Fleets experience more unscheduled roadside repair in first quarter, report finds

June 11, 2018
TMC and FleetNet America release their Roadside Breakdown Benchmarks report.

American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) and FleetNet America released the executive summary of their Truckload Vertical Benchmarking Study from the January – March quarter. There were some surprises in the data when compared to the inaugural October – December period. 

The miles participating fleets ran between roadside breakdowns decreased 21 percent in the first quarter of 2018, indicating fleets were experiencing more unscheduled roadside repairs. Additionally, the impact of the most frequent repairs increased significantly. The top five Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standard systems accounted for 58 percent of all repairs in the first quarter of 2018, compared to the top five systems representing only 37 percent of repairs in the fourth quarter of 2017.

“The study makes it clear that fleets can better control their maintenance expense provided they know where to focus the limited time their managers have to trouble shoot,” said Jim Buell, executive vice president of sales and marketing for FleetNet America.

The TMC/FleetNet Vertical Benchmarking Program is a new benefit for TMC members. In addition to the executive summary, which is available to TMC members, fleets that participate by sharing their data are provided an analytic tool that allows them to drill into their data, comparing it to the industry average.

 “TMC exists to help our members run better, more profitable maintenance operations. Peer-to-peer benchmarking is an exciting step toward helping fleets do just that,” said TMC Executive Director Robert Braswell. “As more member fleets participate, this will become an even more powerful tool.”

Details of these results some of the best practices identified were shared during TMC’s Fleet Data Management & Cybersecurity Conference June 5-7 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The program is a strategic collaboration between TMC/ATA and FleetNet America and is open to TMC fleet executive level members and FleetNet America customers. The analytics provided via the program will be cumulative and non-fleet specific. For information about the TMC/FleetNet Vertical Benchmarking Program, visit http://benchmarkit.fleetnetamerica.com.

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