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May 2018 | VehicleServicePros.com 15
tires, take an oil sample and make sure the unit
is up to DOT compliance.”
Mangione advises Penske also provides an
initial inspection of vehicles.
“Th at’s where you’re collecting the specifi cation
data, but a lot of times the customer wants a snapshot
of the condition of their fl eet, both from a
maintenance perspective, physical damage, and
then where do they stand from a PM standpoint,”
Mangione says.
Th is evaluation establishes
a baseline for follow-up aft er
the maintenance contract is
started. If the fl eet decides
to partner with a contract
maintenance service provider,
they should then identify
any potential barriers to
implementation. Barriers
may include determining
where the maintenance will
be completed, completing a
cost analysis and communicating
with management and
employees.
It is more common for location
based and medium- to
large-sized fl eets to consider
having a dedicated on-site
maintenance operation, run
by a third party. Smaller
f leets, or network-based
fl eets, may fi nd more benefi t
in partnering with a contract
maintenance provider with
multiple locations and multiple
customers.
“If we have an existing,
multi-client location facility
in the area, it may make
more sense for the customer
to use their own real estate
for something else, and just
outsource it completely to
our multi-client facility,” says
NationaLease’s Gallick.
A cost analysis may reveal a
higher-than-expected up-front
cost to bring the vehicles
up to current maintenance
schedules.
“Part of the reason they
have chosen to outsource is
because they’ve struggled to
get visibility of their total cost
of ownership through whatever
systems they were using.
Sometimes there’s a little sticker
shock and you have to talk
through that,” Mangione says.
Th is can be a challenge in
particular for an older fl eet,
where deferred maintenance
means more vehicle updates
and repairs to bring the vehicle
up to current maintenance
schedules.
“Sometimes we have to work
through getting that vehicle
caught up,” Mangione says.
“But a lot of that conversation is, we don’t want to
short-change things that impact improving the
reliability of the truck. Th at’s the whole point of
the program.”
Mangione adds that DOT-compliance items are
required, and will take priority when bringing
vehicles on-board to their contracted maintenance
programs.
Once a fl eet selects the service provider, a documented
plan should be created and implemented.
In other words, take action to have the contracted
maintenance provider take over the maintenance
operations. Th e type of program selected,
and whether the contracted service provider
will be on-site or the vehicles will be serviced at
a multi-customer location, can determine the time
it takes to be up and running.
“Typically from a 30-day timeframe from sign-
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