How to maximise the health of your vehicles so you minimise their downtime.
As a fleet owner, maintaining your vehicles is an essential part of keeping your business running. If you have any vehicles that aren’t fit to be on the road, your operations can take a hit.
To help keep your fleet on the move and minimise your vehicle downtime, we’ve put together 5 top vehicle maintenance tips for you to follow. Not only is a well-maintained fleet more reliable, but you can also save money on fuel and repairs, helping your fleet’s topline.
Check tyre pressure regularly
If a vehicle’s tyres are underinflated, its engine will work harder to keep the car moving, which can drastically reduce its fuel efficiency.
As well as checking for any cuts or bulges in the exterior of a vehicle’s tyres, you should always try to keep the tyres inflated to their optimum pressure. You can find this information in a vehicle’s handbook, or sometimes on the inside of the door on the driver’s side.
Keep engine oil topped up
If your vehicle’s engine oil level drops too low, the moving parts in your engine can suffer significant damage extremely quickly. Most modern vehicles have an alert on the dashboard to let you know when your engine’s oil is low, however you can also check for yourself using a dipstick.
Replace worn out batteries
The most common reason any vehicle breaks down is due to a battery failure and the risk is never greater than during times where your vehicles aren’t in frequent use. Most vehicle batteries have a guarantee of somewhere between 3-5 years, so it’s a good idea to replace your battery when that runs out.
Service your vehicles frequently
During a service, your vehicles will be checked to make sure they are still in a safe and reliable condition. It is not a legal requirement to service your vehicles, but it’s a great way to catch any issues early on before they get worse and save money in vehicle maintenance in the long run.
Test your brakes
When you operate a fleet of vehicles, demand for your business can vary throughout the year. During your less busy months, you should always make sure to keep your vehicles on the move from time to time, taking particular care to test out the brakes. Whichever type of vehicles make up your fleet, even travelling a short distance can be highly beneficial for their overall health.
At Zego, we design fair, flexible and simple insurance solutions that enable you to scale your business up and down to match any changes in your demand. When you set up a Fleet insurance policy with Zego, you get fairer pricing that can help you stay on top of your costs, as well as access to our dedicated management portal so you can add and remove vehicles with ease.
For more information about our products, or if you’re looking to get started with your quote for flexible Fleet insurance, have a look at our Fleet insurance page. If you’re looking for more information about how our cover works, you can watch the video below.