Many people who drive vehicles, either casually or just as part of everyday life, only understand some of the basics of how those vehicles operate. They are just like any other complex technology; they exist to be used, they work until they break, and they can either be repaired by a skilled expert or replaced.

Sometimes, though, it can be beneficial to know a little more than the bare minimum about the vehicles you operate. This can be particularly important for fleet managers, who need to understand the options available for the vehicles they purchase and operate as part of a fleet. Picking a vehicle with substandard capabilities – or a vehicle suited for a different kind of task – can be a waste, either of time and money or of the power and capabilities of the vehicle.

Think of it this way. You wouldn’t buy a heavy-duty dump truck to deliver a couch, right? It’s massively overkill to use such a powerful machine with immense hauling capabilities to move a piece of furniture. Conversely, you wouldn’t want to use a VW Beetle either; it’s too small to carry a couch. Picking the right kind of vehicle for the purposes you have is critical.

What Is the Transmission of a Truck?

One of those elements of a vehicle that many people overlook is the transmission. Many people may know that the transmission is part of the engine and that it’s a critical component, and if it breaks, it’s an expensive repair, but their knowledge may end there. Slightly more knowledgeable people may know that transmissions can be either automatic or manual and that manual transmissions have fallen largely out of favor in recent decades.

For trucks and other fleet vehicles, there’s a lot more to this story. Rather than two kinds of transmissions, trucks have as many as eight different types of transmissions, each with their own pros and cons, and each suited to different purposes.

First, though, what is a transmission?

The transmission is a critical component of an engine. It’s the complex system of gears, clutch, shifter, and computerized elements that transmit power from the engine to the wheels that drive the vehicle.

For a very simple example, consider a bicycle. In a bicycle, the power is delivered by your legs to the pedals. A chain goes to a series of gears, which in turn convert that force into propulsion from the rear wheel. The ability to shift the chain via a derailleur from gear to gear to adjust how much power is transmitted using gearing ratios is the mechanism of a transmission.

In a motor vehicle, the engine uses fuel-air mixtures and sparks to create small, controlled explosions in an array of pistons that turn a crankshaft, delivering rotational force. That force does not go directly to the wheels; if it did, the moment the engine turned over your vehicle would start to move, and there would be no way to control force or speed other than increasing or decreasing the RPM of the engine.

The transmission is a gearbox that encompasses different gearing options, from slower speeds with more torque to higher speeds with less torque to neutral and reverse gears. It also includes the shifting mechanism, which can be manual, automatic, or a combination of the two.

Transmissions are very complex machines that are precision-engineered and designed for smooth operation. Over time, advancements in technology have come up with a variety of different styles of transmission, each of which can be used in different purposes and scenarios.

The Three Main Types of Transmission

At this point, it’s helpful to break down transmissions into three categories. These categories are manual transmissions, automated manual transmissions (also known as AMTs), and automatic transmissions.

Manual transmissions, broadly known as “stick shift” transmissions, have no features to control the shifting on their own. The operator uses a shifter and a clutch pedal to choose the gearing at any given moment. They tend to require more direct skill and knowledge to operate, and improper handling can cause damage to the gearbox.

The primary benefit of a manual transmission is giving the operator direct control over gear selection. Different kinds of manual transmissions offer different granularity of control, but they all function in essentially the same way, allowing the operator to choose the most appropriate gear for a given purpose. This can vary based on load, terrain, road conditions, and more.

The second type of transmission is the automatic transmission. Automatic transmissions are common in most consumer vehicles and many larger, heavy-duty trucks and commercial vehicles today. In automatic vehicles, the transmission is controlled almost entirely by the vehicle’s onboard computer. You may still be able to choose a gear, but for the most part, you simply put the vehicle in drive and let the computer shift for you.

Automatic transmissions function primarily by recording various metrics throughout the vehicle. The engine RPM, the speed and velocity changes of the vehicle as gas or brake are applied, the load, and more, are all calculated and considered by the computerized systems. When you get on a highway and step on the gas, the changes in sound, RPM, and slight lurch are the moments where the vehicle shifts into a higher gear for you to reach a higher speed.

Automatic transmissions lose some of the granularity and control that manual transmissions provide. A driver has to rely on the computer to make the appropriate decision for shifting. This is usually appropriate, but in extreme conditions, such as with very heavy loads, uneven road surfaces, steep hills, and other situations, the computer isn’t programmed to consider those factors and may make inappropriate decisions. Ostensibly, the ability to do basic shifting on your own with an automatic helps alleviate that, but in practice, it’s rarely used.

The third kind of transmission, automated manual transmissions, are a combination of the two. They are meant to address one of the more significant drawbacks of a manual transmission. With a manual transmission, proper timing of shifting and use of the clutch pedal is required for proper shifting. Improper use can cause wear and damage to the clutch and the gearing, which wears it out and makes it harder to shift smoothly until it eventually stops shifting entirely. 

The precision necessary to shift properly requires a not-insignificant amount of experience and timing. Everything from a novice driver to a fatigued driver to a bad day can reduce that precision and cause damage to the transmission. While individual bad shifts won’t ruin a transmission, that damage adds up over time.

The AMT style of transmission is a manual transmission, but instead of using a clutch pedal and a shifter, the driver operates it using an electronic system. This may be controlled with a stick as normal or with paddles or buttons, as seen in some modern electric vehicles, supercars, and, increasingly, trucks. The electronic controls are capable of operating a clutch with microsecond precision, providing a smooth shift with dramatically less possibility of damage. 

The Types and Uses of Truck Transmissions

Each of the three categories of transmission has different types of transmissions based on the configuration of gears and the mechanism of operation. They each have pros and cons and can be better suited to different kinds of operations.

Range Transmissions

Range transmissions are a type of manual transmission and are known as direct transmissions or straight transmissions. Everything you know about a manual transmission generally applies to a range transmission.

They have a limited number of gear ratios and are best used on vehicles where granularity isn’t necessary. Most manual trucks are suited for long-haul applications where shifting is relatively rare, especially when cruising, and where ongoing, consistent operation is best.

Splitter Transmissions

The splitter transmission is a manual transmission similar to a range transmission, but they have a “splitter” lever that allows a driver to differentiate between a higher or lower ratio in a given gear. For a transmission with five gears, it would provide ten levels of granularity, which allows for a greater amount of adaptability in hauling.

These are best suited for cases where starting and stopping are more frequent, a greater variety of speeds and power levels are necessary, and a vehicle needs to adapt to a wider range of loads.

Range-Splitter Transmissions

A third type of transmission combines the two above. They’re effectively an even more granular version of the splitter transmission, with more gearing options and even more versatility.

They are most commonly seen in heavy-duty vehicles with widely variable needs, from slow and heavy hauling to longer cruising and everything in between.

Planetary Automatic Transmissions

Planetary transmissions are a kind of automatic transmission that, while the name suggests something fantastical, are actually the most bog-standard kind of automatic transmission out there.

They are named after a type of gear set called planetary gears, where variations in the gearing ratios can be adjusted easily and within a compact space. They are easy and smooth to use and are one of the most common kinds of transmissions for automatic vehicles.

Dual-Clutch Transmissions

The dual-clutch transmission system is another automatic transmission style. They’re a newer development in transmission technology and feature two clutches that alternate between even and odd-numbered gears. This way, rather than a clutch shifting gears, one clutch engages while the other disengages, providing a smooth and seamless transition between gears. 

They are most useful in trucks that rapidly accelerate and shift frequently, such as when you’re traveling or hauling through hilly terrain, or when you have a very short amount of space to get up to speed. They can be very precise and reduce power loss when shifting, which isn’t very noticeable in the immediate sense, but can add up to operational efficiency over time.

Picking the Right Transmission Type

When purchasing a new fleet vehicle, understanding the transmission type can be a critical component in your decision-making process. In general, you will be balancing several factors:

• Wear and tear on the transmission.
• Comfort and smoothness of operation.
• Fuel efficiency of the transmission.
• Driver training requirements.

Manual transmissions have fine fuel efficiency but are worse for driver comfort and require that the driver know how to operate a manual transmission vehicle, which is a skill many lament is dying out due to the increasing prevalence of automatic transmissions. They also wear out faster due to those training requirements and the natural wear caused by human error.

Automatic transmissions in general have slightly lower fuel efficiency. This may not be relevant in many situations, but in particular for long-haul trucking, it can add up over time. Automatics have lower maintenance requirements than manuals, and are more comfortable for drivers, who don’t need to pay constant attention to gearing and shifting. They also require no real training to learn to use, since it’s all handled for you.

AMTs are better for fuel efficiency than manuals, which can be a powerful boost for long-haul trucking efficiency. Their maintenance costs are also generally lower, though as a newer technology, finding specialists to repair them when they break may be harder. They also offer a driver more comfort, though the training requirement for using them does exist.

AMTs also tend to be the most expensive up-front, with automatics coming in second and manuals third. This is offset by the specialized needs in driver training and in the costs of repairs over time, so it’s a cost to consider.

As far as maintenance goes, you’re in luck. Whatever kind of transmission your vehicles have, we can help. As the operators of a nationwide network of fleet vehicle service centers, we have trained specialists in every kind of transmission from coast to coast. All you need to do is know what transmissions you have (or plan to acquire) and find your nearest service center. Simply reach out, ask if they service the vehicles you plan to use, and set up a maintenance deal right away. We’ll keep your fleet going from the first mile to the millionth.

Operating a fleet requires constant attention to a million details. Some of them are small and easily tracked. Others are large and require custom solutions. Whether you’re dealing with automatic route optimization and planning, fleet telematics and usage optimization, proactive maintenance scheduling, or other details, you need to manage it properly to have any chance of keeping your fleet moving and your business rolling.

One of the details that can, unfortunately, slip the minds of fleet managers is accidents and accident response. Accidents happen, whether you go a million miles between them or they happen every month. Many different factors play a role, from geographic location to weather conditions to vehicle maintenance.

Part of handling these is incident response and accident management, which we’ve talked about here. Another part, though, is taking preventative measures to avoid letting those accidents happen in the first place. So, what are the most common causes of fleet accidents, and what can you do to try to avoid them?

Don’t Let Perfect Be the Enemy of Good

Before digging deep into the specific causes and options you have for mitigating those causes, it’s worth taking a moment to discuss the high-level view of accidents.

We live in a chaotic world. Millions of people take to the roads every day, and there’s an estimated 36,000+ motor vehicle accidents every day across the roads of the United States. 

It’s critical, then, to acknowledge that accidents will happen. Any driver with a long enough career will experience one, and they’re often through no fault of the driver. If you’ve ever seen dash-cam compilations of irate commuters pulling in front of commercial vehicles and brake-checking them, only to be hit, that’s a prime example. Short of not being on the road, there’s no way to avoid that kind of incident.

The goal is not to have a perfect record nor to punish drivers who encounter incidents. Sure, if it’s firmly their fault, action can be taken, but that’s a matter for well after the incident, not during or before.

Some people get it in their heads that perfect is the only option and end up refusing to take measures that end up not being perfect. The end result is an endless quest for perfection that doesn’t exist and a broadly less safe fleet along the way. Don’t let that happen to you. Many small changes can add up over time, and even if none of them are individually perfect, the results speak for themselves.

So, let’s talk about the various causes of fleet accidents, and how you can avoid them in ways both big and small.

Cause: Tired Drivers

Perhaps the single largest cause of accidents in fleet driving is drivers who are too tired. The longer you go without sleep, without proper nutrition, the slower you become. Your thoughts grow sluggish, you end up drowsy, and your reaction times get dramatically longer. What you might notice right away normally can slip by unnoticed entirely, and things you could previously react to just fine end up lost in the haze.

Drivers pushing themselves beyond their limits will inevitably end up in a collision. It’s not an if; it’s a when. That’s why there are so many laws and rules against long hours, limits on how many hours in a week a driver can drive, and stiff penalties for violations.

All the laws in the world can’t prevent a driver from making a bad decision when faced with a bad situation, though. Some of the ways you can address this include:

• Ensuring your delivery schedules are loose enough that your drivers don’t need to push their limits to make those deliveries in time.
• Giving leeway between trips for a driver to rest and recuperate.
• Encouraging lengthy breaks as necessary through flexible scheduling so that a driver who recognizes the need to stop for a nap or snack can do so without feeling like they’re going to miss critical deadlines in doing so.
• Ensure you have enough drivers to cover all of your deliveries without forcing too much work out of any of them.

The federal government has rules about how long a driver can spend on the road at a time and what their hours can be, but you should view these as an upper limit, not a goal to be reached. The more leeway and flexibility you have for your drivers, the less likely they are to end up in a dangerous situation.

Cause: Distracted Driving

Distracted driving is very likely the greatest cause of motor vehicle collisions in the United States as a whole, taking non-commercial vehicles into account. While there’s nothing your drivers can do except remain vigilant when drivers around them are distracted, it’s imperative that they do not become distracted themselves.

Distracted driving can take many forms. Talking on the phone, eating, interacting with a navigation computer or tablet, texting, or worse; there are many different actions that are both readily available to drivers via the use of cell phones, and incredibly dangerous.

Preventing distracted driving comes down to a few key points.

First, make sure your drivers have as few reasons as possible to interact with things like their navigation computers while on the road. Data should be fed and controlled as automatically as possible to avoid the need.

Make sure your drivers have time to stop and eat when necessary so they aren’t rushing to eat while driving, which is another primary distraction. Ideally, even something as simple as a sip of coffee can be avoided while behind the wheel.

One of the biggest ways to prevent an accident stemming from distracted driving is to train your drivers on what it means and what not to do. It’s not very useful to say, “don’t drive distracted,” when you don’t explain what constitutes a distraction, after all.

It can be tempting to use a monitoring solution to enforce company rules about distracted driving. Amazon, for example, has experimented with monitoring systems for drivers to detect if they’re driving distracted. They’ve faced serious criticism for it, and there’s not a lot of evidence that it’s very effective. More importantly, though, it’s highly intrusive, uncomfortable, and a potential violation of legal privacy. While you can get around some of this by requiring consent to install the systems, it’s still a technological solution to a human problem.

It also goes without saying that certain kinds of distracted driving – such as driving under the influence of a drug or alcohol – are not just incredibly dangerous but illegal to boot. While we generally advocate for fair treatment of drivers, especially when accidents aren’t their fault, if a driver is caught violating a law and endangering others on the road, there should be zero tolerance. Strict policies and enforcement for lawbreaking are required for smooth operation.

Cause: Reckless Driving

Unlike distracted driving, reckless driving is more easily monitored. You can check to see if your vehicles are:

• Accelerating rapidly.
• Decelerating rapidly.
• Changing lanes aggressively.
• Speeding above legal and safety limits.

Vehicle telematics can monitor this. Moreover, some can even be controlled, such as by using speed governors to prevent a vehicle from maintaining too high a speed. Forward-facing cameras can also catch tailgating and lane changing in ways that aren’t intrusive to the driver line cab-facing cameras are.

Reckless driving can also include other issues, such as tailgating the vehicle in front of them, running red lights and stop signs, and even behavioral problems like failure to yield, failure to use turn signals, and failure to check blind spots.

Driver training programs, including refresher safety courses, can be a big help here. You may want to go above and beyond the courses required to earn a CDL in the first place just to ensure proper compliance.

Cause: Equipment Failure

Another common cause of accidents is an unexpected equipment failure. Equipment failures can range from tire blow-outs to engine overheating to catastrophic failures that render a vehicle entirely inoperable. 

In the best case scenarios, a sudden and unexpected failure is still not going to cause an accident. A driver can recognize the problem and pull over safely. Even in extreme cases, like brake failures on steep mountain roads, there are solutions. 

The solution here encompasses two aspects of the problem.

The first is the driver. Your drivers must be trained on how to handle an unexpected situation. While there aren’t many ways to simulate a catastrophic failure, you can still drill them with the right way to handle a breakdown, flat tire, or other problem. Even just having a policy and a procedure for dealing with any issues that arise can be enough.

The second is the vehicle. It’s critical to keep all of your fleet vehicles well-maintained. Checking tire wear, oil levels, filters and fluids, even the soundness of joints and welds can all be important to review. Schedule regular proactive maintenance to have your vehicles inspected and have maintenance tasks performed, and to identify and address potential longer-term issues that could arise.

It’s important not to defer maintenance because of the expense or the scheduling constraints involved. Schedules can be shuffled, and you can offset inspections by a week or so, but make sure to keep mileage in mind as well. 

Further, sometimes you’ll reach a point where you have to decide between a new vehicle or a costly repair. This can be an important situation to consider all of the possible options, including different kinds of leasing, the financing you have available, your potential future needs, and even the benefits that come from a newer and more updated vehicle model. There’s no one right answer to this decision, so evaluate it in the context of your fleet and your business needs.

Cause: Inclement Weather

Another common cause of fleet accidents is inclement weather. Driving rain that makes visibility low and raises oils on the road to reduce traction. Snow and ice have the same effect, but worse. High winds that can blow a laden truck off-course. There are many ways that weather can get in the way of successful operation and lead to accidents.

This, again, comes down to two factors: the driver and the vehicle. Drivers need experience and training on how to operate their vehicles in inclement weather, which generally simply requires driving in it, alongside general rules on how to handle those situations. It’s not hard to say simple tips like driving more slowly and carefully, but when a vehicle completely loses traction, how do they handle it? There are specific techniques that can be learned.

In part, though, it simply comes down to avoiding it if possible. If the weather is bad enough, sometimes the best option is to pull over or off the highway entirely and wait it out. This also goes back to scheduling to allow extra leeway, especially if hazardous weather is incoming.

To help facilitate this, many modern fleet management platforms have options to tap into weather feeds to give you real-time alerts for incoming and hazardous weather, which you can pass along to your drivers as appropriate. When you’re shopping for a fleet management app, make sure to keep this kind of functionality in mind.

Keeping your vehicles in good shape is also essential. You have better traction on better tires, and your brakes work better when they aren’t worn down. Even something like maintaining lights can be essential in lower-visibility conditions. Sooner or later, it all comes back to maintenance.

That’s a big part of why we’ve put together our nationwide network of service providers for fleets. From the first mile you drive a truck off a lot, to the millionth mile of service, we’re here to help make sure your vehicles are kept in top condition along the way. A variety of brands under our banner, including the ones listed here, are available to work with your fleet anywhere you might be. All you need to do to get started is find a service provider near you.

When you have a fleet to carry out your business operations, that fleet needs to get from point A to point B. The question is, how do you do it? 

These days, your options include traditional gasoline and diesel, as well as electric vehicles and hybrids, and even vehicles powered by natural gas or hydrogen. The investment in alternative fuel, though, tends to be significant, and the vehicles themselves are very costly, so for most fleet managers, the decision comes back to petroleum products. Which is the better option, gas or diesel? Let’s talk about it.

Evaluating Diesel and Gas

The most important thing to recognize right off the bat is that there’s no right answer here. Diesel and gas are both good fuels and, in many ways, are very comparable, especially compared to newer technologies and alternative propulsion. Each one is better in different circumstances, so it’s important to evaluate your fleet’s needs and make decisions on a per-vehicle basis.

Truthfully, once your fleet reaches a certain size, you’re generally going to end up with different types of vehicles using different types of fuel. Mixed fleets are common, after all. 

Let’s talk about different specific elements to consider and whether diesel or gas is the better option for each.

The Initial Cost of the Vehicle

First and foremost, one of the biggest factors in the minds of many fleet managers is the initial cost to purchase or lease the vehicle. When you’re building or expanding a fleet or replacing an older and worn-out vehicle, you need to pay close attention to the cost of the vehicle you obtain. We’ve talked before about whether or not it’s better to lease or buy and whether it makes more sense to buy new or used, but the biggest determining factor is often the up-front costs and whether or not your business can afford the purchase.

When looking at two comparable vehicles, you will generally find that the diesel vehicle is more expensive. They’re heavier, bulkier, expected to last longer, and usually have a greater capacity than a comparable gasoline engine, so the truck is considered more powerful and higher quality. Frequently, that comes with a higher price tag.

On the scale of commercial vehicles, though, the difference in price might not be that significant. If you’re looking at a vehicle that costs $80-90k, a price difference of $5k isn’t necessarily hugely significant, especially spread out across the length of a lease or loan.

As far as used vehicles go, diesel vehicles tend to maintain their condition better for longer, so a vehicle several years old is likely going to be more expensive if it’s a diesel vehicle because it’s expected to be in better condition. This may vary based on the make, model, and previous usage of the vehicle.

This also applies to the resale value of the vehicle over time. Gasoline-powered vehicles tend to depreciate in value faster, so when it comes time to sell an existing vehicle and replace it, you won’t get as much out of a gasoline engine. 

Longevity and Duration of the Engine

As we’ve already mentioned, diesel engines are generally expected to maintain their condition and durability for longer than comparable gasoline vehicles. Diesel engines are simpler in design and can be made in stronger ways, with fewer small parts and pieces subject to wear and damage. The more complex elements of a diesel, like the exhaust filtering system, are separate and can be repaired or replaced without having to tear down the engine itself. 

Another benefit to diesel in this position is that, since diesel is a more energy-dense fuel and can deliver more torque, it doesn’t need to run as fast, which means it produces less heat and less wear, has less chance of gumming up the engine, and lasts longer. 

Diesels are, broadly speaking, the clear winner when it comes to the long-term durability and longevity of the engine.

Wear, Tear, and Repair

Over time and with use, any engine will need inspections, preventative maintenance, and repair for damaged or broken components. 

On the surface, diesel engines come out ahead here, too. They have fewer parts that need to be repaired or replaced, like spark plugs, and have fewer seals and gaskets that can wear out over time. They have similar profiles for things like oil changes, and all of the modern computer systems are roughly as prone to failure across the board while also depending heavily on the manufacturer and their choice of parts.

The downside is that when a repair is necessitated, it’s going to be more difficult and more costly on a diesel. Since diesels are generally simpler, their parts are larger and require more teardown to replace, and while that certainly can be done, the parts may be harder to find or in shorter supply, the work is more intensive (leading to greater labor costs) and finding OEM parts can be difficult for some models.

It’s important to remember, as well, that while diesel may be more resilient to damage from wear and tear compared to gasoline, diesel vehicles are often used in much more stressful environments, so the wear and tear put on them per mile can be higher, so depending on the usage you have for the vehicle, it can balance out.

Fuel Economy for Different Types of Trips

One of the most commonly cited benefits of the diesel engine over the gasoline engine is better fuel efficiency. The trouble is, this might not actually be true, and it depends entirely on the kind of usage you have for your vehicles.

Vehicles that go on long trips over the highway are going to benefit from diesel. This is one of the two ideal situations for diesel engines, where the higher energy capacity of diesel fuel and the lower operating stress of the diesel engine provide a better long-term ride.

The other situation where a diesel generally benefits is for high-weight or high-power requirements. Diesels deliver more torque to the wheels, so hauling extremely heavy loads or operating heavy equipment will benefit from diesels.

Many drivers like the greater fuel economy of long-haul diesel over gasoline because it means they don’t have to stop to fuel up as often, but this can be subjective; other drivers like the excuse to stop and stretch their legs.

On the other hand, gasoline is better for start-and-stop operations, for shorter trips, and where idling is a necessity. Diesels and gasoline engines burn fuel as they idle, but diesel costs more for that fuel, so it balances out. Meanwhile, gasoline is more insulated from the inefficiencies of the engine when starting and stopping are constant.

There’s no easy way to determine which will be better for you short of harvesting appropriate telemetry of your actual usage and comparing it over time. A good benchmark is that when a vehicle exceeds around 35k miles per year, diesel may start to be more efficient.

Engine Power and Capacity

This is something we’ve touched on already. Diesel engines have more power per ounce of fuel and are thus able to haul heavier loads and perform maneuvers that require more torque and power than gasoline engines. This isn’t an issue in mid-weight usage, but for heavy-duty and up, it’s essential.

This is not to say that a diesel vehicle can’t be used for lighter-duty operations, only that it’s not as efficient to do so, so you end up wasting that power and capacity when you don’t actually need it. This is a significant part of right-sizing your fleet; not just choosing the number of vehicles you need, but the capacity you need to get out of them.

Fuel Availability and Cost

While both gasoline and diesel are broadly available across the country, there are certain areas where finding diesel fuel can be more difficult, and not all diesel pumps are positioned or designed for larger vehicles. You may need to find specialized commercial fuel stations, which might mean driving out of your way to do so. Meanwhile, typical gasoline is available virtually everywhere.

Some fleets will set up their own fuel stations and maintain their own fuel stocks. This alleviates the need to worry about just about any of this, outside of trips long enough that your drivers can’t stop back at home base to refuel.

Cost for fuel, meanwhile, is a different story. Gasoline costs are lower than diesel costs by a significant margin, and while gasoline engines need to fuel up more often, the expenses can often be roughly the same when the balance sheet is calculated. 

Emissions and Environmental Impact

The image of a truck accelerating and blasting black smoke into the air is iconic of a diesel, but it’s actually not very accurate these days; federal regulations and local laws mandate the use of exhaust filtration systems on diesels that filter and purify exhaust to reduce emissions. It’s not as though the fuel burns cleaner, of course, just that the byproducts are caught in the DEF system.

Gasoline engines have their own similar system, the catalytic converter, also meant to reduce emissions. A catalytic converter generally never needs much in the way of maintenance, whereas a diesel exhaust filter will need to be regularly cleaned and the DEF fluid replaced. That’s another added cost to the arrangement as well.

Diesels also have strict emissions control standards, while gasoline engines aren’t necessarily as tightly regulated. On the other hand, catalytic converters are a frequent target of theft, while a truck’s diesel exhaust filters aren’t.

Susceptibility to Environmental Factors

Another consideration is the weather. In particular, very hot and very cold conditions can be relevant. Diesel engines are generally more resilient to hotter temperatures because they don’t generate as much of their own heat or run as hot as gasoline. Extremely hot conditions can affect both kinds of engines, though.

Very cold weather, meanwhile, is worse for diesel. This is because diesel fuel can thicken and “gel” when it’s cold out. In fact, diesel can gel up at temperatures as “high” as 10-15 degrees Fahrenheit; given that winters in the northern part of the country can fall below zero for days or weeks at a time, this can be a significant issue. There are additives and options to help prevent or reverse this, but it’s a consideration that gasoline doesn’t have.

Alternative Fuels

It can also be worth examining options for other fuels.

Diesel vehicles may be able to use biodiesel, which can be a more environmentally friendly fuel. This isn’t really true at the engine level, though; biodiesel can be dirtier and not properly filtered with a standard diesel exhaust system. Instead, it’s more environmentally friendly to manufacture than petroleum products.

Gasoline, meanwhile, can often be found with a hybrid system using an electric motor as well. This has pros and cons; the battery systems add a lot of weight, and while a hybrid system adds a ton of fuel efficiency, recharging can be very time-consuming. 

Hydrogen and natural gas vehicles have their own pros and cons as well, but these are different enough that it’s outside the scope of this discussion. If you want us to examine these options, feel free to let us know!

Picking the Right Truck for Your Fleet

Picking the right vehicle with the right kind of fuel for your fleet is an important decision you need to make every time you want to acquire a new vehicle. The truth is, you’ll very likely end up with both. Lighter-duty pickups, passenger vehicles, and even short-distance box trucks and similar vehicles may be more beneficial with gasoline engines. Meanwhile, operations that require more power or longer-distance travel can benefit more from diesel systems.

Either way, when your fleet needs maintenance, we’re here to help. Whether it’s commercial diesel motors, standard gasoline engines, or a mixture of both, our nationwide network of fleet service providers knows exactly how to help. All you need to do is find a service provider near you and reach out to get started with a fleet relationship and maintenance contract. With that, we can help you keep your entire fleet rolling, from the first mile of a brand-new gasoline truck to the millionth mile of your most resilient diesel.

Among the many different things that can go wrong with a fleet vehicle on the road, computer problems are some of the most annoying. They’re tiny parts, often smaller than a pack of cards, but they’re critical to the smooth operation of a vehicle. When one starts to fail, all sorts of things can go wrong, from sporadic issues to warning lights pointing at problems that aren’t there to putting a vehicle in “limp mode” or completely preventing operation. Needless to say, these are all problems that need to be solved ASAP for the smooth operation of your fleet.

One of the most important computer modules in a modern vehicle is the TCM, or Transmission Control Module. While these rarely fail, when they do, they’re a huge hassle and can be a costly repair. What do you need to know, what can you do, and what information is useful to have? Let’s run through it all.

What is a Transmission Control Module?

A transmission control module, or TCM, is also commonly known as a transmission control unit or gearbox control unit. It’s a type of ECU, or Electronic Control Unit, used in modern computerized vehicle engines.

The TCM is a simple computer module with a bit of customized automotive software on it. It’s a lot like the brains of a modern automatic vehicle. It takes in signals, including vehicle speed, wheel speed, throttle position, transmission fluid temperature, traction control, cruise control, and other sensors and switches throughout the vehicle. Using that information, it can engage, disengage, or control various vehicular operations. These include shifting gears, managing torque, and controlling the other modules throughout the vehicle.

To call the TCM critical is almost an understatement. On vehicles that use a TCM, its operation is essential to the smooth operation of the vehicle as a whole. If the TCM has an issue, not only does it cause a variety of problems, but it can also “point the finger” at other modules and sensors or engine parts those sensors monitor because it will throw a warning light about whatever it isn’t getting right. In the worst-case scenarios, this can lead you down a wild goose chase of throwing parts at a vehicle until you realize where the problem actually resides.

Where is the Transmission Control Module Located?

Unfortunately, it could be anywhere.

That’s not very helpful, though, and it’s only kind of true. The TCM is generally going to be located in a few possible places. It might be in the engine bay, located up near the other electronic modules in a nexus of the wiring harness. In some vehicles, it’s located next to or even inside a larger PCM (Powertrain Control Module) that could be located near the battery. Other vehicles place it inside the dashboard behind various instrument clusters.

It’s impossible to say specifically where the TCM is in general because every different make and model of vehicle, from passenger cars to 18-wheelers, will have its own positioning for the component. The only consistency is that it will be in a place away from the worst of the heat of the engine (since heat will kill an electronic part), often sheltered and away from moisture, and somewhere the wiring will reach.

The only way to be sure of where the TCM is in your vehicle will be to consult with the manual for that specific vehicle. Moreover, the owner’s manual won’t tell you, as those are more about operation than service; you’ll need a service manual such as a Haynes Manual or service manual for the vehicle.

A trained technician who is familiar with the make and model of the vehicles you operate will know where the TCM is, as well as how to repair, replace, and reprogram one as necessary. As we’ll discuss later, it’s not generally the best idea to try to DIY this kind of repair, so consulting with a service technician is generally the best idea.

Does Every Vehicle Have a Transmission Control Module?

No.

There are two situations where a vehicle might not have a TCM. One is where the vehicle uses a more integrated system with a powertrain control module instead, which is basically just a TCM with added functionality from other engine control modules wrapped up into it. This is both good and bad; good because it simplifies the number of components that need managing, but bad because it’s an all-or-nothing repair if the module fails. 

The other situation is much more common: manual transmission vehicles. All vehicles with manual transmissions don’t need a computerized transmission control module because the driver themselves is controlling the transmission. In a sense, that makes you the transmission control module.

This means that if you’re wondering if the symptoms your vehicle is experiencing are related to the TCM, you can automatically write it off if the vehicle is a manual. Only certain kinds of electronically-assisted hybrid manual transmissions still use a module of some sort, and it’s not a traditional TCM, so the advice in this post won’t really apply.

What Happens When a Transmission Control Module Goes Bad?

Since a TCM is deeply interconnected with the rest of the engine and is a very complicated part, a lot of different things can go wrong if the TCM starts to fail.

Potential issues include:

• It might shift unpredictably. The primary function of the TCM is to control the gear shifting of the transmission; if the module is going bad and sends the wrong signals, the transmission can shift into the wrong gear at the wrong time. This can range from shifting that underpowers or overpowers the engine, to shifting that risks destroying the transmission through the abrupt change.
• It might fail to shift. If the TCM isn’t sending the right signals – or if it isn’t receiving the right signals – it might not shift properly. The most usual example is when you’re cruising on the highway; rather than shifting into high gear for cruising as you reach maximum speed, it fails to shift, and your RPMs skyrocket while you struggle to reach that speed.
• It may cause performance to suffer. The TCM does a lot of different things in the engine, many of which are micro-adjustments meant to optimize performance, fuel efficiency, and other small tweaks that would be more than a human could process at any given time. If these start to fall out of whack, vehicle performance and fuel efficiency can suffer dramatically.
• It may cause warning lights to illuminate. Modern trucks have a ton of different lights for everything from emissions to tire pressure to engine performance, and all of them pass through or are affected by the transmission control module. If the data is corrupted or the signals aren’t transmitted properly, these subsystems can throw warning lights. The hard part is that the lights that come on might not point at the TCM being the cause.

In addition to all of this, it’s also possible that a failing or faulty TCM will simply make it impossible to shift into gear, and your vehicle won’t be able to move at all.

What Causes a Transmission Control Module to Fail?

Transmission control modules have one benefit as a vehicular part; they aren’t a moving part, so they aren’t subject to the same kind of wear and tear as engine parts.

That said, they can still fail in a lot of different ways and for a lot of different reasons:

• The wiring is going bad. Older wires and wires that are exposed to road chemicals and temperatures, or even wildlife, can be damaged over time. When the wiring starts to short or break a circuit, the signals to the TCM can go bad. In these cases, it’s often the wiring and not the TCM that is at fault.
• Bad voltage. As a sensitive electronic part, the TCM needs the right power coming to it. If it’s under-powered or, more particularly, if it’s over-powered, it can burn out the electronics and cause damage.
• Moisture ingress. The TCM is, again, electronic, and electronics are subject to corrosion in the presence of moisture. The module is meant to be pretty much sealed, but those seals can wear over time, and sometimes moisture can seep in through the cracks, corroding and damaging the control board.
• Heat. All electronics function better when they’re cooler, and they can be damaged by excess heat. Heat can do anything from melt solder and disconnect pieces to burn out chips to simply fry a chip where it sits. TCMs are often placed some distance away from heat-generating parts of an engine for this reason, but they are still generally exposed to heat.
• Faulty manufacturing. Sometimes, a new version of a TCM has a failure in how it is designed or manufactured. Often, this isn’t discovered until it starts causing widespread failure, but is usually recalled and repaired under warranty.

The TCM usually isn’t the kind of mechanism that fails in a vehicle, but age makes it more likely, so the older a vehicle is, the more likely something can go wrong with the module or the connections leading to it.

How is a Transmission Control Module Replaced?

The actual act of replacing a TCM isn’t all that complicated, save for one specific step.

Step 1: Diagnose the vehicle and make sure the TCM is likely the culprit. Even in cases where it isn’t, replacing the TCM may be the next step in diagnosing the problem and ruling out other issues. Unfortunately, sometimes replacing a TCM is necessary even when it’s not the cause because it needs to be ruled out.

Step 2: Disconnect the battery. Any time you’re repairing a vehicle, especially the electronic components of the vehicle, disconnecting the battery is critical.

Step 3: Locate the TCM. As mentioned above, this can be quite complicated depending on the make and model.

Step 4: Access the TCM. This might involve removing the battery, removing other components, removing the dashboard, or even removing a body panel.

Step 5: Remove the TCM. Fortunately, a TCM is generally held in place with a couple of screws or bolts and a couple of electronic connectors. Actually removing it is easy.

Step 6: Install a replacement TCM. Ideally, you get an OEM TCM to replace like with like; if no OEM TCM is available, you would need a compatible aftermarket TCM.

Step 7: Reconnect the battery. This routes power to the TCM so that you can use onboard diagnostic tools to evaluate if the new TCM fixes the issues.

Step 8: Reprogram the TCM. Every TCM comes with firmware that enables all of its functions and controls. However, these need to be configured with data like safe ranges and other information. Manufacturers provide both the tools and software and the configuration files necessary to do this.

Step 9: Reassemble the vehicle and test it. If the TCM was the issue, a new TCM should eliminate any issues you had. If it wasn’t the culprit, you’ll be back to square one.

This whole process can take from 2-4 hours on average, depending on the location of the TCM.

Can You Replace a Transmission Control Module Yourself?

Yes and no.

The only step in the process that presents a roadblock to replacing your own TCM is step 8 above: reprogramming the TCM. Manufacturers often require a specific piece of equipment (which can be bought, though it’s a little expensive), as well as a specific program and configuration to be used with their TCMs. The software and configuration, in particular, is often a source of frustration, as it costs money from the manufacturer to acquire. This is why only some service centers will have the ability to work on the computers of certain makes and models.

If you have access to the equipment and software, there’s no reason you couldn’t replace the TCM yourself. You can even make aftermarket “tunes” to the TCM to enable expanded performance, though with fleet vehicles, this may or may not be possible while still maintaining safe speeds, operations, and emissions.

The better option is almost always to find your nearest service provider and schedule a service. It can be costly and time-consuming, but it is better to have an expert do it than to try and fail a DIY repair, right?

When you’re considering adding a new vehicle to your fleet, you have several decisions to make. The first is whether you want to buy or lease a vehicle. If you’ve decided to lease, then you have another choice.

Should you go with a commercial lease, or is a consumer lease fine?

While this might seem like an easy choice, there are actually quite a few nuances you’ll want to pay attention to before you decide. So, let’s break it down and see if there’s a clear answer or if you have to make the decision for yourself.

All About Retail Leases

Retail leases, consumer leases, and dealer leases all refer to essentially the same thing. These are leases for a vehicle that are written by a car and truck dealership, and are finances through a bank. The bank sets the value of the vehicle according to their actuarial tables and metrics. Alternatively, the lease may be financed through a captive funding company affiliated with the auto manufacturer, and sets the value of the vehicle according to the vehicle’s MSRP.

Retail leases are common throughout the country, for both commercial vehicles and consumer vehicles. The benefits they offer – like a guaranteed newer vehicle, maintenance handled by a dealership, and a typically lower cost than buying a vehicle through bank financing – make them an attractive option for certain demographics of people.

But what about for fleets? Retail leases aren’t necessarily uncommon. For example, a company that sends sales and account reps out on in-person sales calls might lease a handful of high-end sedans for their reps to drive to lend them an air of luxury and style. 

On the other hand, you typically can’t find larger vehicles available for retail leases. The largest you commonly find is a box truck; semis, buses, dump trucks, and other utility vehicles are rarely found in commercial leasing or through commercial dealers. That’s not to say it’s not possible, it’s just less common.

Consumer leases have a few drawbacks, both compared to purchasing a vehicle on its own and to commercial leases. 

First of all, they tend to have fixed lease terms, usually ranging from two to four years. You’re generally required to hang onto the vehicle for that time and usually have to give it up after the period elapses, unless you want to then purchase it or sign another lease for it.

Another consideration is mileage limits. Leases, in general, often have mileage limits, and that’s true of both retail and commercial leases. However, retail leases tend to have lower mileage limits because they’re aimed at the typical retail consumer. Someone who primarily uses their vehicle to commute to and from work, to drive on errands, and maybe the occasional trip to a nearby city is going to stay within the limits. On the other hand, if you’re a working fleet and your drivers or reps are heading all over the city every day, having a cap of 10,000 miles per year can put a serious damper on the ability to travel.

When you hand a vehicle back, any additional mileage, as well as undue wear and tear, is evaluated. If excessive use is found, you’re often liable for a penalty payment. 

All About Commercial Leases

Commercial leases, also called fleet leases or corporate leases, are a different kind of lease. To make things more complicated, there are also two kinds of fleet leases.

The first is the open-ended lease. Open-ended leases are not fixed term. You lease a vehicle and you use it to whatever extent you need to, for however long you need to. When you no longer need the vehicle, you return it, and its condition, mileage, and other factors are evaluated. A fair market value is assessed, and that’s that.

Closed-ended leases, meanwhile, are a lot more like retail leases. The difference is that all of their terms tend to be more open and geared towards, well, fleet usage. You’re expecting to use the vehicle more frequently and for more miles, so the caps are higher. 

Fleet leases differ as well by who writes and finances them. They are generally written by fleet leasing companies who deal specifically with fleets and don’t handle consumer leases. They are also often financed by a bank or an affiliated monetary firm, but with the expectation that the fleet leasing company will manage the details. 

There are a few differences that are worth pointing out for fleet leases compared to consumer leases.

For one thing, you generally don’t have to put a down payment on a fleet lease. Retail leases generally require some portion of the value of the vehicle up-front as a down payment due at signing. Commercial leases do not. 

A big reason for this is because commercial leases also often roll together numerous vehicles. The lease itself is a single entity that encompasses more than one vehicle, and vehicles can be added and removed from it, adjusting terms and pricing depending on what comes and goes.

Down payments for retail leases are a measure of intent and a sort of security deposit. They help prevent exploitation of leases from people who would simply take a vehicle and run. Since fleet leases are more serious ongoing relationships, something as small as a down payment isn’t really necessary.

Mileage limits are also an important difference. In fleet leasing, the expectation is that the vehicles will see a lot of use, possibly even national-scale long-haul trucking. Putting a cap on mileage only serves to make fleets look for a different leasing company. If a fleet lease has a mileage limit, it’s usually a closed-ended lease, and the mileage limit is so high that it is nearly impossible to reach anyway, so it’s functionally unlimited.

There are other differences as well, but we can more directly compare them if we go factor by factor.

Comparing Retail and Fleet Leases Directly

Now let’s run down some of the other important elements you’ll need to consider with leasing and discuss which option is more likely to be better.

Billing and Paperwork

First up is simply the administration of leases.

Retail leases are individual vehicle deals. If a person wants to lease a second car, they generally have to sign a second lease with a new down payment, new terms, new deals, the whole nine yards. That’s fine for one lease, or maybe two for a family that needs two vehicles, but it can quickly get out of hand if you’re trying to lease half a dozen, a dozen, or more vehicles for a citywide service. 

A fleet has a lot of moving parts, and there are fleet management platforms available to help bear a lot of the burden. The problem is that there aren’t really easy ways to manage a flurry of disparate leases. You end up having to handle the paperwork of multiple contracts, possibly with multiple services and multiple providers and dealerships, and keep track of which vehicles have which limitations and which are nearing their limits.

In other words, it becomes an immense hassle above and beyond all of the normal management of a fleet. It’s a ton of work, and that’s just to have vehicles in your fleet! The more vehicles you add on active leases, the more work it is, until it’s no longer sustainable.

Compare this to fleet leasing. Fleet leasing allows all of this to be bundled into a single contract. There’s some negotiation and paperwork to be done when you want to add a new vehicle to the lease or remove one from the lease, but it’s a lot easier to do, and it doesn’t disrupt the contract or add multiple bills to handle or anything else. It’s mercifully simple, infinitely easier, and vastly less likely to let a bill or detail fall through the cracks.

Overall Cost

Sooner or later, everything comes back to money.

Immediately, one significant cost will jump out at you. Fleet leases don’t have down payments, primarily because they’re a single rolling contract that doesn’t need a new initiation each time a new vehicle is added. There may be one initial down payment when you first get it set up, but from there, it carries over.

Retail leases, meanwhile, need a new down payment every time a new vehicle is added to the fleet. It’s a lot less palatable to add new vehicles to the fleet when you have to drum up $2,000 cash every time, right?

There are other associated costs as well.

• Mileage overage fees. To get the best pricing for retail leases, you usually need to agree to high fees, and a fleet is much more likely to go over mileage caps than a consumer. Fleet leases, meanwhile, often don’t have mileage caps at all and thus don’t have mileage fees.
• Return and repair fees. Fleet leases often don’t have usage fees baked into them, and the vehicle is assessed at market value when returned to determine what return there will be. Retail leases, at best, even out and, at worst, levy additional fees when a vehicle is returned.
• Early termination fees. If you sign a retail lease for two years and find that you don’t need the vehicle after one year has passed, you can return it, but it usually causes you to break the lease, often forfeiting any deposit and commonly incurring additional fees. Fleet leases don’t have these fees either, especially open-ended leases.

From there, the biggest concern is often just the monthly fee you pay to maintain the lease. This is harder to call better from one side or the other because it heavily depends on the specific vehicles. Leasing a tricked-out semi is going to be way more expensive than a high-end consumer vehicle, but leasing an older, lower-trim-level commercial vehicle can potentially be cheaper than a new model, all the bells and whistles, high-trim consumer vehicle. It’s a matter of balancing what you want with what you can afford, and that goes well beyond the scope of this post.

Picking the Right Lease

So, how do you determine which kind of lease you need?

One thing to consider is if there are any extra benefits to a fleet lease, even for what would normally be a consumer vehicle. Often, fleet leases might include a different kind of maintenance contract, insurance benefits, roadside assistance, and other benefits. Retail leases do not. If you expect your drivers to be able to make use of any of those benefits, a fleet lease can be better.

Another consideration is the number of vehicles you’re leasing. If you typically purchase vehicles and just want to lease a few to handle a spike in demand, using retail leases might not be a bad thing. On the other hand, if you’re already rolling a fleet lease, adding more vehicles to it might be better across the board than adding a retail lease to the deal.

Sometimes, though, you can take advantage of a retail lease even as a fleet and even if you have an ongoing fleet lease. For example, it might cost more to add a vehicle to a fleet lease than to get a retail lease for it if you’re willing to accept strict limits, put down a high down payment, and keep its use to a minimum. That might be the case if, for example, you just need one luxury car for your regional chair to take to business meetings, which otherwise doesn’t see much use.

In the end, though, it all comes down to what makes the most sense for your fleet. Every fleet is different, and sometimes, you might prefer retail leases over fleet leases. For that matter, you may have a hybrid system where some vehicles are financed, some are leased, and others are on another kind of rental contract. Just do what works best for you.

Regardless of how you have the vehicles in your possession, there’s a good chance you’re going to need maintenance at some point. That’s where we come in. At Epika, we maintain a national network of service providers that can help diagnose and repair, perform maintenance, and keep all of your fleet vehicles in peak condition. All you need to do is reach out and get started.

Oil changes are often regarded as one of the cheapest and simplest kinds of vehicle maintenance you can perform – and must perform, given how critical clean oil is to the efficient operation of your engine. 

The trouble is, there’s a lot more to it than just pulling into a quick-lube outlet and swapping the oil. In fleet vehicles especially, there are many details to consider above and beyond the simple cost of oil and labor. What is the true cost of oil changes for your fleet? You might be surprised.

Trends in the Cost of Fleet Maintenance

Before getting into specific areas where costs matter, it’s important to talk about trends across the industry and across the country.

Unfortunately, as we all know, the massive disruptions of global trade and production caused by the coronavirus pandemic have still not fully resolved, and while some things are getting back to normal, others are not, and may never return to that old baseline. The “new normal” is, unfortunately, higher costs for everything from consumables to parts to labor.

There’s good and bad news on the horizon.

The good news:

• Labor rates seem to have peaked around January of 2023.
• Maintenance costs, in general, are leveling off, though there are still spikes and drops in local regions or industries.
• Better availability of newer vehicles allows for lower maintenance, at least for a while.

On the other hand, there’s plenty of bad news.

• The cost of oil, in particular, is going up.
• There’s likely to be an increase in need for skilled maintenance technicians, meaning labor won’t be dropping any time soon.
• Supply lines are still vulnerable to disruption and unforeseen fluctuations.

If your fleet is in a position where maintenance costs are stable, you’re one of the lucky ones. Analyzing the costs of oil changes across a fleet just goes to show how even one part of fleet maintenance can be very difficult to fully track.

The Cost of the Right Oil

Right away, one of the most obvious costs rears its head. An oil change is one thing, but what oil do you use?

First of all, many OEMs are increasingly recommending the use of synthetic oils over more traditional oil options. Synthetics last longer and work better, but are more expensive, and realistically will be changed at around the same time as traditional oils.

At the same time, using a better oil may be more expensive on the face of it, but can be better for the life and longevity of the motor. It’s important to understand not just the immediate costs, but the deferred costs as well. 

The Cost of Using the Wrong Oil

Relatedly, using the wrong oil has many hidden costs. The most obvious cost is just burning through the oil faster and requiring more frequent oil changes.

However, there are several other potential costs that can crop up.

• Oil of the wrong viscosity can cause problems if your vehicles are operating in very hot or very cold environments.
• The wrong oil can cause excess wear on engine parts, requiring more maintenance and potentially catastrophic failure down the road.
• Even a slightly incorrect oil can affect fuel efficiency and increase fuel costs, which can be a hidden impact you never even associate with your motor oil.

For something as commonplace as oil, it can be difficult to see the cascading effects it can have on the operation of a fleet vehicle, and operations across the whole of a fleet.

The Cost of Used Oil Disposal

Another cost that is often overlooked is the cost to dispose of used oil. Sure, maybe in the 60s it was commonplace to dump used oil in a hole in the ground, but these days, that’s firmly illegal. Properly disposing of used motor oil is a complex task.

If your fleet has in-house maintenance and your own service centers, you need to have a contract with a third party that can come in and empty your reservoirs to dispose of the oil properly. On the other hand, if your fleet contracts with third-party maintenance and service centers, you’ll have an oil disposal service charge with every transaction, and that can add up quickly over time.

The Cost of the Wrong Oil Filters

Oil filters are important to fleet operations, but they’re also an area where fleet managers may make a bad decision without ever realizing it.

Are all filters more or less the same, and is the cheapest option “good enough” to do the job? Not really. The cheapest filters can be clogged much more quickly than higher-quality oil filters. In the event of a catastrophic failure, the damage can be much more severe than the cost of a better filter would have been.

What about the inverse? Are the most expensive filters the best choice? Often, no. The most expensive filters on the market tend to have gimmicks or markups based solely on brand name and aren’t actually better than options in the upper end of the middle range.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to identify which filters are the best for any given fleet. Evaluating reviews, discussing the topic with other fleet managers, and tracking performance of various filters on vehicles throughout your fleet are all ways you can identify which filters are the best.

Don’t forget to re-evaluate your choice of oil filter from time to time. Parts shortages and corporate juggling can cause the same product to be made with different tolerances or different materials over time, which can jeopardize quality.

The Cost of Scheduling and Time Expenditure

One of the most commonly overlooked costs is the cost of time. Every hour that your fleet vehicles are not on the road is an hour of potentially lost revenue, a lost load, lost capacity, and in extreme cases, even lost contracts, particularly for LTL and flexible shipments.

It’s one thing to schedule proactive maintenance, plan for your vehicles to be out of service for an hour or two or half a day, and ensure that you have enough backup coverage to keep all of your services in operation. It’s something quite different if you need to scout local areas where your trucks happen to be, to find service providers, contact them and see if they have the capacity to perform fleet vehicle service, if they have the right oil and filters on hand, and if they have the availability to work with you right away.

The Cost of Labor

As we mentioned up top, the cost of labor for all forms of fleet maintenance is a tricky issue. Actual labor rates have more or less peaked across the industry and the nation, but they can still fluctuate in local areas. Additionally, there’s a good chance that they will continue to climb, just not as fast as they were before.

All of this is due to a widespread labor shortage. There’s currently a deficit of nearly 50,000 service technicians across the industry, and that’s estimated to increase over the next several years. It’s not just in the USA either; similar deficits are expected in Canada and elsewhere.

The Cost of Modern Vehicle Complexity

Another source of costs is the increasing complexity of modern vehicles. We’re not talking just about things like electric trucks or self-driving vehicles; we also mean just the complexity of motors, computer and sensor systems, and engines.

It requires an increasing amount of skill and knowledge to be able to perform maintenance, let alone perform inspections and recognize signs of damage. It’s not always clear whether or not a set of trained technicians is experienced enough to work on newer vehicles, and the “fake it until you make it” approach can lead to immense damage down the line.

The Cost of Administration and Overhead

Another often-overlooked cost of something as simple as oil changes is the administrative burden it puts on the fleet manager. You need to know the maintenance status of every vehicle in your fleet and track it appropriately in your fleet management platform of choice. You need to understand the maintenance schedules for each vehicle, how they can differ based on age and usage, and how different vehicles have different requirements for maintenance and parts.

On top of that, you need to have a comprehensive picture of where all of your fleet vehicles are at any given time. Scheduling deliveries such that the vehicle is in the area of a service center so they can get work done on schedule and without delays or disruptions is often difficult, and the larger and more distributed your fleet is, the worse it becomes. 

A good fleet management app can do a lot of this scheduling automatically and can notify you when to map routes and deliveries to optimize for maintenance, but it requires good and up to date data to make full use of these features.

The Cost of Delayed Service

Driving when an oil change is overdue can be dangerous, and that goes double for fleet vehicles hauling heavy loads. Engine oil is a critical part of the smooth and effective operation of a truck. When oil is old, it’s more likely to be damaging and eroding parts of the engine, causing heat problems, and can even leak and cause more issues that way. There are many, many different ways that old oil can cause a catastrophic failure.

While sometimes it’s impossible to avoid going overdue for an oil change, the more proactive you can be with it, the better off your vehicles will be in the long run.

The Cost of Missed Inspections

A huge part of oil changes – and one that is all too often ignored – is that they aren’t just an oil change. They’re an opportunity for a skilled and knowledgeable service technician to perform a full-circle inspection of the vehicle. This is one of your best chances to look for potential problems that might crop up in the near future and deal with issues before they cause a truck to end up stranded on the side of the highway.

When you’re working to find a service center that can perform your fleet oil changes, look for one that can perform robust inspections along the way. Those inspections need to happen one way or another, so if you delay them here, you need another opportunity (and the commensurate costs of time and scheduling) to have it performed.

The Cost of Non-Volume Contracts

One of the few benefits you get as a fleet manager when it comes to services like oil changes is the opportunity to leverage volume contracts and discounted pricing. When you sign a maintenance contract with a service brand, you can negotiate for lower rates or discounts on services rendered because you’re not just bringing in one vehicle; you’re bringing in however much of your fleet operates in the area. 

If you’re just picking and choosing a service center nearby when maintenance is due, you lose out on these kinds of benefits and the consistency they can provide.

The Cost of Missing Telematics

Good fleet management involves telematics harvested from the vehicles themselves. This data can help you in a number of ways, including with forecasting potential issues above and beyond simple maintenance.

As a simple example, consider the oil filter issue above. When you maintain records about the fuel efficiency, oil type, operations, and other data on the vehicle, you can estimate the efficacy of the fuel filter and test different filters to find the one that works best. Without telematics, you’re just guessing.

The Cost of Finding the Right Shops

Another part of the administrative burden of oil changes throughout a fleet is simply locating the shops you can rely on to perform high-quality service. You need to identify local shops, check them out and see what their reviews say about them, talk to them and see if they can provide the volume, frequency, and level of services you need, negotiate contracts, and more. It’s a lot of work.

Fortunately, this is one area where we can help. At Epika, we have a national network of service centers in both major metropolitan areas and in smaller towns throughout the country. No matter where your trucks are headed, one of our service centers is bound to be nearby. That means that rather than going through the hassle of finding a network of maintenance providers you can trust, you can just do it once with us. Just click here to locate your nearest stores and get started with great maintenance today.

No one can truly predict the future. One thing is certain, though, and that’s the fact that for as long as there are people empowered to comment on things they don’t understand, there will be claims made that simply aren’t true. Whether they stem from misunderstanding, misinformation, or malicious intent, it has always happened and will always continue to happen.

As a fleet manager, it’s your job to keep an ear to the ground. You need to know when change is coming so you can prepare, whether it means sprucing up trucks for more stringent inspections, making changes to your routing so you can avoid areas with upcoming construction, or preparing for hard times when prices rise.

Sometimes, though, the things you hear through the grapevine simply aren’t true. That’s the challenge: sorting the facts from the fiction.

Experienced fleet managers have likely heard the rumor that the United States is poised to run out of diesel fuel any day now. Some say there’s a looming diesel shortage that could strike sometime in the next year. Others say we’re less than 30 days away from running out of diesel. Still, others claim that we’re in the midst of a diesel shortage right now.

What’s the truth?

Where the Diesel Shortage Rumors Come From

There are generally three broad sources of rumors surrounding the supply of diesel fuel and the possibility of shortages.

The first and the most well-meaning are the people who read facts and figures, make assumptions, and simply don’t have all the facts. This is the source of one of the more common claims. Perhaps you’ve heard it:

“The United States will run out of diesel fuel in 25 days.”

This is, technically, true. Except, it’s also not true in any way, shape, or form. Where does the information come from, then, and why is it wrong?

The United States Energy Information Administration publishes documentation on the country’s stockpiles of various kinds of fuel and energy on a regular basis. One particular factoid stands out: the United States currently (or at least, as of October 2022) has a 25-day stockpile of diesel fuel.

This number is based on the amount of fuel stored throughout the country and information about how much is consumed throughout the country every day. If consumption dropped, that same stockpile would last longer; conversely, if consumption spikes, the stockpile wouldn’t last as long.

You can see, then, where the factoid comes from. We have 25 days’ worth of fuel, so clearly, after 25 days, there will be a shortage, right? Perhaps rationing, or perhaps simply cutting off supply to anything other than shipping and military uses, who knows, right?

It’s the context that’s missing. People making the claim that we have 25 days’ worth of diesel fuel remaining are, technically, correct. But they overlook one key fact: just as we’re constantly using up diesel fuel throughout the country, so too are we both producing and importing more diesel fuel. 25 days from now, we’ll still have 25 days’ worth of diesel fuel remaining in the stockpile because the stockpile is meant to be a buffer against variability.

The truth is, the US has had somewhere between 22 and 55 days’ worth of diesel stockpiled pretty much constantly since at least 1991. You can see the full chart of weekly numbers here. Incidentally, fuel prices are trending slightly downwards at the moment, though, of course, this data is always subject to rapid change.

That’s the first of the three sources of these kinds of claims.

The second source of these rumors is essentially the same, except they’re using the rumors and the claims as deliberate misinformation. They know better, and they often have advisors who know better, but they have an agenda to push, and that agenda works better if they can scare people into thinking we’re in the midst of a fuel crisis.

“Purporting to show proof of the coming supply chain collapse, some Twitter users have been reposting a photo of a highway sign in Pennsylvania warning of “no diesel” at the Allentown Plaza fuel station. The Pennsylvania Turnpike’s official Twitter account flagged an outage at the station Saturday afternoon, attributing it to a “computer issue,” not a shortage. Diesel service had been restored by that night, the account tweeted.” – AP News.

We’re not going to make a claim about pundits being in the pocket of the oil companies or anything like that. Nothing is ever as simple as that. The truth is, everyone has their own agenda, and sometimes, that agenda benefits from misrepresenting the facts, that’s all.

The third group, of course, are those oil companies. A company that produces diesel fuel can benefit by supporting the claim that the US fuel supply is low, which could rally support for increasing said supply, which they can conveniently sell to the government. Of course, the oil companies have standing deals to maintain fuel supplies regardless, so they aren’t generally the ones pushing these rumors.

Could There Possibly Be a Diesel Shortage in 2024?

Never say never.

The truth is, there’s enough oil production happening both domestically and globally that the chances of a true diesel shortage are virtually nil. Current trends show that diesel prices are forecast to decline over the next year. There are also seasonal changes:

“Refinery capacity typically drops at this time of year, as refineries perform maintenance in the spring and fall when the demand is lower and the weather is optimal. Over the past few years, the refinery capacity has dropped further as several unprofitable refineries closed.” – Samba Safety.

That said, these predictions were made before the current new wave of geopolitical crises (escalations between Russia and Ukraine and the explosion of violence in Israel, Gaza, and Palestine) sprang up. Geopolitical instability and war always create unforeseen changes to the global economy, and the stockpiles, production, and price of diesel fuel are just as likely to be affected as anything else.

As a fleet manager, should you worry about a shortage?

Truthfully, probably not. Even in times of much more significant conflicts the United States has been involved in over the last thirty years, the supply of diesel fuel hasn’t changed all that much. In fact, if anything, conflict spurs the production of more fuel to have supplies ready.

Then again, should you listen to us? We’re a fleet maintenance partnership with service centers all across the country, and we’ve existed for years. We’ve seen prices rise and fall, trends come and go, and even conflicts start and stop. When all is said and done, the fleets keep on moving, the fuel keeps being produced, and while the prices can change, it’s very rare that they surge to a point where it drives a fleet to park its trucks.

Sure, if the US is drawn into a new world war, all bets are off, but the average fleet manager shouldn’t be planning around that kind of event.

Preparing for a Diesel Shortage in 2024

Will there be a diesel fuel shortage in the coming year? Probably not.

Is that an excuse to ignore proper planning and preparation for variability in the market? Definitely not.

As a fleet manager, part of your job is to keep your fleet moving, making deliveries on time. That means planning for worst-case scenarios. So, what can you do?

Have a Reserve Fund

One of the best things you can do is have a reserve fund of cash to support your logistics if the price of fuel spikes for shortage-related or other reasons. Sometimes, supply lines get disrupted. Things like the coronavirus pandemic, large hurricanes, and large blizzards can all disrupt the ability to deliver fuel to service stations and fuel depots, causing scarcity and higher prices.

To be clear, these aren’t a shortage; they’re more localized and are a disruption to the distribution, not the production, of diesel fuel. Even in a shortage, though, the key challenge is likely going to be the price, not the availability of the fuel.

Therefore, one of the best things you can do is have enough money in reserve to insulate you against these spikes, trusting that everyone involved wants supply lines to be restored as quickly as possible and that a lot of significant work will be done to reach that goal.

How much should you have in a reserve fund? That depends on your fleet. Estimate your ongoing fuel costs, pick a price point you might expect fuel to rise to in a shortage or crisis, and calculate how much you’d be spending based on your fleet’s fuel consumption. Add a bit extra for good measure, and you’re likely in a decent place.

Encourage Drivers to Use Fuel Intelligently

In times of short supply, increasing the efficiency of usage can be an excellent way to combat rising costs and scarcity.

There are a lot of different things you can do to improve fuel efficiency throughout your fleet, but one of the biggest is training your drivers to abandon habits that burn excess fuel.

• Reduce sudden speed increases and braking whenever possible; sudden changes burn more fuel to move the mass of a truck than longer, slower acceleration and deceleration.
• Leverage cruise control on longer journeys. Steady use of power, rather than slowing and speeding up on the highway, results in smoother, more even, and, on average, lower fuel consumption.
• Slow down speeds. At highway speeds, traveling at 65 mph burns 27% less fuel than traveling at 75 mph. It may be less time-efficient, but it’s vastly more fuel-efficient.
• Reduce idling. Whether this means taking alternate routes that don’t involve stopped traffic or just shutting the truck down when the driver needs to stop somewhere instead of leaving it idling, idling burns fuel for no benefit.

We have a full guide on improving fuel efficiency you can check out here.

Optimize Routing for Lower Fuel Consumption

Another way to boost fuel efficiency is routing. A constant speed along a route is better than a route with a faster top speed but more frequent starts and stops. A route with less turning means less time stopped and idling. This, too, is covered in the guide linked above.

Luckily, as a fleet manager, you don’t need to do all of this manually. Modern software for fleet tracking has plenty of map and traffic data that can be used to algorithmically optimize travel routes with an eye for fuel efficiency.

Consider Building Your Own Stockpile

While studies show that diesel fuel can start to go bad after 28 days in storage, under the right conditions, it can remain usable for as much as 6-12 months.

Now, you’re pretty unlikely to be building up a year-long stockpile of your full fleet’s fuel consumption. However, by maintaining at least a little of a stockpile, you can insulate yourself against brief spikes in scarcity and price.

Have Emergency Contacts in Case of a Disaster

In the case of a true disaster, whether it’s an adverse weather event or something worse, know who to call. This may be city, county, or state-level disaster assistance organizations or even FEMA or the Red Cross.

True emergency preparation goes well beyond having a set of phone numbers on hand, but it’s something that never hurts to keep around.

Work with Epika

At Epika Fleet, we help support a wide range of different fleets for all kinds of needs, whether it’s preventative maintenance, information, or emergency repairs.

By working with us, you can tap into a larger network and infrastructure of support than you can set up on your own and take advantage of our greater pool of resources. All you need to do is contact us to get started! And if you have any questions, please feel free to let us know!

One of the key requirements for road safety and fleet operation is making sure that the trucks you have on the road are safe and well-maintained. While anything can happen on the road, you want to do everything in your power to minimize the chances of parts failing, loss of control, or other causes of accidents.

This is so important, in fact, that it’s rolled into law under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration legislation. In fact, part 396.3 (a) requires every motor carrier to “systematically inspect, repair, and maintain, or cause to be systematically inspected, repaired, and maintained, all motor vehicles subject to its control.” Your drivers must complete this pre-trip checklist, and you must keep records of the results. These records are stored as DVIRs, or Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports, and must be presented when asked at inspections.

These inspections are critical for the continued operation of your fleet. If your drivers fail to perform them or perform them inadequately, it can result in serious fines from the FMCSA, reduce your business’s CSA scores, and even result in a loss of licenses or certifications. Any driver who doesn’t complete these checklists appropriately needs to be trained, disciplined, and/or fired before they jeopardize the safety of other people on the roadway and the viability of your business.

So, what’s on the Class A CDL Pre-Trip Checklist for Vehicle Inspection? Let’s dig into it.

What’s On the Class A CDL Pre-Trip Inspection Checklist?

A comprehensive inspection of a truck should take somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes before leaving on a trip, which includes both performing the inspection and filling out the form. Some items are very easy to check, while others may require a bit more detailed inspection; all of them need to be done, and records of the results need to be kept.

Note: The Driver Vehicle Inspection Report, or DVIR, should be kept as part of records along with the vehicle. In the event of an accident or vehicle failure, it’s very likely that this report will be checked, and if there’s a mismatch, it can put the driver in hot water.

While you can technically perform the inspection in any order and with any starting point, it’s most common to do a tip-to-tail pattern starting at the front of the truck and working back. Thus, we’ll format our guide here in the same way.

Before we dig in, though, one important statement must be made: this is not an official checklist; it’s just an example of the kinds of things being inspected for a DVIR. Be sure to reference your local laws and specific regulations to determine what needs to be on your checklists.

Front of Truck

Starting with the front of the vehicle, check:

Lights. Make sure all front-end lights are clean and visible. Further, make sure they’re all operational, the right color, and are securely mounted in place.

Tilt. Make sure the truck isn’t visibly leaning, which can indicate problems elsewhere.

Leaks. Make sure there are no visible fluid leaks underneath the engine compartment, which can indicate problems elsewhere.

Engine Compartment

Under the hood, there’s a lot to check.

Fluids. Each fluid is important, including power steering, coolant, windshield washer fluid, and engine oil. Check the reservoirs and fluid levels, fluid quality, and check the hoses for splits, cuts, cracks, and proper mounting.

Belts. Engines rely on belts to function, so check the belts for any pumps, the air compressor, and the alternator to make sure they’re in good condition. Look for cracks in the belts, and check to make sure they have a minimum amount of play (no more than 3/4ths of an inch.)

Engine elements. Check the air compressor, alternator, and water pump to make sure they are all properly mounted, appropriately connected, and free of cracks, leaks, or other faults.

Front End

Aside from the visible front and the engine, there are other aspects of the front of the truck that must be checked.

Steering. Make sure the steering gearbox and any attached hoses are clear and free of damage, leaks, cracks, or other issues. Make sure everything is properly secured. Further, check the steering column and make sure it’s not bent or broken.

Rods and arms. Check that the Pitman arm is in good condition and that the cotter pins are present and tight. Check the drag link for proper greasing and good condition in the rubber. Check the control arms and tie rods to make sure they’re secure and aren’t cracked, bent, or broken.

Front suspension. Check that the spring mounts, spring hanger, and leaf springs are all in good condition and are not cracked or broken. Check that all U-bolts are accounted for and not worn down. Check the shock absorber for leaks, which are typically along the top or bottom, and make sure that the rubber is in good condition. Check the airbag for abrasions, cuts, leaks, and missing bolts.

Cab

The cab contains many essential elements for a successful trip and, of course, must be inspected.

Seat belts should be free of rips and frays and should latch properly.

All lights and indicators should be operational.

The windshield should be free of debris and cleaned, with no more than a 1″ crack anywhere.

HVAC needs to be operational.

Safety equipment needs to be present and accounted for.

Driver’s Side

On the driver’s side of the vehicle are several critical components that must be checked.

Mirrors. Check that the mirrors are properly attached and mounted. Make sure they are clean and are not broken and that they have proper alignment for visibility.

Door. Check to ensure the door is properly operating and latching and that the hinges are intact. Further, make sure the door seals are in good condition and are not torn, rotted, or missing.

Steps. Any steps or ladders should be in good condition, properly mounted, and can hold weight properly.

Fuel tank. Make sure the tank is not leaking, that the fuel cap is tight and sealed and that no sensors are tripping during normal operation.

Rear End

The back of the truck is just as important to inspect as the front.

Drive shaft. Make sure the drive shaft is straight and not twisted, the joints are in good condition, and there’s no debris caught up in it along the way.

Exhaust. Make sure the exhaust system is in place and operational, that there are no signs of leaks such as soot build-up, and that critical elements like the SCR system are intact.

Frame. Ensure that the visible points of the frame that are exposed are in good condition, that nothing is broken or cracked, and that there are no unauthorized welds or improper repairs.

Steps and catwalks. Where present, make sure that these elements are properly secured, free of debris, and in good condition.

Mudflaps. Make sure these are secured and in good condition and are positioned at the right height for the truck.

Lights should all be in good condition, clean, properly mounted, and functional. Turn signals, brake lights, hazards, license plate lights, and others are all essential and should be checked.

Couplings

The couplings between truck and trailer are essential for proper operation and safety on the road.

Air connectors. Make sure this connector is secure and free of abrasions, cuts, or leaks. Make sure it doesn’t drag or dangle beneath the vehicle where it could be damaged.

Electrics. Make sure the electric lines are secure and free of abrasions or cuts. Check for safety latches and make sure it doesn’t drag or dangle.

Gladhands. Make sure these connectors are in good condition and that their seals are intact with no signs of rotting or leaking.

Fifth wheels. Make sure the platform is secure to the frame and is in good condition, free of cracks or bends. Check for unauthorized welds or improper repairs.

Mounting bolts. Check these for their presence and proper mounting.

Skid plate. Check to make sure this is properly greased.

Release arm. Make sure this is secure and fully locked.

King Pin. Make sure this is securely in place and free of damage like cracking or bending.

Apron. Make sure this is mounted and secure as necessary and is free of cracks or breaks.

Brake System

Very little is more important in a commercial vehicle than the brakes, so these need to be inspected before every trip.

Brake hose. Make sure this is securely mounted and free from splits, cuts, and leaks.

Brake chamber. Make sure this isn’t leaking air; some slow, minor leakage is common, but it should not be audible.

Slack adjuster. Make sure this and the push rod are properly secured and have no more than an inch of play when the brakes are manually pulled. Make sure it stays at the proper angle from the brake chamber.

Brake drums. Check to make sure these aren’t bluing from heat or otherwise damaged.

Brake pads. Check for oil, debris, or other obstructions that can hamper the proper function of the brakes. Further, make sure the brake pads are at least a quarter inch thick.

Wheels

There are a lot of wheels on a commercial truck, and they all need to be inspected.

Steer tires. Look for cuts, bulges, abrasions, or damage to the tires. Make sure the rims are in good condition. Check inflation levels and ensure they’re within proper specifications. The minimum tread depth is typically 4/32″, and the tread should be evenly worn.

Drive tires. The same as above. Minimum tread depth should be 2/32″.

Valve stems should be secured and in place with no audible leaks.

Lug nuts should all be accounted for and in good condition.

Are There Differences Between Class A and Class B Checklists?

Yes. While today’s post goes into detail specifically with class A CDL checklists, class B checklists also exist and are somewhat different.

The difference, primarily, is due to the differences in what kinds of vehicles fall under class A and class B. Since class A vehicles are generally towing, while class B tend to be passenger vehicles more like buses, there are some elements that vary. For example, class A inspections don’t generally have an emergency exit to inspect, while class B don’t typically have towing linkages to inspect. That said, be sure to refer to any specific details for your vehicle if you’re operating a class B vehicle as part of your fleet.

Are There Different Requirements for Inspections in Different States?

Truthfully, yes. The checklist is built up from three different sets of guidelines.

At the top level, you have the federal requirements as described by the FMCSA. This is the “bare minimum” amount of inspection your drivers will need to complete in order to operate their vehicles safely and legally. You can read more information about this checklist directly from the FMCSA here.

The second is state-level vehicle inspection report requirements. Each state will start with what the FMCSA lays out but can add its own unique additional elements to the checklist. Sometimes, they’re more or less identical to the federal guidelines; sometimes, they have additional items to check.

To use some examples:

• Colorado’s inspection form
• New York’s inspection checklist
• Michigan’s inspection guidelines

While these more or less cover all of the same bases, some of them will be more broad or more specific than others.

The third layer is company-level additional requirements. Your business might want to add additional items to the checklist if you know they’re more relevant or frequently left out of other inspections, just to make sure all of your bases are covered. These won’t get you in trouble with the government if they aren’t checked, but they can be beneficial for your own purposes.

Additionally, there can sometimes be a fourth layer, which is a vehicle-specific layer. These are specific problem areas you identify with individual trucks, and you can make a point of ensuring that the driver checks them to make sure they aren’t likely to fail mid-trip. Usually, though, these are covered by the other layers already.

How Epika Can Help

At Epika, we specialize in providing a nationwide network of maintenance service providers who can help your fleet with proactive, preventative maintenance. You’ll pass your inspections with flying colors every time because we help make sure every element of a truck is in good repair before the inspections need to be performed.

Simply reach out and learn how we can help keep your trucks operational and, more importantly, safe.

Unfortunately, no matter how safe our vehicles are, how well-trained our drivers are, and how carefully we operate, fleet insurance and the insurance claims process are going to be part of operations. Human error, freak accidents, and other drivers; there are many possible causes of accidents and collisions, and that’s where fleet insurance comes into play.

There’s an understandable urge amongst fleet managers to aim to cut costs in any way possible, and often, fleet insurance is on the chopping block. Whether you’ve gone months or years without an issue, it can feel like dialing back on insurance coverage is a good idea. Unfortunately, when something inevitably does happen, and you need to file a claim, cheaper and less robust insurance is going to come back to bite you.

Picking the right level of coverage and the right insurance provider for your fleet – and for each vehicle in your fleet – is a complex decision of its own. You can learn more about that aspect here.

If and when a collision occurs, and you need to file an insurance claim against your fleet insurance, how do you do it? Let’s go through the process.

Disclaimer

Before we dig in too deep, it’s worth mentioning that the information in this post is, by necessity, somewhat generic. Different insurance providers will have different specific processes you’ll need to follow. The steps required, who you talk to, the portals you use, and the information you gather may be different, depending.

Always check with your insurance company and learn their process and how it differs from the generic process we describe here.

Step 1: Know What’s Covered

The first thing you want to do is understand what is and isn’t covered by your insurance. It does you no good to try to file a claim for reimbursement for, say, vandalism if your insurance coverage doesn’t actually protect you from vandalism.

Usually, basic fleet insurance will cover personal injury, property damage, equipment damage, and cargo damage. It will often have limits that may not reach the extent of the damage done, though that depends on the policy you have.

More advanced and comprehensive coverage may be unlimited, may cover other damage, and can potentially even cover things like vandalism, random acts of nature like storm damage, or even theft.

Some states mandate different levels of coverage. Depending on where you operate, you may be required to carry at least some minimum amount of coverage or more comprehensive coverage. Knowing what is and isn’t covered specifically in your policy will allow you to file all of the relevant information to make sure your claim is processed properly.

Step 2: Contact Your Insurance Agent

Any time there’s an incident that will need an insurance claim, your order of operations should be:

1. Contact emergency response. This is essential for a police report, for EMS in case of bodily injury, and to give specific information about hazardous materials that may be involved in the collision.
2. Contact your insurance agent to inform them of an issue and get the process started for filing an insurance claim.
3. Contact tow services and shops if necessary to have the involved vehicle moved to a safe location.

You need to contact your insurance agent as soon as possible, but always prioritize the safety and health of your drivers and anyone else involved first.

There’s a decent chance that you’ll need a police report for the incident to file your insurance claim, and your insurance provider may have specific nearby facilities that they work with for damage assessment and insurance adjustment. It’s an additional delay, hassle, and expense if you don’t know where you send your vehicle after an accident, so make sure you talk to your agent right away.

Step 3: Gather Information

Your next step in the process is to gather all of the relevant information. This is where your insurance agent will also come in handy because they will likely have a checklist and form for you to fill out, which will tell you everything you need.

In general, be prepared to gather and hand over:

• Your driver’s license to operate the commercial vehicle involved.
• Your insurance policy’s number and start/end dates.
• License and/or VIN numbers for the vehicles involved.
• Basic information about the incident, including where it happened, when, and what occurred.
• A copy of the police report for the incident.
• Photographs of the scene and the damage.
• Contact information for any witnesses willing to be involved.
• Any other details that can shed light on what happened.
• Special note: If you have maintenance records for the state of the vehicle prior to the trip, gather those as well, just in case.

In some cases, you may have special information, or you may not be able to get all of the relevant information. For example, if a vehicle is vandalized in your yard and no driver is involved, their license isn’t relevant. At the same time, something like security camera footage may be much more valuable and accessible.

Step 4: Keep Records

During this claims process, you will also need to be keeping records of your own. Keep copies of every piece of information you hand over to the insurance company so you have your own records of the incident. Further, keep track of the dates you submit everything and all communication back and forth with any parties involved.

All of these records are part of covering your bases in case there’s ever an argument or disconnect with the claims process. You want records of the details of an incident in case someone tries to change a story later. You want records of when the paperwork was submitted and when communication happened in case anything gets lost. You want to be able to cover yourself in the event of any accidental or intentional tampering, rare though it may be.

If you’re using modern fleet management software, there’s likely a feature you can use for claims management. You may need to configure the system and learn how to use it, but it can be a great place for a central record store for everything related to any given incident.

Step 5: Address Medical Issues Immediately

When handling the repercussions and fallout of any accident, you need to make sure the people involved are okay. While it’s not really your responsibility to see to any other parties involved in an accident, your driver needs to be referred to a check-up for anything more than a minor fender-bender. Fleet vehicles are generally pretty safe, especially from things like whiplash, but high-speed and high-damage incidents, roll-overs, and other significant collisions can lead to serious medical complications.

More importantly, a collision is going to get the adrenaline pumping, and while your driver might feel fine at the moment, they may have injuries that won’t reveal themselves for days afterward. Getting your driver to see a doctor for a quick check-up will help ensure that any medical issues are addressed right away.

While an insurance company has the power to decide what shop or inspection you take your vehicle to before they cover authorized repairs, they don’t have the same authority over driver medical care. Don’t wait for approval; get your driver seen, and keep records of any injuries that may need to be part of the insurance coverage.

Step 6: Wait for an Adjuster to Inspect Vehicle Damage

Unfortunately, you can’t just have your truck towed to a nearby repair facility, have it fixed up, and bill insurance later. Your insurance company will want to send a claims adjuster out, who will inspect the damage and determine what they’ll cover and to what extent. They will also likely be looking for ways to exclude certain repairs from being covered or reasons to deny a claim entirely. Sadly, insurance companies aren’t generally in it for your best interests.

This is part of why having good proactive maintenance in place is essential. If your truck slides on a slick road surface and rear-ends a smaller vehicle, and the insurance adjuster finds that your tires were low on tread and out of spec, they could use that to justify dramatically cutting or denying your claim entirely.

Work with your insurance agent to know where to send your vehicle for this inspection. Sometimes, the mechanics at the shop can do it, and other times, you may need to wait for a third party. Either way, don’t expect your truck to be back in service on a scale of days. Weeks, or even months, is more likely.

Step 7: Authorize and Perform Repairs

You are not required to use the shop that your insurance provider works with, but there are benefits to doing so. They have better communication with the insurance company than a third-party shop would, so there will be fewer delays. However, the insurance provider may work with them because they do inexpensive work, which may not be up to your standards. You have to choose where to have your truck repaired, and make sure to communicate about the necessary and covered repairs, gather quotes, and have work authorized for reimbursement.

One note to make here is that if the insurance company seems to be dragging its feet, or the shop isn’t on the up and up, or if you have any other concerns, you should bring them up and see if they can be resolved. In some cases, you may want to seek out an independent appraisal of the damage and the necessary repairs.

Unfortunately, if there’s a conflict between what you perceive to be reality and necessary repairs due to damage from an accident, the insurance company isn’t likely to just fold over. This is where you may need to get an attorney involved.

Working with lawyers to deal with the aftermath of a fleet vehicle accident is never fun, but sometimes it’s necessary. Having someone who knows fleet and automotive law on your side, working on your behalf, is a great asset.

This is also where all of those records you’ve kept come in. If a lawyer can view all of these records and find that your insurance company has been in the wrong, they can lay down the pressure or threaten a lawsuit that can get the company to comply.

Step 8: Implement Preventative Policies and Maintenance if Necessary

At this point, the process should be more or less over. You’ll need to have work done to finish repairing your vehicle, and you’ll need to submit the final costs and get your reimbursement, but otherwise, everything is in order. Or, of course, the worst case has happened, and you’re involved in a legal battle.

Either way, this is where any roadblocks, flaws, or issues in your fleet management will have been drawn into stark contrast. For example, if it was a huge pain to gather all of the information about the driver and vehicle in order to submit your claim, you should see if there’s an easier way to keep all of that information on hand. Most fleet management apps these days allow you to store and update all of that information, so make use of those features.

Similarly, the process of having your vehicle reviewed by a claims adjuster can showcase any issues you may have with your inspection and maintenance policies. It can expose gaps or flaws in your maintenance but also in your driver training and reporting. If drivers haven’t been adequately inspecting their vehicles, that can cause problems.

This is your opportunity to reevaluate and reimplement any of these policies before something else happens, and you need to go through the entire process again.

Step 9: Implement Fleet Claim Management if Necessary

At the same time, fleet management apps often have a claims management module built into them. This can make it dramatically easier to gather relevant information, store records, and generate reports all in one place. If you don’t have such a system set up, it’s likely a good idea to do so.

Finally, if you need to have a network of service providers for maintenance and repairs on hand, we’re a great option. Our nationwide network of service providers is here to help you get everything going right, from the first mile to the millionth mile and beyond. Interested? It’s easy to find a service provider.

There’s an increasing awareness, nationally and globally, of the impact humanity has had over the past centuries on the environment. Everything is coming under scrutiny, from petroleum production to cargo ships to farming to the clothing we wear. It’s no surprise that one of the biggest targets is worldwide logistics, shipping, and fleets.

Any company operating a fleet should strive to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Why? There are many benefits.

• You can take part in proactive methods to reduce climate change and environmental damage.
• You can market that you take those proactive actions and win public support.
• There are often grants from governments and third parties for proactive climate actions.
• You can bid and win contracts that are only available to sustainable logistics companies.
• An increasing number of places are being designated “Clean Air Zones” where a less green fleet may be prohibited from entering.
• Many green and sustainable changes are also benefits to cost-effective operation and efficiency.

Sustainability is more than just a buzzword. It’s a series of tangible, effective business practices that can boost operations, reduce expenses, and have a serious beneficial impact both locally and globally. The only question is, how can your fleet push to be more sustainable in 2024 and beyond?

Step 1: Assess Your Current State and Set SMART Goals

The first thing you need to do is set tangible goals to work towards. You can’t just say you want to “be more sustainable” without having any idea what that means. By setting goals, you can then develop a plan and a timeline to reach them.

Goals should be SMART. SMART is an acronym that helps define the goals you set for your business.

• Specific. A goal should have a specific metric that seeks to reach a specific target.
• Measurable. A goal should follow some specific metric that can be monitored to watch progress and benchmark actions you take.
• Achievable. A goal should be something reasonable to achieve rather than pie-in-the-sky goals you’d have no way of actually living up to.
• Relevant. The other elements of the goal need to be relevant and important to the overall goal.
• Timely. The goal needs to have a timeline for achieving it or milestones towards reaching it.

For a sustainable fleet, a SMART goal might be to reduce carbon emissions by 75% by 2030, to be net zero by the same date, or even something as comparatively simple as switching to all-electric vehicles by the end of the year.

In order to set SMART goals, you need to know what the current state of your fleet is in terms of emissions, efficiencies, and operations. Some of this data is likely already available and perhaps already utilized in your fleet management platform. Other data might need to be identified and harvested or derived and calculated in order to establish a baseline. If you don’t know where you are, it’s hard to plan a route to get where you’re going, right?

So, learn where you are and what your current situation is. Set goals and timelines to reach those goals. Then, break down those goals into specific milestones you can reach along the way. Once you have that plan, you can start to develop the specific strategies and changes you can make to achieve those goals and milestones.

Now, let’s get into more specifics about what you can change and do to help make your fleet more sustainable. We’ve broken these tips into specific categories based on where the change needs to originate and what it affects.

Driver Behavior Adjustments for Sustainability

Driver behavior can be a significant source of climate impact. While it might not seem like a single driver being slightly inefficient with their habits is going to have a huge impact, when you consider all of those “minor” factors adding up across the whole of a fleet across an entire year of operations, you can see how changes to baseline habits can make a difference.

Changes drivers can make to be more efficient and climate-friendly include:

• Reducing idling: The more time a truck is running, the more emissions it puts out.
• Slower maximum speeds. The optimal speed for logistics trucks is around 60 MPH; the faster you go above that, the more inefficient your fuel usage.
• Avoiding harsh speed changes. Harsh acceleration burns more fuel than a slower, more gradual acceleration; similarly, harsh braking wastes more energy and puts more wear on brakes and tires, which shed particles that can damage the environment as well.
• Encourage more proactive inspection and maintenance. Even something as simple as proper tire inflation can have a surprisingly outsized impact on overall vehicle efficiency.

All of this can have a surprisingly immediate impact and requires nothing more than some driver training, coupled with monitoring from your telematics (but more on that later.)

One thing to note here is that you can’t rely on self-driving vehicles to save you here. For one thing, self-driving or autonomous trucks are still a number of years out before they’ll be adoptable and more before they’re affordable for most fleets. Second, they tend to work best only for long-haul trips like highway journeys, and even then, only in ideal conditions. If you operate in tricky areas, urban areas, last-mile deliveries, or inclement weather, you’ll have a much harder time using the technology. Don’t rely on future advancements to jump you to your goals without putting in the work.

Vehicle and Equipment Changes for Sustainability

Replacing fleet vehicles is always an immense expense, and given the relatively tight margins upon which many fleets operate, it can be a tall order to make the switch. However, switching to vehicles that can run on greener alternative fuels – or even switching to entirely electric trucks – can go a long way towards helping to make your fleet more sustainable.

Switching to entirely electric vehicles is a tall order. In many cases, you may be better off investing in conversions or new vehicles that split the difference. Hybrid vehicles, or even just vehicles that use alternative, more efficient, or sustainable fuel sources, can be a good middle-of-the-road step, especially if you don’t have the electric vehicle infrastructure in your area necessary to support operations. Unfortunately, all-electric may not be accessible until your region catches up with infrastructure investment.

All of that said, electric trucks, in particular, can be an excellent way to make your fleet more sustainable. While there’s still the question of where the electricity comes from, an increasing amount of electricity is generated through sustainable and renewable sources like wind, solar, and hydroelectric. As an added bonus, if you have the real estate for it, you can potentially even set up your own solar charging stations in your home base to offset some of the charging needs and costs of operating an electric fleet.

This may involve some calculation. Identify what the cost would be to invest in and keep an electric truck in operation and monitor the cost of operating and repairing a petrofuel vehicle; when the cost of maintaining the older vehicle exceeds your threshold, upgrade to an electric vehicle and ditch the run-down truck. This can be a rolling improvement, but each new investment has an immediate and tangible impact on your fleet’s sustainability.

If possible, consider timing your purchases. Oftentimes, governments and some third-party interest groups provide grants or rebates on electric and sustainable vehicles and infrastructure investment, but these can also be eaten up and run out in the first quarter of the year. You may be able to plan your improvements to be timed so that you qualify for those grants to ease the burden and improve your investment.

Fleet Management Changes for Sustainability

First up, you need to implement and use a robust tracking and telematics system for your fleet. Use Active GPS so you always have robust location information for your vehicles. Make sure your telematics harvests as much data as you can and feeds it directly into your fleet management platform. This way, you have as much data as possible to use to optimize your fleet company-wide. This does two things.

1. It allows you to figure out where the biggest strategies you can implement for the biggest immediate change would be; in other words, it helps you identify the low-hanging fruit to focus your efforts on.
2. It allows you to see the direct and tangible impact of any changes you make, so you have the data to use in the (M)easurable part of your SMART goals. After all, how do you know any of your efforts bear fruit if you aren’t monitoring the harvest?

This may involve fleet-wide expenses as you upgrade and configure your telematics and tracking systems. Unfortunately, that’s just the cost of participation in the proactive changes you want to make. Our best advice is to put serious thought and research into the systems you use and be as future-proofed as possible. The cheaper you are with your telematics, the less useful the data will be, and the sooner you will need to upgrade again to keep up.

Don’t forget, as well, that sustainability in operations can go beyond just your fleet. There may be many cases where your company still uses paper where digital solutions are readily available. The transition can be time-consuming, but paperless systems are often more reliable, free of human error, faster, and much more sustainable. You need to think about not just your fleet itself but the whole of your company’s operations.

Another fleet management option you have is optimizing your fleet utilization and routing. Most logistics companies have some idea of what routes they need vehicles to handle on what days; optimizing which vehicles start and end where and when is a complex problem, but modern fleet management platforms can help significantly with this optimization. For more on-demand fleet usage, optimizing anything from specific routes across the city to which people are called for which jobs can be very significant and can even be invisible to the drivers, adding no additional burden to your employees.

A potentially more extreme option you have available to you is fleet right-sizing. Some fleets have excess vehicles in operation, which means drivers get fewer hours, vehicles spend more time idle, and inefficiencies add up. Conversely, some fleets have too few drivers and vehicles, meaning some are kept on the road far more than they should, and it encourages inefficient and dangerous driver habits to meet deadlines and quotas. Figure out how many vehicles you should have, and either add more or remove some from your fleet to meet that ideal size.

Note: Remember that the right size is not necessarily the bare minimum. Insulating yourself from catastrophe is a big part of proper right-sizing. If one vehicle is taken out of service by a highway collision, that shouldn’t devastate your company.

Throughout all of this, it’s important to keep an eye on your milestones and goals. Which ones do you reach or exceed, and which ones do you meet faster than expected? Which ones do you struggle to reach? Your goals should be iterative, moving targets. Always strive for improvement. Standards will change, technology will improve, and what may be in the top 10% of sustainable fleets today might not even be in the top 50% in a few years. Always work towards improvement.

Finally, it can be extremely beneficial to invest in proactive maintenance. Keeping your vehicles in tip-top shape does a lot to keep you more sustainable. Clean and efficient engines burn less fuel and emit fewer traffic-related pollution particles, smoother operation is safer operation, and you have fewer cases of a vehicle taken out of service, leaving the rest of your fleet to inefficiently pick up the slack.

Fortunately, we can help with this. Our nationwide network of service providers is an excellent way for you to link your company up to easy, proactive maintenance. All you need to do is find a service provider (which you can do right here on our website), and you’re ready to get started.