Forecast of Fleet Maintenance Trends in 2021
The forecast of the cost of maintenance and unscheduled repair is anticipated to go up in CY-2021.
The forecast of the cost of maintenance and unscheduled repair is anticipated to go up in CY-2021.
The ultimate outcome of the pandemic and the strength of the economic recovery are driving many predictions on future pricing.
Reduced tire demand and a decrease in overall miles driven have caused tire manufacturing volume to decline in 2020, creating a downstream ripple effect softening commodity prices for natural rubber, but this may change in 2021.
Although unscheduled maintenance increased due to extended service lives, prolonged inactivity during the COVID lockdown, and longer downtime due to parts shortages, costs were flat as vendors refrained from price increases.
One trend that is gaining momentum among commercial fleets during the pandemic is the use of mobile maintenance vendors. There has been a substantial uptick in fleet requests for mobile maintenance solutions as fleet managers look to minimize downtime and the administrative burden of taking their vehicle to a repair shop and having the driver wait.
The partnership enables Discount Tire customers who also use Fleetio to automate approval and billing processes and benefit from competitive pricing.
The Fleet Executive of the Year award, along with the Edward J. Bobit Professional Fleet Manager of the Year award, will be announced at the 2020 AFLA NextGen Conference, which will be hosted virtually this October 5-7, 2020.
LeasePlan USA launched a partnership with mobile maintenance and repair services provider YourMechanic to establish contact-free vehicle maintenance services for its clients’ cars and light-duty vehicles.
Although prices for replacement tires increased 3% per unit per month in calendar-year 2019 compared to CY-2018, the per transaction tire costs were up less than 1% for fleets buying at pre-negotiated national account prices.
Average repair cost per unit increased in 2019, primarily due to higher labor rates. Also, PM costs were up as more units require more expensive synthetic oil. Tire price per unit, on average, increased 3% in the past 12 months.
The robust economy is creating record numbers of new jobs and a subsequent labor shortage that is being exacerbated by the large wave of Baby Boomer retirements, but some see uncertainty of future market conditions.
General Motors, which has been an MSTS client since 2001, will utilize MSTS’ credit as a service solution suite
What should a fleet professional know when utilizing assets with run-flat tire versus a non-run-flat tire? According to mounting and balancing equipment manufacturers and tire manufacturers the consensus is a run-flat’s unique construction makes them more difficult to mount and demount.
Citing the higher cost of crude oil, many major manufacturers of finished lubricant products increased prices from 5% to 8% in CY-2018. Plus, each model-year, more OEMs require the use of more expensive synthetic motor oils.
Although repair incidents were flat, other fleet-related maintenance expenses were up in calendar-year 2017, primarily in labor rates and parts prices. PM costs were up around 3%, while replacement tire costs increased 5-10%.
