Whether you are a fleet owner or an independent truck operator, you need to shell out your share of maintenance costs to keep your vehicles perfectly working. Amidst your business and trips across the country, it’s easy to overlook the maintenance cost of your truck. Well, calculating these expenses can be taxing indeed. Unchecked maintenance costs can notoriously lead to cost extravagance. According to the Truckers Report, the annual cost of maintaining commercial trucks can be as high as $15,000.
Calculating the maintenance cost of commercial trucks
- Fuel expenses
Whether you own a semi-truck or a heavy-duty truck, you need to factor in the fuel costs. Besides, you need to shell out associated taxes on the fuel. Several truck owners find themselves paying anything between $50K and $70K each year. On average, the vehicle would be burning 20,500 gallons annually. When you reach out to a reliable truck center, the experts would help you mitigate fuel consumption during idling by working on the aerodynamics.
- Dry preventive maintenance
As per the recommendations of the truck manufacturer, you need to follow up the schedule for preventive maintenance. This way, you can avoid the chances of untimely breakdowns and expensive repairs. Whether you are a driver or a truck operator, you need to take your vehicle to a truck center for dry preventive maintenance. The frequency depends between 10K to 25K miles, depending on the nature of your vehicle and its mileage.
Dry preventive maintenance includes grease jobs, refilling of coolants, windshield fluid, and brake fluids. The experts also check the tire pressure. It usually takes two to three hours for the truck maintenance shop to carry out dry maintenance. However, if the mechanics detect any severe issue during the routine inspection, fixing the flaw might take additional time.
An occasional dry preventive maintenance can cost you anything $100 onwards.
- Wet preventive maintenance
Wet preventive maintenance appointments for trucks cost much more than the dry ones. You need to spend around $350 to $400, or even more for such services at the reputed truck centers. You need to carry this out every 25K miles. However, for new trucks, scheduling a wet preventive maintenance appointment every 50K miles would be fine.
During wet preventive maintenance services, the experts inspect all the key components of the truck for faults. They change the filter and oil, besides refilling the fluids. The experts check the tire pressure and carry out grease jobs as well. With no additional repairs, a wet preventive maintenance would take at least 3 to 4 hours.
- DOT truck inspections
Trucks need an annual DOT inspection, which would cost you around $200. During these inspections, experienced experts at the truck centers inspect over 50 components of your truck for their functionalism. These include:
- The fuel and exhaust systems
- Steering mechanism
- Brake system
- Suspension and frame
- Turn signals and lighting
- Rims, wheels, and tires.
- Cargo securement
- Wipers on the windshield
- Unscheduled repairs
Apart from the scheduled repairs, you need to factor in some expenses for unscheduled repairs for your truck. Some of these replacements can be expensive, and these include:
- Charging system ($676)
- Clutch system ($1,000)
- Cooling system ($704)
- Other expenses
Here are some of the other expenses you need to consider.
- Licenses, tolls, permits, and insurances can cost you around $6,500 annually.
- For fleet operators, replacing the tires can cost you around $4,000 annually.
Reach out to a reputed truck center for affordable maintenance
As you can see, unchecked maintenance charges for your truck can drain your financial resources. This explains why you need a reputed truck center around your warehouse. With experienced professionals working on your vehicles, you can keep the maintenance charges manageable. Besides, the experts would also recommend you the best practices to keep the maintenance costs low.
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