The Cost to Maintain a Fleet is Increasing

While this doesn’t come as a complete shock given where the economy and inflation still is, a recent study by the American Trucking Assocation’s Technology & Maintenance Council and Decisive Inc. showed a year over year increase of 8% of parts and labor expense when comparing the first quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2022. The good news is, they also found that costs are starting to slow down, showing only a 0.7% increase when comparing the first quarter of 2023 with the fourth quarter of 2022.

Like most goods, repair parts have been hit with increasing raw material prices, increased labor wages, and even increased transportation expenses. And the industry has been experiencing a diesel repair technician shortage for years, so there’s no surprise that labors wages have increased over the last few years.

So, the question is, how can trucking companies work to manage their maintenance costs in our current environment? We’ve seen a shift in fleets changing their purchase cycle, shortening it up to replace trucks every handful of years to keep any major repairs under the manufacturer’s warranty. With trucking companies struggling to hire technicians, some have found it necessary as they don’t have the ability to handle most maintenance (outside of oil changes). Fleets have seen some unintended benefits from this as well, such as increased retention and driver happiness levels.

Is this something you should consider with your fleet? Keep in mind that new equipment prices and interest rates are up and used equipment prices have dropped 25-30% from where they were last year. So, while a change in equipment replacement cycle may help on maintenance costs, there could be some other costs as fleet convert to consider.