Breakdown Solutions
Our annual guide to help you manage on-the-road emergencies.
Tires make up a huge percentage of breakdown calls, and tire makers are enhancing their breakdown programs. Michelin last year expanded its program to all customers, not just national accounts.
Deborah Lockridge
Senior Editor
Never was a breakdown management service more important than for rigs that broke down last year while traversing those hellish regions devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
"When they needed it, they really needed emergency service," says Denny Devlin, president, Truck Repair Network. "They couldn't go into a Freightliner dealer or something to get service – the shops were flooded. Mobile mechanics, who didn't have shops that were flooded, stayed very busy."
Devlin's company was able to direct mobile repair services to those breakdowns, in cases where it would have been difficult for truckers to find the mobile services on their own.
Breakdown services operate call centers 24 hours a day, every day of the year, where drivers with emergency roadside needs can call into a toll-free number and get the proper help dispatched, whether it's a mobile repair truck or a tow truck to the appropriate shop. Traditionally, fleets have handled this responsibility themselves. But with the large number of services available today, it's a good option for many companies.
"As more fleets outsource their maintenance and service functions, and as just-in-time delivery windows become even more stringent, fleets need to be able to rely on national service networks with known capabilities, coverage and costs," says Andy Turnbull, director of emergency services for Volvo Action Service. "A lot of them are really looking at the bottom line. Especially when [higher] fuel prices hit, they asked themselves, does this really make sense that we have that competence in-house? Is this a headache we really want to deal with?"
Devlin notes that overall, the cost of emergency repairs has gone up, thanks to factors such as high fuel prices and a technician shortage exacerbated by the Iraq war. Breakdown repair services are often able to find you a better, more consistent price than you could get calling around on your own.
For instance, he says, many vendors have had to deal with their own increased fuel costs. To compensate, some increase the labor rate, some raise or add a flat call-out fee, some change the mileage rate and others tack on a fuel surcharge.
His service prefers to work with those that use a fuel surcharge or increase the mileage rate. "If they kick up their [labor] rates to try to recover fuel costs, then when it's all over with, you don't find many people go down on their rates, so it gets stuck up there at a bad high," Devlin says. "Same thing with call-out fees. Mileage and fuel surcharges are OK, because those do get adjusted" when the price of fuel drops.
In addition to fuel price adjustments, there are a few other trends going on in the world of breakdowns.
"We're seeing more breakdowns due to engine-related problems as the EPA tightens their restrictions on exhaust," says Bruce Lohse, manager, customer assistance for Freightliner's Customer Assistance Center. It's usually not major problems, he says; rather it's usually a sensor issue that causes the engine to derate or shut down temporarily. "We usually solve it pretty quickly and get it going again."
Unfortunately, the technician shortage is making it harder to get trucks back on the road quickly, says CDI Services.
"The technician shortage has caused additional downtime for major repairs that must be completed by dealerships," says Dana McFletcher, sales manager/account specialist. "Unfortunately, most major repair work must be done by a dealer, therefore there is no way around this situation. Communication is key to helping the customer make decisions to locate a sub unit or to re-power the load whenever the unit in need of repair will be down for more than one day."
Another trend is increasing focus on the over-the-road emergency business, says Lane Goebel, president of NTTS Breakdown, which has been publishing a directory of breakdown services since 1989.
"Repair companies used to split work on locals and over-the-road business, but in the last couple of years, we see more repair companies catering to the OTR business, having people on standby ready to get someone going again," he says. "They're publishing their rates and soliciting for customers nationwide."
Probably the biggest trend, today and looking ahead to the future, is fast-changing technology. New technology being used by the call centers allows them to provide faster, more accurate roadside assistance.
Sophisticated computer databases allow call centers to pull up exact information on the specs and repair history of the truck in question; keep track of a fleet's preferences and contact information; and track thousands of vendors that will supply the roadside service.
For instance, the Paccar Customer Assistance Center has internal resources such as its ECAT electronic parts catalog, which allows for chassis-specific identification of a vehicle's specs and parts list. Some Peterbilt dealers even have the ability to access parts listings or vehicle schematics at the breakdown site in their mobile service units.
GPS and sophisticated mapping software have had a major impact on servicing breakdowns. "Instead of opening an atlas, you have software you can look at right on your screen," says John Diehl, director of Penske's SOS Services. "If customers are using onboard technologies such as Qualcomm, a lot of times you can get a direct latitude and longitude hit and pinpoint exactly where they are. This way we can get service out there to them [faster], and I think that really reduces downtime."
Trucks themselves are helping. "We can often ask the driver to tell us what codes he's looking at; we'll run through some checks on the instrument panel to bring up those codes," says Freightliner's Lohse. Those codes can help the call center troubleshoot the problem over the phone, more accurately dispatching help or even walking the driver through a procedure that will let him get back on the road. "The more we computerize the vehicle, the easier it gets."
Telematics, which allow the truck's electronics to communicate diagnostic information in real time, could revolutionize the whole business of managing breakdowns. Several services are actively exploring how today's technology could be used.
"Right now, we sort of play a guessing game in the roadside repair business," says Ryder's Henson. "We go by the noise the driver's telling us it's making, the lights going off in the cab, so we're taking out parts that we think are going to solve the problem, but often times the parts we've taken out based on the driver's description are not necessarily the right parts, and the repair can't be made on the side of the road, so we have to dispatch a tow truck."
Telematics could change all that.
"I think in the future, you'll see trucks that have the ability to communicate their problems, and those can be directed to a call center," says Peterbilt's Pearson. "The truck is determining its own problems and requesting a service appointment. That's a little bit further in the future, but that's the direction you see things moving – the increased ability of trucks to communicate beyond their home base."
For instance, Peterbilt recently added multiplex technology, which allows fault or diagnostic codes to be not only downloaded at the time a truck goes in for PM service, but can appear as fault or warning codes in the cab to alert the driver, and be broadcast to the home base.
Telematics systems could even detect problems before an actual breakdown occurs. In December, fleet maintenance consultant service PHH Arval introduced PHH Onboard, a telematics-powered service that combines information from the vehicle (engine diagnostics, odometer readings, etc.) with information stored in PHH's database to help clients lower maintenance costs and improve vehicle performance. Fleet managers can address vehicle problems proactively before they become expensive repairs.
Freightliner's Lohse foresees a system comparable to GM's OnStar service. "You punch a button and you're immediately in contact with somebody, and have that trouble diagnosed electronically because the vehicle would be transmitting what the problem is."
Breakdown Solutions continued...
