Daily vehicle inspections are an important part of fleet safety and maintenance. You need to know how your vehicles are doing - that the tires are undamaged and everything is working correctly - before sending your drivers out on their daily routes.
However, scheduling vehicle maintenance in your routine can be tricky. How long should a vehicle inspection take, and how much time is appropriate to allocate to your drivers/team each day to take care of inspections?
While there's not an exact number (every vehicle and checklist can be different), you can determine an appropriate time window and help your drivers stay both safe and on schedule.
Depending on your vehicles, equipment, supplies, and data-entering methods, a vehicle inspection can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 90 minutes. Inspecting a big rig before it embarks on a 2-week journey deserves more time and thoroughness while inspecting a sedan before a 2-hour route may be done with a simple 10-minute "flight check". Work trucks, delivery vans, and passenger vehicles will naturally find a time somewhere in between.
To know the right inspection times for your team, start with your checklist and the times your drivers usually take.
Now you have four numbers that will give you the range on how long your daily vehicle inspections take or should take.
Next, red-flag any inspection times that are significantly faster or slower than the average cluster. There are serious consequences to inspecting either too fast or too slow.
If you have a driver who inspects in half the time, make sure they are actually checking everything on the list and securing what needs to be secured. Double-check for "copy-pasted" answers, slapdash supplies, or maintenance issues that simply aren't noticed. Too-fast inspections can lead to overlooked issues and even dangerous problems on the road.
If you have a driver who inspects much slower than the rest, you are likely losing productivity (and money) as a result. While they may be checking everything carefully, it is also possible that this driver does not understand the checklist, doesn't know how to look for the listed issues, or is clumsy with the data entry method. Unfortunately, it is also possible your slowest inspection routines are foot-dragging to be paid for easier hours of work.
The best way to make sure you are spending the right amount of time on fleet inspections is to optimize. You can streamline your inspection routine and the time it takes with a few improvement measures.
Here at Wilmar, we are passionate about all things fleet management. We can help you build a fleet, provide fleet maintenance, and equip you with tools for expert fleet management. But only you and your team can make sure your vehicles are ship-shape every morning before embarking on the daily routes. By optimizing your inspection routine, you can make sure your vehicles are safe, track maintenance arcs, and make the best use of your drivers' time.
For more fleet management insights or maintenance tips, contact us today!