The RAC has recently shared some data about small and medium enterprise fleets and the main issues involved in their breakdown call-outs.
According to the data shared, the chances of a vehicle belonging to an SME experiencing a breakdown in any given year is 3-in-10. The number of callouts for the first quarter of 2019 suggest that 31% of fleet and business vehicles belonging to SMEs will suffer a breakdown this year.
The data seems quite worrying and may come as a shock to some, especially as small and medium businesses have limited resources in terms of budget and fleets and breakdowns can seriously compromise business activity and productivity. Lost business, wasted time, missed appointments and delays are some of the consequences that small and medium enterprises, which make up around 99% of businesses in the UK, can suffer; and all that without taking into consideration the immediate consequences strictly related to a breakdown: the cost of the repairs, of vehicle inactivity and its temporary replacement, to name but a few.
Regarding the most common call-outs, the RAC has shared a ranking of the most popular breakdown causes for SMEs: the topper most is battery failure, accounting for 18% of all callouts, followed by tyres at 13%, clutch at 5%, alternator at 4%, engine mechanical cause, starter motor and fuel-diesel contamination at 3%, and ECU engine management, road traffic accidents and manual gearbox are the lowest cause at 2%.
According to Nicky Brown, of the RAC’s small business team, “Our analysis of the types of breakdowns our small business customers experience shows vehicles are breaking down all too frequently, no doubt at some very inconvenient times and in some very inconvenient places.”
Despite breakdowns being partly unpredictable, it is fair to say that something can normally be done in order to minimise their occurrence. Vehicle daily inspections and walkaround checks, together with a reliable maintenance calendar, can detect issues that might potentially trigger a breakdown before it happens. Making sure drivers are able to do their daily checks pre-trip and post-trip can definitely make a difference, especially if these are no longer treated as something tedious and time consuming with the aid of paperless checks carried out by an app. Our walkaround checks app can help you in this task and reduce the risks related to your budget, vehicles and resources, whatever the size of your business—contact us to learn more.
