For the past several years at TMC meetings, FleetNet America has provided an update on the vertical benchmarking study on roadside breakdowns that they create in partnership with TMC. In the first quarter of 2021, the average miles between unscheduled breakdowns was 29,506 miles across all of the participating fleets in the three verticals–truckload, LTL and tanker fleets.

The frequency of breakdowns varied by vertical, as the study detailed:

• Participating truckload carriers decreased 13.1% over the prior quarter in miles between breakdowns, running 21,856 miles between breakdowns.
• The LTL vertical decreased from 54,556 in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 44,380 in first quarter of 2021.
• The tank vertical experienced an increase in roadside failures compared to the prior quarter, running 17,420 miles between unscheduled breakdowns in 2021 versus 19,905 miles in the fourth quarter.

For more details about the breakdown averages, as well as the top five vehicle systems that were responsible for the unscheduled maintenance, watch the video below.

“Downtime and repair costs are up,” said Paul Gildenhorn, vice president, sales, FleetNet America, during the press conference. “The best things fleets can do is look at the information and find ways that they can reduced their roadside repairs.”