Keeping Your Fleet Moving with Alex Frum
This week on Industry Insights with Route Consultant, we're exploring essential truck maintenance strategies with Alex Frum, owner of Alpha Kilo Logistics. Alex shares invaluable tips on preventative maintenance, building strong relationships with dealers, and managing breakdowns efficiently. Whether you're using OEM schedules, third-party software for tracking, or full-service leases, Alex's insights on maintaining a smooth trucking operation are a must-watch for anyone in logistics.
About Alex Frum
Alex is the owner of Alpha Kilo Logistics, a Transportation Service Provider (TSP) for FedEx Ground with operations in Memphis, TN, Olive Branch, MS and Independence, KY. In addition to his Linehaul activities, he is a co-founder of the Linehaul Summit & Expo and provides consulting services to potential and existing Linehaul Contractors. Prior to becoming a FedEx contractor, Alex spent 15 years on Wall Street managing a fixed income trading desk and serving as a regional branch manager. Alex is a former Army officer and a graduate of the United States Military Academy. He is happily married to his wife of 18 years and has 4 beautiful kids.
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Josh Gregory: [00:00:00] Welcome to Industry Insights with Route Consultant, your front row seat to the fast moving world of logistics and beyond. Each week, we bring you game changing insights, real world strategies and fresh perspectives to fuel smarter investments and build stronger businesses. Join us as we sit down with expert guests to explore emerging trends and pressing topics across a wide range of industries.
This is industry insights. All right, Alex, it is a pleasure to have you back. Uh, and this time, you know, we, we think about, when we think about the FedEx business, there's two main assets that I really think about. Uh, there's the people and the trucks, right? Let's talk about the trucks this time, but not just, not, not buying them.
We'll, we'll talk about that at some other time. Really, I wanna focus on what happens when your trucks break. So, uh, when you think about maintenance, uh, I. From an overarching strategy, how do you think about truck maintenance and, and kind of how you plan for it in your business? Sure.
Alex Frum: [00:01:00] Um, pleasure to be back.
Um, I think the first thing I always wanna do is prevent my trucks from getting broke. From breaking down? Yeah. Yeah. Like if I don't have trucks breaking down in the middle of nowhere, that's a great day. Yeah. So the whole goal, I think, to start off with is to have a strong preventative maintenance schedule.
Okay. Um, and it doesn't matter who you use mm-hmm. Or what truck you buy it, whether it's Freightliner or Volvo, or Kenworth or Mac or International. Get with the OEM.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: Get with that dealer and find out what is the recommended maintenance schedule for your vehicles.
Josh Gregory: Okay.
Alex Frum: And then determine based off what you're kind of running, are you heavy duty?
Are you medium duty? Are you light duty? Um, should you be basing it on miles or should you be basing it on hours?
Josh Gregory: Hmm.
Alex Frum: So if you're doing spots, yeah. I would probably recommend you're basing your preventative maintenance schedule off of hours. Okay. If you're doing mile, if you're running over the road, you should be
Josh Gregory: doing it over miles.
And does the, does the OEM, does it give you Yes. A schedule based on hours or miles? Yes. Okay. It gives you both. Okay. [00:02:00] Um,
Alex Frum: so, um, I, I run, I. I think I have 36 trucks. I have 33 Freightliners. Mm-hmm. Um, it's not because I, I mean, I have a preference from Freightliner, but by and large it's because I have a really good relationship with my Freightliner dealer.
Um, in my, one of my locations, the closest dealer. Within 20 miles is a Freightliner dealership. So by, because I only can use Freightliner in that location, I've decided to make my entire operation Freightliner.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: That being said, plenty of contractors use the other brands. Yeah. Um, and it's, at the end of the day, it goes back down to where do you have the strong relationship with?
Josh Gregory: Yeah.
Alex Frum: Um, and we'll, we'll go by. That's to either to buy or acquire vehicles or to maintain them. Okay. And you have to make the decision on one or the other. Usually they connect. Yeah. So like I have a really strong relationship with Buy a Freightliner in Cincinnati because they do, or Walton, Kentucky, because that's where I buy my trucks and they provide the majority of my service.
Mm-hmm.
Josh Gregory: And
Alex Frum: I get a price discount [00:03:00] on my service because I buy so many trucks for them.
Josh Gregory: Okay.
Alex Frum: Um. But yeah, so the preventative maintenance schedule is important. So, and the things that should be on your preventative maintenance schedule are not just oil changes.
Josh Gregory: Okay?
Alex Frum: Okay. Just like you have your car, you go out and you do an oil change, you change your cabin air filter, you change your belts, uh, you do tire rotations.
All those things should be on. Your ma preventative maintenance schedule.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: So I do an oil, for example. I do an oil change every 50,000 miles. Um, the first a hundred thousand miles I drive a truck, I do an overhead adjustment, and then every 250,000 miles after that, I do an overhead adjustment. Um, I do a di differential flush.
A transmission flush. Um, I do a power steering. Flu, a fluid flush and a power steering filter change, uh, do belts on a cer set under belt. My, both my serpentine belt and my accessory belt. Um. My DPF uh, pump filter. Mm-hmm. So my [00:04:00] def pump filter, I change that out on a set schedule.
Josh Gregory: Okay. Um,
Alex Frum: I rotate my drive tires.
Um, some people rotate their steer tires. I don't, but some people do. So all those things are done on a set schedule. And, um, are
Josh Gregory: you. You know, how are you like, you know, the schedule, but how are you tracking when things need to be done? So you
Alex Frum: can use, I mean, um, there's a number of different third party software providers mm-hmm.
That can do it. You can, I, when I first got into business, I actually tracked it on Excel.
Josh Gregory: Yeah.
Alex Frum: Um, so I would take the miles every week that I generate from my I VMRs and I would put 'em into there. And then as I had a greater than or less than function, yeah. It would color code for me. Um, eventually I said.
I got too many trucks. Yeah. And became too much, too onerous. And then there are third party vendors you can use. Um, my ground force, uh, forward arrow, uh, trucks, buy, um, probably whip around, does the same thing. Yeah. Safety forward. I mean, all these different third party vendors can do [00:05:00] this kind of stuff for you.
Mm-hmm. Um, so I get notifications on a weekly basis when my vehicles need to do certain maintenance, I communicate it to my managers. They take the vehicle in, they get the maintenance done, you know. So that's the first.
Josh Gregory: So, so the, you said, you know, the schedule. Your managers do it? Can they do all of those preventative maintenance things?
No, the managers
Alex Frum: can't do it. I mean, they just arrange for our mechanics. Okay. Now they're not employees, I mean, but our, who we decide to use, so in certain locations or in certain work. We only take into the dealership.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: Uh, certain work will go to other people. Like we have a preference to use Michelin tires in my business.
Mm-hmm. So we have contracted with a Michelin tire provider in all my locations to do our Michelin tires. Yeah. Um. You know, depending on the location, we'll do or oil changes either at a TA or a love's or sometimes we go back to the dealership for the oil changes. Um, overhead adjustment is [00:06:00] typically something we do at the dealerships.
Mm-hmm. Differential transmission flush will take to any kind of mechanic. Um, is there anything that you can do at the terminal or is it all have to be You can do, um, depending on the terminal.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: Um, and what you, uh, what vendors are available in the area? You can do some of this work on site. Okay. Uh, you can do a pm or, or an oil change, uh, in a yard.
If they have drop pans and they'll collect all the oil. Um, they can definitely do tire rotation. Mm-hmm. As long as they dispose of the tires. You can't have, you can't leave the tires there, but like an overhead adjustment. Um, what they're actually doing there is they're actually cranking the bolts down on the, um.
And bring 'em back to spend. Yeah. Expect on the engine. Um, and so you wanted to actually do that in a facility where they can actually measure the torque that they're putting on the bolts Yeah. Uh, differential and a transmission flush because they're, um, the amount of fluids that are coming out. You probably want to do that in a shop that can Yeah.[00:07:00]
Collect that much. Most
Josh Gregory: terminals probably won't be super happy about that. Yeah. Super
Alex Frum: time belts. That's no big deal. Yeah. Um, DPF pump filter, not a big deal. Okay. Power steering filter and, uh, and the flush is not, and you can do that in a yard. Um, so there's some things you can do in the yard and there are third party vendors.
So like, if you don't want to use like a, um. An OEM dealership, you can get either local providers or third party, like national fleet service providers mm-hmm. Who might come into the yard. So, um, Clark Power Services, Dickinson, fleet Services, Cox Automotive, those are all third party, uh, fleet service providers who, um, not only will do work on the yard for you, but they also have, um, a network across the country or region where they might be able to do work for you.
Um, if you have a broke down on the road. Okay. Um, so there's a lot of different ways to solve the problem, and then some contractors have grown big enough or they're dense enough where they have enough [00:08:00] tractors in a certain location where they decide to set up a new entity. Mm-hmm. A new co, um, that is their own maintenance provider.
Um, and don't ever, I mean, I'll say this. You can do whatever you want with your business. I would highly recommend not putting a maintenance company in your business, actually have it as a separate company. Mm-hmm. That charges or invoices your business for the work. You don't want to have that liability tied together.
Yeah. Yeah. So,
Josh Gregory: so outside of preventative maintenance, you know, what are the other components of your overall strategy? Well, so I mean,
Alex Frum: then the biggest issue, um, I'm obviously as your drivers do prevent, uh, do their pre-trip and post-trip inspections, you're gonna find and identified maintenance faults. So you have to figure out how you're going to repair those.
Mm-hmm. And then you have issues that occur when you're on the road. I mean, trucks break down. It's just natural. Yeah. You're driving a vehicle, you know, how many miles do you have on your, on your own? 40,000. 40,000?
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: Um. I don't think I have a truck right now in my fleet under a hundred thousand miles.
Yeah. And that's including three brand [00:09:00] new trucks I bought this year.
Josh Gregory: Yeah.
Alex Frum: So, and I have a, I have two vehicles with over a million miles. Mm-hmm. I drop brand new engines in them at 850. Yep. And I plan to run 'em to a million and a quarter. So
Josh Gregory: Yeah. Trucks break down. It's just different.
Alex Frum: Yeah. Different scales entirely.
Um, so, um, so you have to do one thing. You need to have a strong prevent, uh, uh, uh, pre-trip and post-trip inspection. Mm-hmm. Culture in your business? I'm constantly harping on my drivers. There are a lot of different ways to do it, but I mean, there's a lot of different things you can do. There's, uh, companies like Forward Arrow or MyGroundForce or whip around that can, you can upload an app on your phone.
Yeah. That requires your drivers to take pictures of the different pre-trip inspection points and then uploads that into the. Into the cloud and then you get that information and then you can do preventative maintenance based off of that. Um, there are other ways I've heard of contractors who will stick a 25 or $50 gift card into different tractors on a monthly basis to see who can identify and find [00:10:00] Yeah, a pre-trip inspection point.
Um, and then there's just guys who just have their managers on site or have their managers do the pre-trip inspections for all the tractors. Yeah, so there's a lot of different things you can do, but doing the, it starts with the pre-trip inspection. Having a strong pre-trip inspection culture will help you catch the accidents or not the accidents, sorry, the mechanical issues.
Yeah. Before you actually get on the road. And if you catch a mechanical issue while it's in the yard. It's a lot cheaper than catching it in the middle of nowhere where you don't have a relationship with that mechanic and where you're having to tow that vehicle to some random shop where they're gonna do some work on your vehicle.
Yeah. '
Josh Gregory: cause either you've got a spare that you can put in, or if you don't, you can just decline the run for the day if it's something that you can't go out. But once you're out, it's a different
Alex Frum: story. So, uh, once you get out, then you have to make a decision what you're gonna do. Yeah. Can you get to the closest TA or loves?
Mm-hmm. Is it work that you trust that a TA or loves can do? Um, or do you need to get it to a dealership? Mm-hmm. Or do you have a mechanical service that you think they can do the repairs? Yeah. Um, [00:11:00] and then how are you getting those mechanics? How are you contacting me? Are you using FleetNet, which is the FedEx approved third party Main ma, um, maintenance coordinator, uh, provider.
Mm-hmm. Um. Just understand that every single time you have a breakdown, whether it's a trailer breakdown or a tractor breakdown, even if you're gonna do the repairs yourself, you are supposed to notify FleetNet because FleetNet will then notify FedEx. Mm. And if you have a trailer issue, if you need to replace a trailer tire, if you have lights out, if you have brake lights, if you have brakes, airlines, or anything like that, fleet Net needs to be notified because they're the only ones who are authorized to arrange repairs on that trailer.
Josh Gregory: Hmm.
Alex Frum: Now FleetNet does not actually have any mechanics that work for it. They arrange with third party vendors to come out and repair Okay. Those vehicles. Um, but they can also arrange it to have vehicles come out and fix your, your tractor. Or tow your tractor or, and or tow your trailer.
Josh Gregory: Okay.
Alex Frum: What's, what do you tend to?
So, um, depending on the location Yeah. And where [00:12:00] we are, um, I will. Try to, um, repair the vehicle on site. Mm-hmm. If it's something simple, if it's not, then I'll tow the vehicle and the trailers, uh, usually to the closest FedEx facility. Um, and usually there's a mechanic close to the FedEx facility. Mm-hmm.
Especially since I'm running hubs mostly. I don't do a lot or running mainline, so I'm going from hub to hub. There's usually, and I'm on major highways, there's usually a freight liner dealership near me. Yeah. Um, but you know, there's times like yesterday, I. Yeah. Yesterday I had a breakdown at a ta. Um, I was doing a bump, and when my driver was doing a pre-trip inspection of the other, of their new set that The new one Yeah.
That they had just connected to, they, they identified that they had a, a leak coming from their DPF tank. Mm-hmm. That was a, you know, in and of itself, a, a situation. I generally don't like to try to have a ta uh, do the work on the repairs there. I'd rather have it go to a dealership, but yeah, I couldn't drive the [00:13:00] vehicle.
Yeah. It was already at a ta so I had the TA do the work. It took them 20 hours to do the repair, which was frustrating. Yeah. But you know, they got the repairs done. You know, I lost a load. Um, but I notified FedEx and FedEx recovered the load, so I didn't have a service failure. And then I got the vehicle repaired and had to put the driver up in a hotel for the night.
And you know, here we are. Yeah. It's another day.
Josh Gregory: Yeah. Just as long as you've got a plan or a way to handle it. And I think that's the, the name of the game when it comes. Yeah. And that's something
Alex Frum: that we've worked really hard with my company. Mm-hmm. Like I really try to work my, drive my managers to understand, okay, don't just come to me with a problem.
Don't just tell me that, hey. You know, tractor 295-550 broke down. Okay. 295-550 broke down. Here's the fault with it.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: And this is how, this is the action I am taking to get this vehicle back on the road.
Josh Gregory: Yeah.
Alex Frum: You know, we've already, we think this is a quick fix. This was a long, medium fix.
This is a long fix. This is where we're, how we're repairing the vehicle. This is where the vehicle is [00:14:00] gonna be located. This is what I've told FedEx. You know, sometimes they'll be like, okay, we'll wait you out. Sometimes they're like, we're gonna rescue those trailers. It all depends on when those trailers need to get to the location.
Yeah. But I always tell my managers to come to me with a plan. Yeah.
Josh Gregory: Yeah. And I, the, as much of that as you can ingrain in your culture, the better off you'll be. And you know, it's why having a manager can add so much value as they mm-hmm. Are your front line of defense in a lot of ways. You know, sometimes they can be the driver, they can be the mechanic if you need it, or, uh, you know, there's all kinds of ways that they can help.
Alex Frum: Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, you don't want to be the guy getting up at 2:30 in the morning. Yeah. Trying to figure out, you know.
Josh Gregory: Yeah. 'cause it's all, if there's a, if there's a breakdown, it's always at. 2:00 AM Right. It's never gonna be at a, like right when you were Yeah. So it's at 2:00 AM
Alex Frum: in like the middle of nowhere Nebraska, you are 30 miles away from the closest stop.
Yeah. And oh, it's a blind, it's a blizzard.
Josh Gregory: Yeah. And
Alex Frum: you have no idea where, you know, and you're trying to call a mechanic who's awake Yeah. And open in the middle of the night now. I mean, it's always the terrible, it's always the worst one. Yeah. Um, luckily, knock on [00:15:00] wood, I've never broken down like. Like it would stress me out to no ends if I was on I 70 or I 80.
Mm-hmm. And like I had just cleared like the Eisenhower pass or the T or the whatever the big pass is in I 80. Yeah. And I'm on the other side of the mountains and there's like this. Yeah, there's a stretch of road between, say Denver and Salt Lake on I 70. Like once you get into the mountains, there's not a whole lot.
Yeah. You know, you have the ski resorts, but other than that, there's not a lot. Luckily, I've never broken down in that area, but that would stress me out.
Josh Gregory: Yeah, it's fair. Yeah. Now I think the other way that people. Solve for maintenance is they'll go after a full service lease. Yes. So what does that look like?
And ha have you experimented with those at all? Yeah,
Alex Frum: so I have, um, I actually own a couple leases with both REL and with Ryder. Yeah. I prefer to own my vehicles. Okay. Um, I did try out the Ryder Lease, um, four years ago. Mm-hmm. And they've worked out okay. And I've, then two years ago I tried out the REL lease and I actually like the [00:16:00] REL lease program a little bit better than the REL the rider program.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: It's, um. It is just what I prefer. Yeah. But they're both good programs. Um, the way the rider works is it's a full service lease. They generally, you can either get new vehicles or slightly used vehicles. You have a mileage cap on 'em. Um, and then they, they charge you a maintenance fee based off of the number of miles to drive, and then they're required to repair all your vehicles.
Yep. Um. You know, based off of that fee. Now, if you, if you have tire, one thing that's different is tires on that. Like, if you have tires that go bad more frequently than you're expecting, then you can get charged with more fees. But in general, they cover everything for whatever they expect your vehicles to.
Yeah. And for example, like I just had a vehicle go down with a one box mm-hmm. And they had to replace the one box on it. Yeah. Um, so it's typically. They'll, you have a base rate, like say you have a thousand bucks a month, and then they have a per mileage variable rate to [00:17:00] cover, you know, any differences.
And then you have a mileage cap, like your vehicles can't do a C over a certain number of miles per year, otherwise you get penalty. Then you have REL, which is slightly different. You pay a weekly lease rate. Mm-hmm. But both are considered full service leases, whereas with Ryder, you have to go back to a Ryder facility.
REL doesn't have any facilities, so you. They have contracted maintenance providers. Okay. Um, or you can recommend maintenance providers to them that they will pay. So they have a, they have a, a component of the lease covers that maintenance and they will do those repairs for you. Got it. Um, the one thing, so Rider doesn't kind of communicate to you.
What their preventative maintenance schedule is. Mm. Uh, they kind of just call you up on a weekly or monthly basis. Hey, you need your, bring your vehicle in for this. Mm. Um, Ariel publishes and communicates to you that we expect you to do preventative maintenance on this schedule. And it's pretty similar to the oem, the OEM schedule.
Yeah. Um, both programs, you know, are are great. They're both [00:18:00] generally. Operating leases, not capital leases. Mm-hmm. So there's a, you should talk to an accountant to understand the difference there. Um, but you don't have to do as much maintenance there, um, because they're arranging for it. They're paying for it.
It's captured in generally in your lease. Yeah. And the nice thing about them is that if you have a mechanical breakdown on the road, um, rider and or REL. Will arrange to get your vehicle towed and repaired. Now, rider will provide you a lot of times with a replacement vehicle. Um, that's not a good thing because your replacement vehicle doesn't have any ELD in it.
Josh Gregory: Mm.
Alex Frum: Doesn't have a camera in it, um, doesn't have pin hooks or safety chains on it, or D-rings. So it doesn't really do you a whole lot of good Yeah. In the FedEx universe because you can't operate a vehicle without an ELD. It's a
Josh Gregory: truck with wheels, but you can't actually use it. So. But has, has Ryder technically fulfilled their obligation to give you a replacement when they Yeah, so,
Alex Frum: yeah.
So, um, what I did learn from that experience that you can actually negotiate with them [00:19:00] where you can get a lower fee, where they, they don't guarantee a replacement vehicle. Got it. 'cause it doesn't do any good anyway. So.
Josh Gregory: Yeah. And, and I think the, the leasing model has pros and cons. I think there's, uh, predictability.
It can, it really does convert your maintenance expense for the most part to a, you know, a set monthly
Alex Frum: fee. I think where it makes the most sense, honestly, is when you're running teams.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: Okay. Because when you're running solos, your vehicles are generally coming back every night. Yeah. Um, and so it's much easier for you to develop the relationships and have those relationships and manage.
The maintenance on that vehicle when it's coming back home every night.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: You can find a local mechanic who can, you can even pay 'em to do pre-trip inspections for you, but you can find somebody to, you know, to take care of that vehicle and baby it on day in and day out basis. Yeah. Where it really gets advantageous is like, you're driving across I 90, you're 300 miles outside of Billings, Montana.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: So if you think about I 90, you're Billings, [00:20:00] Montana. And then what is it? You know, middle of nowhere, North Dakota. Yeah. You know, whatever. What is the, what's Fargo, I dunno, that city maybe? Yeah. So it's like Fargo to, you know, billings. You know, there's nothing. So leave it to Rari l to figure out or leave it to Ryder to figure out how they're gonna service that vehicle or repair it.
Josh Gregory: Yeah. 'cause yeah, when you're on teams, you would have to have, you have basically have to figure out a mechanic. And towing location for everywhere between point A and point B, and it's just really hard
Alex Frum: to do. It's one of the reasons why for me, when I run on my teams, I only use vehicles that are still under warranty, right?
And um, so it's advantageous, like I pay the extra amount of money. I think it's like $7,500. Over the life of my five year, 600,000 mile warranty, where Freightliner will cover the cost of all tows.
Josh Gregory: Yeah.
Alex Frum: And so, and the nice thing about Freightliner is that they have the largest dealership network in the country.
And so there's generally a Freightliner. Give or take about a hundred to 150 miles of every [00:21:00] single spot in the United States. Got it. You know, every single highway.
Josh Gregory: Yeah. Yeah. Which is for the most part, everywhere you'd be driving out. Yeah. Over there. So that's
Alex Frum: one of the reasons why I like freight liner.
So if I happen to be intu cum care, New Mexico, there's a hundred and within 150 miles there's a freight liner, and I know I can get my vehicle towed by freight liner to that location and get it repaired. Yeah. And not only will they tow my vehicle, they'll tow my trailers with it.
Josh Gregory: Yeah.
Alex Frum: And that's a big deal because that's, that is a
Josh Gregory: big deal.
Alex Frum: Um, it means I'm still progressing the load.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm. And
Alex Frum: so I get paid for those miles. Mm. So whether or not you actually drive the vehicle or you tow the trailers to a location, you're still progressing those, that load, and so you're still getting compensated for it. Got it.
Josh Gregory: So e as long as you as the load
Alex Frum: ultimately makes it there within the window.
Well, no. So like say if I have a breakdown in between Amarillo and. Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mm-hmm. Okay. There's not a whole lot. Yeah. And I need to get those loads to Rialto, California. Mm-hmm. So I decide to progress. So I decide to [00:22:00] go to the Freightliner dealership in Albuquerque.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: If I tow my tractor and those trailers.
To Albuquerque and then FedEx rescues them because my truck needs to be in the shop for a day or two. Yeah. It needs whatever. Yeah. Then, you know, I've progressed the trailer from wherever I broke down to, to Albuquerque. FedEx is gonna compensate me, so they're gonna defray the cost of the, um, of that tow.
Josh Gregory: Okay,
Alex Frum: gotcha. Or reimburse me for the tow because Freightliners already agreed to pay for it anyways. Got it. And for most wreck, they don't care. It's, it's no difference in price.
Josh Gregory: Yeah.
Alex Frum: For them to tow one vehicle or to tow a vehicle. And two sets of trailers. Yeah. Or a set of trailers.
Josh Gregory: Yeah. So I think ultimately.
You know, we can talk about all the strategies and backup plans you can have when you're on the road, but the, I think the most important part is what you talked about first. You know, doing everything possible to track and prepare and make sure that there are as few possible incidents before your truck ever [00:23:00] gets on the road.
That preventative maintenance schedule and staying on top of it. You look, you're
Alex Frum: gonna have a breakdown. Yeah. What you don't want is you don't want the catastrophic breakdowns on the road. Yeah. You don't want to blow a, a head gasket. You don't want to throw, um. A, a cylinder. Mm-hmm. Um, you don't want to, um, have an input or output sheet, um, diff seal go out.
So doing the preventative maintenance on those kind of things is going to save you a good buck. You don't wanna have a DPF system go out.
Josh Gregory: Yeah. You know,
Alex Frum: so. You know, that's important, like the minor stuff. I mean, you're gonna lose a belt. Yeah. You're going to have an airline blow. You're going to, uh, lose your airbags.
You're gonna get water in your air tanks, you know, that happens. Yeah. It's not a big deal. It's usually a couple hour fix. And you're back on the road. Um, what you don't want, like I said, is like that day. That's something that causes your truck to be in the shop for multiple days on end.
Josh Gregory: Yeah. Yeah. And it, you know, it's, it seems like it's the easiest part to just do the preventative maintenance, but there's plenty of people that [00:24:00] don't, that don't look at the, they don't either, haven't ever looked up a schedule or are just tracking it in their heads.
I know lots of old school contractors that are just like. I know about when I should, but it's so simple to, even if it's just an Excel spreadsheet, like you said when you started, or any of the number of vendors that provide really easy solutions to track everything.
Alex Frum: I mean, you definitely should, I mean, talk to your OEM find if you're buying from VUL or Freightliner or International or whoever, get with them.
Talk to your sales person. Say, Hey, I need the preventative maintenance schedule for a heavy duty truck.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: Or for a light duty truck or a medium duty truck, however many miles you are projecting to drive on a weekly, monthly. Annual basis and FedEx, or not FedEx, the OEMs will provide you with that schedule.
Josh Gregory: Mm-hmm.
Alex Frum: And then just do it, adhere to it. And the other thing that's really, really important is develop that culture on top of the safety culture. Develop that pre-trip and post-trip inspection culture.
Josh Gregory: Yeah.
Alex Frum: Because that will save you so much time. Yeah. Like, I mean, and it's so much important. It's so important.
It also save [00:25:00] you. Um, it develops a culture where your drivers know that you care mm-hmm. About the vehicles. And so then they'll take more pride in the vehicles. They'll keep it clean. Like one of the things that we do, um, that my drivers really appreciate is I pay for two truck washes. Um, a month.
Josh Gregory: Oh, wow.
That's great. Yeah. So my,
Alex Frum: my drivers when they're driving down the road, know they can go to a blue beacon, you know, it's a national truck wash chain and it only works. It's not a, only works for semis. Yeah. Uh, they know they can go in and they can take their vehicles in and I mean. I do about 70 truck washes, um, a month, and my drivers really appreciate it.
And the, you know, the, my trucks looks clean on the road, but more importantly because they know the exterior looks clean, they keep the interior clean.
Josh Gregory: Mm.
Alex Frum: And if they keep the interior clean, that means they're safer on the road. Yeah. Because they have left debris, uh, inside the vehicle. So they, you don't have like a piss bottle or a, yeah.
A bag like Dr. In the, in the driver's, uh, driver's, well, uh, obstructing them, hitting the [00:26:00] brakes or hitting the accelerator. And even just making sure the
Josh Gregory: windshields are clean and clear at all times. Yeah. I mean, uh, ultimately maintenance and preventative maintenance, it's always gonna be incredibly important, in particular in line haul because if your trucks aren't running, you get no money.
Yeah. So. Very true. Perfect. All right. Well, Alex, I appreciate you talking through that and, and kind of walking us through what a maintenance strategy looks like in this space. Oh, my pleasure. Awesome.
