Conflicts with Maintenance

trust me anywhere the grass is greener....the more crap...lol...seriously though it's pretty much the same no matter what carrier...yes keeping u rolling is top priority just remember that when u get the load to phoenix & your ac is broke...or your heat doesnt work and they send u somewhere where its negative 20 degrees

 

I think you will find this exists to one degree or another anywhere you go. Maintenance departments are told to keep trucks legal, in "good operating condition", and keep costs down. Sometimes these conflict, then factor in that some lemon trucks (and/or their operators) breed costly problems continuously. Seems like every week it's something else and eventually the shop supervisor will move that truck down on the priority list, to insure there will be shop time for the other less problematic trucks.

 

well from forums it sounds like it is a industry wide issue.
but in 06 when i worked for Arrow. had 2 issues with my truck and i simply told my dm that if if my truck doesnt get fixed it dont roll if it dont roll the company makes no money. this was a 4 day long fix and didnt get paid for it but was put in a hotel for the time .... the second time it was minor issue but said if it causes a problem at dot or while on the road (as i was under a load) than the load gets there late and the customer is unhappy they will know why it was late. so do you want to chance losing a customer? or spend a few bucks get it fixed and have a happy trucker and happy customer? had to gurantee the load would make it to my DM though. so it did but had to give the shop a hard time about it and a tip to the mechanic to get it done quickly. but was worth it IMO The shop said he could get to it in 3-4 hours and to do alot of Bsing to get it in sooner it only took them 20 mins or so when it was in. have to do what you gotta do to keep rolling.

 

With the CSA thing now carriers are held to the fire more for maintenance so it behooves them to keep the equipment up to par. If your carrier is giving you a hard time, you do have a tool to use called your little green book. FMCSR Part 396. Before you drive you have to be 'satisfied' that the vehicle is in safe operation condition. If you are not satisfied, simply do not operate it. You are also required to write up a daily Driver Vehicle Inspection Report at the end of your day. If something is on there that makes the safe operational condition unsatisfactory to you the driver, simply do not drive it til it is satisfactory to you. These are your tools that the carrier gave you in orientation. You don't have to get mad or throw a fit, just start quoting chapter and verse from the book lol see how fast they get things fixed.

 

The first company I worked for had a top notch master mechanic... He with a part time helper took care... really good care of 53 trucks. He was a total stud, and changed 10 tires on my truck/trailer (old school way) in an hour and a half. He could also work on anything Detroit, Cat, Cummins... but he also earned top coin. $90,000 or so...

Most mechanics are not even close to this league... In knowledge or skill... Nor do they make even close to this money.

 

Buy them lunch next time they do a PM and you'll find your truck will have priority. They get tired with drivers coming at them all the time. When the truck is scheduled for PM have a list of items you want to fix. Otherwise stay out of the shop for little items that you would like to have. Sometimes you have to look at things on the other side.

 

From what I have seen, the larger the carrier, the more problems you have with their shops. A smaller outfit, the bosses are much more on top of what is going on.

But the mega-fleets, also have mega-shops and a lot of them hire "bottom of the barrel" people for their daily maintenance. Lots of these folks would rather put in their time, than do their jobs.