Truck repairs, how does it all work?

I am sure your company has procedures in place for all those occasions
At Transam we just call road assist they direct us to a TS that they have a national account with and
then we get repaired or they route us to a terminal or kenworth dealer
if repairs take too long they reower our load or change the appt
that is what the office staff is suppose to do just worry about getting there is your job

 

Lights and such minor things you should be able to do. adding air to the tires also. I have seen young drivers call in for someone to come out and change a marker light or add air to a tire. as a driver you should be able to do that.

 

You can call the Breakdown number 24/7, 99% of the time you'll get a live person...One thing I loved about WS was how fast they got me back on the road anytime I had a mechanical issue...They didn't skimp and ask me to drive something unsafe to closest terminal, they got it done ASAP...

What they'll do is look in a book of vendors and based on your location give you 3-4 names and numbers of local places to call for service...I would call all and use the one that said they could get there fastest...Once job is done, call for PO and Tchk and away you go, never a hassle and the process is smooth...If you lose your AC in a hot environment or heat in a cold one, you'll get a hotel room without getting a hardtime...I always paid mine and would call for a PO number which they would then add to my next check...Some terminals have shops, your experience may vary, but I found using service depts on the road worked out better for me...

 

Another thing to consider is that you should let the consignee or consignees know of any delay. Depending on the need for the frieght, they might have to get something else going to make up for the time spent with out it. For example, flour. There are all different grades of flour. If what you got, is something that they have to have in order to make a product that has a deadline on, then you can see the pickle that they would be in. I have had people drive 300 miles to get something out of the truck that they needed ASAP. or a different carrier has arrived to xfer the load. Depends on alot of varibles, but let them know as soon as you know if the freight will be delayed.

 

You can fix, I know I would if I knew how...

The red book is good reading material when you can't sleep one night...

Dispatch doesn't run all night, I think they leave at 5-6pmMST, but not positive...This is where building a relationship with dispatch comes in...If I'm going to unload when she was off, I'd let her know I had hours and wanted to run, she would do what she could to keep me moving and usually did...I never felt I was made to wait for a load...I may have been in a line at SFS, but even then I found out how to bypass it!