Washing Fleets…Pay now or Pay later!

At an industry discussion with the Trucking Industry folks, we discussed what a clean truck means in today’s world.

1.  Image – a clean truck is your traveling billboard.  Would you not be angry if your billboard sign was obscured by dirt, oxidation and fading graphics?

2.  Life of vehicle – there wasn’t one person surveyed who didn’t believe a truck will last longer when cleaned regularly.

3.  Cleaning a vehicle more often actually hinders dirt from collecting and is easier to clean ongoing.

4.  Vehicle Inspections - a dirty truck and a clean truck traveling down a highway, who would be pulled over for an inspection first?  Unanimous decision on this one.

5.  Washing a truck without applying a brush will not totally clean what is required for a “great” image.  Pressure washers also damage electrical and graphics when not operated properly.

6.  Cleaning outside in the parking lot is not allowed?  Unanimous that this practice will be banned in the future as the sewer drains go directly to the streams and rivers (ultimately the lakes and oceans).  This can’t be good for the environment.

7.   Public washes are not cost effective for large fleets.  Too much time and money is spent to travel back and forth with an inconsistent result.

8.  Rain water does not actually remove grease, oil, gasoline or oxidation.  In fact without soap and a brush cleaning, the streaks and rusting causes irrevocable damage resulting in leaks and failure of hardware.

9.  Employees are much more satisfied with their work driving a clean truck.  Both customers and drivers image is heightened with a clean, shiny truck arriving to their business.

So why do so many vehicles not get washed in today’s world?  Simply put, the consensus is cost.  Today’s economic times require budgetary restraints.  First item to go in the maintenance world is washing.

Take for example a truck company with 1,000 trailers to wash.  Simply put, if they were to wash once a month at a public wash for $40.00, the cost of maintaining a clean fleet would be $40,000/month ($500,000 a year).  This is an example of a company I met with and why they don’t wash their trailers any longer. Will they pay in the long run?  There are ways to help this situation with minimal costs and the right attitude.

Today, we need to look for efficient ways to wash and invest for a clean fleet for the many reasons stated, or what is the cost in the future?  Pay now or pay later…you can determine what’s best for your business.