Alignment in action
Wheel alignment provider Pro-Align discusses the impact the process can have on reducing vehicle downtime
For fleet operators, ensuring vehicles get to their destination on time safely and efficiently is of paramount importance. Any vehicle downtime can result in a serious loss of cash for businesses which often has a knock-on effect for its customers and can end up tarnishing reputations due to unreliability.
Furthermore, with many multi-drop commercial vehicles heading from one job to the next, drivers often find themselves mounting kerbs and hitting potholes, meaning vehicle damage and wheel alignment is affected by the hour.
Reducing vehicle downtime
Regular vehicle maintenance plays a crucial role in reducing vehicle downtime, but one service that is often overlooked by fleet operators is wheel alignment.
Accurate and regular wheel alignment checks can help reduce fuel consumption, tyre wear, vehicle emissions and even driver fatigue, which in turn helps to improve driver safety. This also helps businesses save money on fuel and expensive new tyres, while reducing their carbon footprint.
Clive Seabrook, CEO of Pro-Align, the UK’s sole distributor of Hunter wheel servicing and workshop equipment, commented: “Wheel alignment servicing can help fleet operators significantly reduce their overheads and keep vehicles on the road earning money, yet it is still often overlooked by many across the industry.
“When a truck’s wheels are correctly aligned, tyre life can be extended by as much as 22 and 10 per cent for drive and steer axle tyres respectively. This is because the properly aligned tyres no longer scrub across the road surface, causing additional rolling resistance and higher fuel consumption.
“Some studies have shown that fuel economy can be improved by up to 19 per cent. This can help to reduce running costs by tens, or even hundreds, of thousands of pounds a year for operators. These figures simply cannot be ignored.
“Fleet operators must work with workshop owners and their technicians to ensure the right work is being conducted to help trucks and other commercial vehicles keep businesses from hitting a massive bump in the road.”
The Hunter Difference
A typical wheel alignment check requires technicians to carry out 17 different operations to get a full set of results which can take them around 15 minutes. But, with the WAHD from Hunter, the process is much simpler and faster, requiring only seven steps, which can all be completed in just four minutes, helping to reduce labour hours and costs for your business, delivering vehicles back to customers quickly to increase satisfaction levels.
Seabrook added: “For workshops that specialise in commercial vehicles, reducing downtime for their customers is an important aspect of customer satisfaction. With a more advanced system, such as the WAHD from Hunter, vehicle downtime is significantly reduced meaning technicians have more time to focus on other tasks to get vehicles back on the road sooner for their customers.”
