Any company that has commercial vehicles needs to know how to take care of them. If they don’t, the vehicles will break down quite often, causing a lot of downtime, as well as needing a decent number of repairs.

As a business owner, you’ll want to avoid that. You’ll need to know how to look after your commercial vehicles to do that. From having some DIY repair manuals to knowing when to call in a professional, there’s a lot to consider with this.

It might seem impossible if you don’t know what you’re doing, but seven top tips make it much easier. With some effort, you shouldn’t have to worry about breakdowns and downtime.

How To Look After Your Commercial Vehicles: 7 Top Tips

1. Have a Checklist

Having a maintenance and repair checklist is an effective way to make sure your vehicles are well looked after. It lets you go down the list step-by-step to look through any areas that could pose an issue.

Certain parts of your car could need more attention than others, and a checklist makes sure you don’t overlook these. It’ll also make sure you check everything when you should. Keeping the car owner’s manual and best practices in mind is essential to this process.

It should avoid any potential issues from coming up.

2. Get Them Serviced Regularly

Every car owner knows they need to get it serviced regularly. You’ll need to do the same thing for your commercial vehicles. Doing so can even be more important than servicing your personal car, despite how high the regular cost can be.

Think of this as preventative maintenance. It makes sure no issues turn up in the future, which could be much more costly. Getting to know a local mechanic and forming a long-term relationship with them could end up with you seeing some savings with this.

It’s a cost you’ll end up having to pay, but the savings you’ll see will be higher.

3. Look After The Tires

Tires are one of the most important parts of the vehicle. They’re the only points of contact with the road and are highly involved in its safety. You’ll need to make sure they’re as well-maintained because of that.

Regular tire maintenance is a large part of this. Rotating tires, checking their pressure, and similar tasks are all vital to doing this. When they start going bald, it’s time to replace them. While that’s a cost you mightn’t want to deal with, it saves you from the tires causing further issues down the road.

4. Make Drivers Report Regularly

Your drivers will naturally spend the most time with your vehicles. If there are any problems with the vehicles, they’ll be the first ones to notice. Getting them to make regular reports about the vehicle’s conditions makes sure any issues are caught early and dealt with.

This approach ensures you don’t end up needing to deal with any breakdowns or similar issues, which could be costly. Have drivers do this as soon as they notice any unexpected or unfamiliar sounds with the vehicle, or if anything doesn’t work as it should.

While you could still need to hire a mechanic, it’ll be a smaller, more affordable issue to deal with.

5. Keep Them Clean

Looking after your commercial vehicles doesn’t just mean making sure all of the mechanics are right. You’ll also need to ensure everything’s clean. Ensuring drivers clean up at the end of a shift is an effective way of preventing dirt from building up.

It’s also worth going further than this by giving your vehicles regular cleanings. That includes the inside and outside. This helps make sure they give off a professional impression to clients and other third-parties.

The worse your cars look, the worse of an impression they’ll give off. It could lead to people thinking you don’t care or look after your business. That might mean they end up not doing business with you. Avoid this by making sure everything’s as clean as possible.

6. Park in The Shade

You could be surprised by how much of an impact parking in the shade can have for your vehicles. It keeps them out of the sun, which could make the paint – and any graphics – look increasingly duller. That leads to you eventually needing to redo the paint job.

Parking underground or in similar areas also means your vehicles will be protected from the elements. While the damage this causes mightn’t be noticeable at first, it becomes progressively larger in time.

By keeping them out of the weather as much as possible, you restrict that and avoid needing to do up your vehicles’ exterior regularly.

7. Train Drivers

As mentioned above, drivers will need to report issues with your commercial vehicles as they arise. They mightn’t be able to do that properly if they’re not well-trained. You’ll need to go out of your way to make sure they have this training.

While they don’t need to become expert mechanics, they’ll at least need to know about the basics to avoid minor issues becoming much larger. Even a small problem could lead to a breakdown when they’re on the road.

If they’re able to look after that themselves with a little work, it avoids drivers needing to wait around for a mechanic to turn up. It also lets them figure out if the problem warrants going to a professional to get it fixed.

How to Look After Your Commercial Vehicles: Wrapping Up

If you don’t know how to look after your commercial vehicles, they could break down quite often. That not only means shelling out for costly repairs, but also leads to some downtime for employees, leading to money being lost.

Having drivers report any issues, going through a regular checklist, keeping the cars clean, and following a few other top tips, you should avoid this. You’ll rely on your commercial vehicles to do business.

Without them, your company could grind to a halt. Take the time to look after your vehicles to avoid that.