Fleet car and truck maintenance costs have been trending upward during the first half of the 2021-calendar year as total fleet miles driven have increased in response to a recovering economy compared to 2020-CY. Prior to this, work-from-home mandates and the idling of non-essential fleets exerted downward pressure on fleet maintenance costs as fewer business miles, in the aggregate, were driven.
Fleet is a department, not unlike human resources, legal, or accounting, and it interacts with all of these and others. But can fleet management stand alone within the corporate structure?
Now is when the fleet industry should be proactively identifying these future technicians. The fleet industry has a window to tap into this idled labor pool, who will look attractive to other industries experiencing labor shortages leading to increased competition to recruit this talent.
The vehicle maintenance and repair industries are experiencing a skilled labor shortage as technicians in the Baby Boomer demographic retire in greater numbers than those replacing them. The skilled labor shortage requires shops to pay more for skilled technicians, which translates into higher shop labor rates.
Higher labor costs will continue to increase the maintenance spend for routine repairs in 2020, especially at service facilities located in high-cost-of-living metro areas.
The robust economy is creating record numbers of new jobs and a subsequent labor shortage that is being exacerbated by the large wave of Baby Boomer retirements, but some see uncertainty of future market conditions.
Vehicle crash costs incurred by businesses from insurance premiums, repairs, lost productivity, and other expenses amounted to $57.9 billion in 2018 as compared to $47.4 billion in 2013, according to a new report.
More complex vehicle technology, higher labor rates due to the ongoing skilled labor shortage, higher tire prices, and increased use of synthetic motor oils are putting upward pressure on overall fleet maintenance costs.
Unscheduled vehicle downtime is not only a maintenance issue, it is also an accident-avoidance issue since, on average, 20% of a fleet’s vehicles annually incur downtime due to accidents.
A new report from the TMC/FleetNet America Vertical Benchmarking Program showed roadside failures rose 22% in first quarter of 2019 compared with the fourth quarter of 2018.
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