Technical checklist for fleet servicing: 14 items

In fleet maintenance, the preventive maintenance checklist is one of the checklist templates that must be part of the vehicle management routine.

It brings together the main items that should be inspected on the vehicle in order to avoid problems and breakdowns. Given how often vehicle failures arise, the checklist is applied to keep track of and better plan the services carried out in the workshop.

In fact, one of the goals of using the preventive maintenance checklist is to avoid an increase in idleness in the fleet, preventing vehicles from sitting in repair longer than they should.

Read on:

• The fleet's preventive maintenance services;
• How the preventive maintenance checklist helps control these services;
• Why use this checklist type in your fleet;
• What to include in your fleet's preventive maintenance checklist.

What are the fleet's preventive maintenance services?

Preventive maintenance is a type of maintenance that aims to predict and correct problems while they are still at an early stage.

Preventive maintenance services include: wheel alignment and balancing, checking and topping up the engine oil level, tire calibration to the right pressure, and so on.

These are actions that help keep the vehicle in good running condition and also prevent wear, cracks and broken parts from occurring.

How does the preventive maintenance checklist help control these services?

This fleet tool is one of the main ways to control vehicle maintenance services. This happens by carrying out periodic inspections on the vehicles, in a strategic way.

It is up to the fleet manager (or maintenance manager) to identify the checklist items and how often it is carried out.

And, for this to be possible, other tools and performance indicators should be used, such as fault tree analysis and the vehicles' MTBF (mean time between failures).

This way, in addition to predicting when a failure may happen, it is possible to assess and check what the problem is and include it in your preventive maintenance checklist.

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Why use the preventive maintenance checklist?

Because you need to have control over your fleet vehicles' maintenance. Without it, operating costs rise and productivity falls.

In addition, the preventive maintenance checklist also serves to:

Contribute to building a fleet maintenance history

Over time, it makes it possible to analyze how often failures occur (by error, driver or license plate) and which of the solutions adopted were most effective, also taking into account the cost allocated to each fix.

Calculate and keep track of some of the main maintenance indicators

Mean time to repair, for example, requires knowing how many maintenance services were carried out within the analysis period.

This information is complemented by the preventive maintenance checklist data.

Understand whether the fleet's maintenance plan is being followed

The fleet maintenance plan is used to set objectives and goals, as well as to describe the actions to be taken in order to achieve these results with the highest success rate.

With the preventive maintenance checklist, it is possible to keep track of whether the results in this area are in line with expectations or whether the actions should be adjusted.

Get to know the vehicles used in the fleet's operations

Understanding how the vehicles work, how often they need repairs and the amounts allocated to their maintenance services helps arrive at the answer to a fundamental question: is this vehicle still a good deal to keep in the operation?

From the moment the vehicle exceeds a spending threshold and spends more time in the workshop than on the road, it is time to carry out fleet renewal.

Increase the vehicles' durability

At the same time as you keep track of the vehicles' failures and fix them to increase the useful life of the assets, you also help reduce the depreciation of these vehicles.

The less impact on its structure, the more value the asset retains throughout its use, which is essential in companies that sell used vehicles.

Have more information for future decision-making

When the preventive maintenance checklist is carried out correctly, the data entered in each inspection serves to build the fleet's knowledge base.

Each vehicle can be analyzed to understand the number and severity of incidents it has had throughout its useful life, leading to an important decision: whether it will be bought again or whether the manager should bet on another model.

What should you include in the preventive maintenance checklist?

There are two basic and essential steps for using this checklist type: creating a template and instructing drivers to carry out the inspections.

When you are at the creation stage, remember these items to include in the vehicles' checklist for preventive maintenance:

• Steering alignment
• Tire rotation
• Engine belts
• Water and radiator fluid level
• Oil level and running time
• Windshield wiper blades and wipers
• Coolant
• Brake fluids
• Clutch fluids
• Electronic fuel injection
• Brake pressure
• Wear of brake linings and calipers
• Operation of exterior lights (headlights, taillights) and interior lights
• Fuel tank leaks

To speed up this activity, there is also the electronic checklist system, which makes it easier to create checklist templates and also automates the answers when filling out the questionnaire during the inspection, contributing to both stages of the checklist.

Learn even more about this solution in our free downloadable material: Prolog App Electronic Checklist Guide (in Portuguese).