It’s important to know that you’re not alone in feeling the pinch. The cost of vehicle maintenance is rising, not least because of labour shortages. Parts are also becoming more expensive and insured vehicle repair costs are on the increase.

We’ve recently seen leaders at Halfords and Startline Motor Finance warning that the cost of high energy prices for businesses could have a human cost too: on road safety.

Grey fleet vehicles, where the cost of maintenance is borne directly by the employee, could also be a real issue.

Increases in the cost of living mean that privately owned cars are becoming older and, industry research by Total Motion showed a stark difference between MoT failure rates on grey fleet vehicles compared with company cars or vans. Specifically, the research highlighted:

Defective tyres: 22% grey fleet, compared with 14.2% of company vehicles;

Defective brakes: 1.77% grey fleet; 0.38% of company vehicles;

Defective lights: 1.75% of grey fleet; 0.47% of company vehicles.

The survey also found that 13,659 (7%) of all vehicles that were checked had an incomplete service, maintenance and repair history.

However, cutting costs on maintenance is likely to cost fleets and drivers in the long-run. That’s because poorly maintained vehicles are a safety hazard. One collision caused by a vehicle defect can cost a company far more than it would have saved in maintenance economies across the entire fleet.

Regular inspections, daily defect reporting and good servicing makes vehicles cheaper to run. It also prevents unscheduled downtime. Furthermore, but increasing the attention to detail, faults are more likely to be fixed early and not when they become extremely damaging and/or very expensive.

Bear in mind, too, that well-driven, well-maintained vehicles are worth more on resale and also save fleets money at the end of lease.