In a perfect world, trucks would never break down. But you’re not operating in a perfect world. While you can take steps to lessen the chance of a breakdown, there’s no way to completely eliminate them. Despite your best preventive maintenance efforts, products will still fail and your trucks are occasionally going to break down.
This doesn’t mean you can’t have an impact on what happens once a truck breakdown occurs. How you manage the breakdown has a huge impact on how long your truck and driver are out of service.
That’s why Decisiv put together four key ways to help shorten the time from breakdown to wheels rolling. Check out the first two ways below, and then head over to Decisiv’s blog to learn more.
- Improve driver communications: How easy is it for drivers to notify you about the breakdown and for you to keep them informed about the arrival of the tow truck or mobile repair vehicle? Drivers are more limited today by new Hours of Service regulations, so knowing what’s going on helps to maximize driving hours. Make sure they’re armed with mobile technology that gives them direct and immediate access to your dispatch operation. On-board telematics devices are also a good way to let you know what’s happening with your vehicles.
- Ensure access to fault code data: Make sure everyone involved in the breakdown has access to fault codes and other vehicle data. Fault codes point the maintenance manager and service provider to what went wrong with the vehicle, saving valuable diagnostic time. If that’s also tied to a complete vehicle history report, the service provider will have even more clues as to the source of the problem. Technology enables this open access, so consider making the necessary investment, because it will quickly pay for itself.
