TL; DR
Most transportation companies maintain trailers on a fixed time schedule; quarterly, semi-annually, annually. The problem is that not all trailers accumulate wear at the same rate. Some trailers triple the fleet average in mileage while others barely move.
Maintaining them the same way means you’re overspending on trailers that don’t need it and potentially missing critical issues on your hardest-working assets. Mileage data, collected through trailer tracking, gives you a smarter trigger.
Fleets that make the shift have seen maintenance cost reductions of 25–40% and in one case, savings of over $1.3 million in a single year across a 3,000-trailer fleet.
The Current Problem
When you walk into the office on Monday morning, you look at your upcoming maintenance schedule. Three trailers are lined up to be maintained, they go into the shop, the team works through the checklist, parts get replaced, and by Thursday they’re back on the road, standard stuff.
Although when you take a closer look, not all those trailers moved the same way, one of them travelled a normal amount, one of them was moving more than expected and the last one hadn’t moved in the last 3 weeks.
That’s the issue with maintaining by the calendar, you treat all your trailers the exact same way.
Consider an oil change in your vehicle, the sticker on your dash indicates a time OR a mileage amount, if the date arrives but you have not met the mileage amount, do you go in to get the oil change? When viewing the costs over time, you want to maintain and service your assets when it is most appropriate based on data, not when someone says it should be.
The Previous Method
Transportation fleets that are not tracking their mileage on their trailers, are likely to be maintaining their fleet the same for all their trailers. Research done by Heavy Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance shows that fleets that are doing predictive maintenance based on data can reduce their maintenance costs between 25-40%.
The transportation industry as a whole works on a predictive model; orders coming in for fulfilment, finding available trailers, and scheduled maintenance cycles. Where this becomes a concern is when you are looking at the real data from your trailers. Many companies either do not have the data to make changes to their maintenance scheduling or they do not have the time to implement the correct maintenance.
When you have the right data, you can make the right decisions. Mileage is a key factor when it comes to maintenance scheduling and with proper analysis, companies can reduce how many trailers are being maintained unnecessarily.
Where You Are Spending Too Much
When you look at the typical trailer maintenance, there are several parts that are being assessed and maintained: Brakes, tires, suspension and lighting. For a dry-van without looking at the tires, the costs can average out to $2,000 per year (~$160/month), for specialized equipment this can easily add up to $3,000-6.000 a year.
The hidden costs of time-based cycles are eating at the bottom line. From unnecessary work, shop downtime, hiring specialists and trailers being off the road when they don’t need to.
The Trap of Time-Based Maintenance Cycles
There are two main points of failure when it comes to time-based maintenance cycles, over-maintaining trailers that don’t need it, and missing urgent preventative maintenance of the most travelled assets.
Not all trailers in your fleet move the same amount, some can triple or quadruple the average, where others might not have moved more than 100 miles during the same period. So why would you maintain them the same way?
If you bring in trailers that do not need to have parts replaced, it will become a large cost over time, just as much as looking at the potential risk of not maintaining other trailers enough. With regulations, insurance and the safety of your personnel and equipment, you want to get ahead of any high-risk maintenance before it becomes an issue.
When you bring your trailers into the shop, they are not contributing to your business during this time. This is not an issue for a few trailers, but when 30-40% of your fleet is not contributing at certain points during the year, it can have a large impact on your revenue.
Why Mileage Is The Best Indicator of Actual Wear
Mileage captures the accurate movement of your trailer so you can understand the wear on your equipment compared across the fleet. Trailer tracking solutions like TGI Connect include mileage tracking in the device, so you no longer need to purchase specialized hub odometers or other methods to track this one aspect of your trailer.
The Best Combination of Methods
Here are some simple steps to consider if you want to improve the maintenance of your trailers:
- Implement a trailer tracking solution (satellite providers give more accurate mileage data)
- Change your maintenance cycle to a combination of mileage and time triggers
- Set alerts to meet mileage thresholds for preventative maintenance
- Flag any trailers that others are renting from you, so you can make sure they are still being maintained when they come back in
Getting reliable data makes these steps very easy to follow and can save the company a lot of time and money.
Customer Results
A customer of ours was able to reduce the maintenance on their fleet at an average of 1.5 months when it came to Preventative Maintenance. Across their 3000 trailer fleet amounted to over $1.3 million savings in 1 year. Ultimately it comes down to collecting the data accurately through trailer tracking and making small adjustments across the fleet over time to have a large impact on your bottom line.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How is mileage-based maintenance different from what we’re already doing?
Most fleets today schedule maintenance on a calendar – every 90 days, every six months, or annually regardless of how much a trailer has been used. Mileage-based maintenance uses actual trailer movement as the trigger instead. The most effective approach combines both: set an interval for whichever comes first, whether that’s a time threshold or a mileage threshold. This way low-mileage trailers aren’t over-serviced, and high-mileage trailers don’t slip through the cracks.
Q: We already track mileage through our dispatch software. Isn’t that enough?
Dispatch software tracks truck movement, not trailer movement. When a driver swaps trailers mid-route without logging the change, the mileage gets credited to the wrong asset. Over time this creates significant inaccuracies in your data. Dedicated trailer tracking devices measure mileage directly on the trailer, which means the data is accurate regardless of how many trucks pull it or how often it changes hands.
Q: Does this work for smaller fleets, or only large operations?
The logic applies at any fleet size; the savings just scale proportionally. A fleet of 150 trailers won’t see $1.3 million in annual savings, but the percentage reduction in unnecessary maintenance costs is the same. If you’re spending money maintaining trailers that don’t need it, that’s waste regardless of how many trailers you run.
Q: What about trailers we rent out to other carriers?
This is actually one of the more overlooked use cases. When you rent trailers to another carrier, you lose visibility into how hard they’re being used. Trailer tracking lets you see exactly what mileage is being accumulated on those assets so you can ensure they’re properly maintained when they return and have the data to support any cost conversations with the renting party.
Q: How difficult is it to switch from time-based to mileage-based scheduling?
The process change itself is straightforward; most fleet management or maintenance software supports mileage-based triggers. The barrier has historically been data quality: without accurate per-trailer mileage, you can’t rely on mileage as a trigger. Once you have a trailer tracking solution providing reliable mileage data, the switch is largely a matter of updating your alert thresholds and adjusting your scheduling logic, not a full process overhaul.
About TGI Connect
Welcome to TGI Connect, the trusted leader in trailer tracking and asset management solutions for the transportation and logistics industry, in business since 1992. We specialize in trailer tracking, helping fleets maximize efficiency, visibility, and cost savings with our cutting-edge satellite tracking technology.
Our extended coverage footprint and state-of-the-art satellite connectivity ensure real-time trailer tracking, automated reporting, and seamless data integration, reducing downtime and boosting revenue opportunities. Backed by a dedicated customer service team, we provide proactive account management and a proven track record of reliability, trust, and customer satisfaction.
Partner with TGI Connect to optimize your trailer fleet operations, enhance trailer utilization, and stay ahead in today’s competitive transportation industry. For more information visit www.tgi-connect.com.
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