How To Maintain Commercial Vehicles
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- 28-11-2022
This article looks at How To Maintain Commercial Vehicles. If you own a fleet of HGV vehicles, vans or cars, it is essential to keep them in good maintenance.
What is Commercial Vehicle Maintenance?
Commercial vehicle maintenance involves repairs, replacements and vehicle inspections that professionals can frequently conduct before and after travelling exceptionally long distances.
Whether it is an issue with the inner workings of your vehicle's many mechanisms, such as the entire brake system, the wheels, the appearance, etc, maintenance of your cars, trailers, trucks, and vans must be thorough in helping highlight the problems at hand and those that could worsen in the long run.
Maintaining your fleet ensures the safety of its vehicles and analyses it for data. Vehicle maintenance for commercial industries will help you, and your staff be more efficient at running your business, making all cars and vans safe for operation so that all individual passengers and cargo stored inside are secure throughout the journey.
By law, all work equipment on-site must be safe and in working and good condition to comply with health and safety regulations. The safety of your staff and products should be your priority.
Why is Commercial Vehicle Maintenance Important?
It is a known fact that you could put your whole business and team at risk without having commercial vehicles with frequent maintenance, as it should be considered a crucial part of your business operations.
It is unsafe for commercial vehicles or any vehicles if they aren't undergoing regular maintenance, making them unfit for use due to their unreliability.
Commercial vehicle maintenance can ensure you are a step ahead of the game, as you'll be able to detect the potential faults that could grow into worse issues if neglected.
You want to ensure it is in the best condition for transporting goods and individuals.
Servicing and inspections will allow employees to notice various problems, such as breakdowns, lack of business efficiency, delays, poor customer service expectations, damaged goods, and many others.
A lack of vehicle maintenance can wreak havoc on your company and its profit costs.
Keeping commercial vehicles roadworthy
You want to ensure the commercial vehicles you utilise for rent are roadworthy, and to do so is with frequent inspections; these examinations will differ in depth and scope. Each check-up type assesses various features, components and skills that employees must carry out efficiently and effectively. These inspections include:
Daily Walkaround Checks.
First-Use Inspections/Regular Safety Inspections.
An inspection does not constitute a vehicle service, as services compile routine maintenance concerning the vehicle's usage capacity and the scale of the vehicle. To ensure a roadworthy fleet, professionals and manufacturer's recommendations include the following:
Monitoring Vehicles
Daily Inspections
Regular Safety Checks
Repair Facilities
Commercial Vehicle Care & Maintenance Tips
Professionals in the vehicle maintenance field would encourage you to curate and keep a checklist of all your company's vehicles and the servicing they require and have received in the year. Ensure all drivers have the checklist inside their vans, cars and vehicles to review the numerous items or services on the list each day before taking off for another job.
After reviewing these inspections, employers can successfully send them to vehicle management departments for confirmation of the maintained cars' and vans' health and safety. The checklist should remind your drivers using your company cars to check the following:
- Oil Levels
- Hoses
- High and Low Beams
- Tyre Pressure
- Spare Tyres
- Air Filters
- Batteries
- Belts
- Brakes and Brake Lights
- Transmission
- Engine
- Mirror Inspection Integrity
- Electrical System Components
After checking all aspects, they can correct any personal faults and conduct repairs to rectify the car's condition.
Consider employing an expert to be entirely responsible for inspecting and examining your fleet of vehicles before they go on the move, this will typically be cheaper than future repair costs.
It will also be useful to conduct bodywork inspections on the front and back windows, roof, panels, dashboard, inner floors, etc.
Having your car serviced regularly is essential, primarily if your fleet is utilised to travel over extended distances. Servicing helps avoid accidents and car or vehicle issues and determines whether that mode of transport is suitable for the job.
We recommend networking and forming long-term relationships with reliable and reputable service providers, enabling you to facilitate frequent inspections and check-ups.
Commercial vehicles are consistently moving on busy schedules; however, cars and vans have properly inflated tyres that require special attention, as your fleet frequently travels to various locations so that other employees can perform other business operations.
Understanding the wide range of types of road workings and environmental factors is critical to get to grips with what you may encounter whilst driving.
It will also help you determine the vehicles that require maintenance or tyre matches and replacements. Please remember that tyres must be changed or rotated before they can wear out or become damaged.
Please communicate with your company's drivers frequently, as they spend so much time driving your fleet vehicles. You must ask them to perform daily oil and tyre inspections and conduct regular driver reports.
That way, you can ensure all employees that drive your vehicles take responsibility whilst completing their job.
You want to maintain a positive environment and working relationship with your drivers; this will ensure customers and clients of a safe, professional environment and make it easier for employees to notify you about vehicle problems.
Underground, shaded or covered cars tend to stay in better shape for a longer lifespan, as they are shielded from the elements and harsh weather.
Car or vehicle covers may be a wise option for those that don't have specific places or shade to keep them. Car covers help keep your vehicle clean and can assist in protecting your vehicle from obtaining dings, scratches and dents.
Keeping your car or vehicle in top condition is one of the best ways to ensure it is clean. Cleaning will help prolong the lifespan and overall car health, improving the professional impression to attract customers and give your clients the idea that you care about your fleet.
The inside and outside of your vehicles should be cleaned thoroughly by your professionals or experts to ensure that you can see any scratches, rutted areas or dents you may acquire during busy schedules or deliveries.
You want to ensure you encourage drivers to keep a bag with their food packaging or empty bottles so that they never leave any packaging inside the car.
Keep cleaning supplies on you constantly, for example, sprays, rags and cleaning liquids, employees won't have to worry about faults or a lack of on-time deliveries, as they will be readily available for touch-ups in an emergency.
All drivers in your company must be taught how to drive safely and perform regular vehicle maintenance. We highly recommend carrying out small workshops and drills on maintaining each different vehicle within your fleet and navigating emergencies.
That way, you can team build, share ideas on the most appropriate safety practices for your establishment, and learn basic procedures that will help prevent fatal accidents and keep your staff and others on the road as safe as possible.
You should remind your drivers that vehicle maintenance should always be at the top of your priority list; whether they're late or behind on delivery schedules, you cannot do some aspects half-heartedly.
It will allow your employees to understand the significance of cautious driving and frequent car maintenance. All workers should have first aid kit availability and the training to carry out should procedures in the event of an accident.
Commercial vehicles: wheel maintenance
When refitting your wheels during proper maintenance services, it's paramount that the wheel and its fixing threads are lightly oiled.
Utilise a calibrated torque wrench to assist in tightening all vehicle's wheel fixings; remember to avoid using long bars or power tools for tightening; doing it manually will always be safer.
Another aspect of wheel maintenance is checking thoroughly for any wheel cracks, especially those found in nuts, studs and washers.
You can always renew these if your attempts need to be more satisfactory.
Assess the wheels for any damage or wear and tear of the nut seats or various seating areas; we wouldn't recommend overtightening spherical sets or cones, as these may develop raised lips around the edge, which can impact twin wheels seating.
Check each wheel mounting interface, from wheel faces, hub mounting faces, damage and dirt existing on or in them, and you must ensure all washer and nut faces are free from corrosion.
Pay close attention to the paintwork on your vehicles; any paint on the interfaces of your wheels could soften under the heat generated by braking, which results in looseness and clamping. You must check all wheel fixings regularly; we encourage doing so at the start of every shift. You may check for looseness of your wheel fixings using a calibrated torque.
If you manage a commercial fleet, you will want to maintain your Commercial Vehicles. We offer a professional team for your HGV spray painting and sand blasting. For HGV sand blasting in Doncaster and Scunthorpe, follow the link below.