A vehicle is an expensive piece of equipment, so it’s important that you look after it correctly. Maintenance could even be important for the safety of you and your employees. Below are a few questions to ask yourself to determine whether you’re looking after your company vehicle well enough.
Are you keeping it clean?
Keeping your vehicles clean is good for your company image. It can also help to prevent wear and tear like rust, as well as keeping your vehicle hygienic (particularly when it comes to cleaning the interior).
Try to adopt a cleaning schedule that includes cleaning the inside and outside of your vehicles. This should be weekly if you’re using your vehicle heavily almost every day. You could hire employees to carry out cleaning or you could create a rota so that existing employees share this duty.
Are you keeping it secure?
Vehicles can be easily targeted by vandals or thieves unless kept somewhere secure. Ideally you should try to keep your vehicles locked inside somewhere. Make sure garage doors cannot be prized open – it could be worth looking into garage door companies and investing in some ultra-secure doors.
If you can’t keep your vehicle locked away, try to at least park it near a security camera (if you park your vehicle outside your home, consider installing a security camera pointed at your vehicle). Never keep expensive tools in your vehicle overnight and always lock the doors to your vehicle.
Are you recording and fixing faults?
Vehicles will encounter problems over time regardless of how carefully you drive them. It’s important to keep a log of problems, so that they can be fixed. Without a system in place for recording faults, many problems may go ignored.
Try to schedule repairs as soon as you can. After all ,there’s no point recording faults if you’re not going to fix them. Try to prioritise the most important faults. It’s worth setting aside a budget for repairs and making sure that any older vehicles that frequently experience faults are replaced.
Are you keeping fluids topped up?
Just as you need to keep fluids like oil and engine coolant topped up with a personal vehicle, you need to do the same with commercial vehicles. Make sure that you’re regularly taking a look under the bonnet and topping any fluids that are low.
On top of fluids, make sure that the tired have enough air in them. Driving on underinflated tires can increase the risk of a blow-out and it can be bad for your vehicle’s fuel economy. Make sure to also replace tires that are heavily worn.
Are you servicing/inspecting your vehicles?
Carrying out regular servicing and safety inspections can be important to make sure that your vehicles are working efficiently and that they’re safe to drive.
Make sure to hire a professional to service and inspect your vehicles once per year. In some states, it may be compulsory for companies to do this.
