Running a business is no easy feat especially a trucking business. Among the day to day duties of administration, driving and delivering freight you have the added chore of making sure you are profitable and running a lean business machine. On top of all that you have maintenance, tires, engine repairs, general upkeep and more. That is a lot for one person to keep track of and perform on a regular basis. So how do you go about making sure you are doing a good job in that area?

Creating a system for maintenance is the first key to solving the problem. If you are the type of Owner Operator that believes you shouldn't change items such as tires until they are worn out completely, or wait until you are at your mileage to schedule an oil change then you may be playing the game of Roulette with your maintenance program. Your maintenance program should be scheduled and routine with a proper checklist in place that focuses on prevention rather than repair. This isn't that hard to do and can give you great piece of mind going down the road. Here are the steps you need to take. 

First find a shop that you are comfortable dealing with, that you can trust to do a good job, and has the interest of keeping your truck in good running order. You may even be able to negotiate a lower rate if you promise to bring all your business to that shop. Sit down with the shop manager and go through your preventative maintenance program, what you need it to cover, what repairs should be performed regularly and so on. If a shop manager is not interested in sitting down with you then move on to somewhere else, customer service is key. 

The second issue is to schedule your basic service intervals so the shop has an idea when you will be around for service, this of course may move around a bit based on your schedule, but they should know they will expect you twice a month and so on. Make sure the shop is aware of when they will be doing a basic service and when they are also doing an inspection. 

Now the third piece of the system are the large items. The tire change outs, engine rebuilds etc. These items should be checked on a regular basis so that they are attended to before they become an issue on the road. Document their condition at intervals through out the year so that like an accountant your mechanic can advise you on the best approach and time to make those big repairs hopefully saving you downtime and money. Running a truck operation is not rocket science, but it is important and having it on a system is just a smart way to do business.