Prevent Roadside Repairs With Regular Maintenance

White semi-truck with front hood open for repairs
Roadside repairs can be costly, delay drivers and result in missed deliveries. The longer a fleet can operate between breakdowns, the greater its opportunity to control repair costs, protect uptime and keep freight moving.

The American Transportation Research Institute’s (ATRI’s) Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking: 2026 Update found that carriers that travel more miles between breakdowns have lower repair and maintenance costs per mile and miss fewer revenue opportunities.

According to ATRI, the industry-wide average dropped to 36,891 miles between breakdowns or other unscheduled repairs from 38,249, but results varied significantly by sector. LTL carriers had the best mileage between breakdowns at an average of 49,884, compared to 32,894 for truckload fleets and 27,722 for specialized fleets.

While the figures provide useful benchmarks, they don’t necessarily reflect the equipment, duty cycles and operating conditions of an individual fleet. Penske customers can use Catalyst AI™ to compare their maintenance performance, uptime and repair costs to similar fleets and identify opportunities to improve.

Reducing the Risk of a Roadside Event

Penske focuses on preventive maintenance (PM) to increase vehicle uptime and strives to keep trucks moving from one PM event to the next without ever having to come back. However, preventive maintenance is more than changing oil and fluids. It means inspecting items that can cause issues and getting ahead of problems.

As part of its full-service leasing agreements, Penske Truck Leasing provides maintenance for its customers and follows a rigorous maintenance schedule that includes the use of advanced system analytics to identify potential failures before they occur.

With dynamic preventive maintenance routines, Penske's technicians can adjust inspections based on failure rates and a vehicle's history. Penske Truck Leasing captures and analyzes maintenance and vehicle data across its entire fleet, creating a strong knowledge base that helps technicians identify problems early and prevent more extensive issues.

The biggest benefit of addressing repairs during scheduled, planned intervals is that drivers aren't faced with unexpected downtime due to an equipment failure. Keeping drivers moving as planned is especially crucial as hours-of-service regulations have placed strict limits on driving time.

Getting Back on the Road Quickly

If a roadside repair is needed, Penske offers 24/7 roadside assistance and typically gets drivers and their loads back on the road within two hours. The Penske 24/7 Roadside Assistance call center is staffed by experienced, in-house Penske personnel with detailed knowledge of Class 8 trucks who understand the specific problems drivers may be experiencing.

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