When you own and operate a trucking company with a fleet of trucks, you have to keep your truck fleet well-maintained. That said, you may think that the only way to keep the fleet maintained is to take each truck to a garage for annual maintenance and have it fixed up there. That is not the only way. In fact, there are at least three ways in which you can maintain your truck fleet. Here they are, from cheapest to the most costly.

Hire Drivers That Can Maintain Their Own Trucks

If you hire experienced truck drivers that already know how to do basic maintenance, the drivers can maintain the trucks they drive themselves. In the event that supplies are needed, such as oil, oil filters, air filters, etc., are needed, the drivers can use company accounts or company charge cards to purchase the supplies and finish maintenance tasks. Because you can view the charges on these accounts, you know exactly what was purchased from where, and when. Then you know when the last time a driver changed the oil or filters, too. The only expenses you incur for truck fleet maintenance this way are the parts and fluids purchased by you and/or your drivers.

Onsite Truck Fleet Maintenance Services

These services are provided by truck fleet mechanics that will come to your business and spend a few days completing maintenance on all of your trucks. It will cost you parts, fluids, and whatever the hourly labor charge is, usually multiplied by two because these service providers always send in at least two people to work on the trucks.  The hourly labor costs go up for each mechanic the company sends to complete the work.

Offsite Truck Maintenance

Finally, there is the offsite truck fleet maintenance option. Wherever there is a commercial truck maintenance and repair garage, that is where you can take your trucks. The biggest part of this expense is the fact that your trucks are out of commission for several days, sometimes up to week, depending on how far behind in work orders the garage is.

An additional financial hardship is finding employees who can go pick up and drop off the trucks from this garage, since most of your drivers are typically on the road during the day. At least you can have a driver take a truck to the garage and pick up a truck whose maintenance is complete. Then repeat the process until all of the trucks have been through the garage.

For more information about maintenance services and to find the best option for you, contact a company like Service Pros Auto Center.