•November 3, 2020

Forecast of Tire Prices in 2021

The ultimate outcome of the pandemic and the strength of the economic recovery are driving many predictions on future pricing.

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Articles•by Mike Antich•November 2, 2020

PM Compliance Disrupted by Pandemic-Induced Shutdown

The trend has been to extend PM intervals due to the use of longer-lasting synthetic motor oils, but during the COVID lockdown many fleet vehicles were idled, decreasing miles driven, causing PM compliance to diminish.

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Articles•by Mike Antich•November 2, 2020

Multiplicity of Fleet Tire Sizes

A perennial factor exerting upward pressure on replacement tire costs is the adoption of larger diameter tires and unique tire sizes. The increase in OEM automobile wheel diameters has driven up the price of fleet replacement tires, primarily because the larger the tire, the greater the manufacturing expense.

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Articles•by Mike Antich•October 29, 2020

Tire Costs Flat but Expect Higher Prices in 2021

Reduced tire demand and a decrease in overall miles driven have caused tire manufacturing volume to decline in 2020, creating a downstream ripple effect softening commodity prices for natural rubber, but this may change in 2021.

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Articles•by Mike Antich•October 29, 2020

Forecast of Fuel Prices in 2021

The price of fuel is impacted by many variables making predictions difficult. However, there are certain variables that are in play today, which allows us to extrapolate and extend those trend lines into the next calendar-year and interpret possible outcomes.

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Articles•by Mike Antich•October 28, 2020

Total Fleet Maintenance Costs Flat in CY-2020

Although unscheduled maintenance increased due to extended service lives, prolonged inactivity during the COVID lockdown, and longer downtime due to parts shortages, costs were flat as vendors refrained from price increases.

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Articles•by Mike Antich•October 28, 2020

Fleets Transition to Synthetic Motor Oil

For the past decade, more OEMs are recommending the use of more expensive synthetic motor oils, which is increasing the cost of each PM service. But the higher quality motor oil also allows the intervals between these services to lengthen, which is offsetting some of the additional per-transaction costs.

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Articles•by Mike Antich•October 27, 2020

Uptick in Mobile Maintenance in 2020

One trend that is gaining momentum among commercial fleets during the pandemic is the use of mobile maintenance vendors. There has been a substantial uptick in fleet requests for mobile maintenance solutions as fleet managers look to minimize downtime and the administrative burden of taking their vehicle to a repair shop and having the driver wait. 

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