Tow Truck Maintenance with an AMSOIL Commercial Account
When trouble strikes on the road, the call for a tow truck is often not far behind. Be it due to a car accident, a breakdown, or some other scenario, many times traffic cannot fully resume until a tow truck can haul the damaged vehicle away. Consequently, a towing company’s fleet must always be ready to go at a moment’s notice. Not being prepared will affect your bottom line and give you a bad reputation. After all, people need someone they can count on!
Tips for Keeping Your Towing Business Ready to Go
Be intentional.
Set a maintenance schedule for your tow truck fleet and stick to it. You may have multiple schedules based on jobs to be done daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc., but whatever your approach, put it in place and be sure all of your crew is aware of the expectations, scheduled inspections, and maintenance tasks.
Keep up with costs.
The goal of consistent maintenance is more than just keeping vehicles on the road; it is vital to keeping your company in the black. Preventative maintenance will cost less in the long run. Buying basic supplies in bulk means you have them on hand when you need them, plus you will typically save some money due to quantity purchasing.
Write it down. 
Whether in a ledger, an Excel spreadsheet, or a record-keeping app, keep up when services and maintenance are done on each of your tow trucks.
Pre- and post-trip inspections.
Before every trip, take a few minutes to walk around the tow truck. Check tires, cables, brakes, lights, etc., to be sure everything is in working order. After returning to the tow truck lot, have drivers take a few minutes to recheck everything and note any issues that need to be addressed.
Keep fluids at proper levels.
Your tow trucks pull a lot of weight. As a result, it is vital that hydraulic fluids, oil, lubricants, fuel additives, and any other fluids are always at the correct level. Make it easy to keep fluids topped off by having a supply of these products available. You can purchase many of these items in bulk through Life Time Oil, your local AMSOIL dealer. Likewise, you can save thousands of dollars in your preventive maintenance costs by setting up an AMSOIL Commercial Account. With an AMSOIL Commercial Account, your business saves 25% off of retail prices for oils, lubricants, greases and fluids.
Changes.
Even using AMSOIL synthetic products, you will still need to change the oil! Usually, with synthetic, you will get a minimum of 7,000 miles between changes. However, if you stay especially busy or tow large vehicles, you may need to change it more often.
Make replacements.
Depending on the age of the tow trucks in your fleet, you will need to be vigilant about keeping all the parts up to date. With that in mind, you will likely need to replace the battery after 35,000 miles, the brake pads after 60,000, the air filter at 15,000 miles, and the fuel filter at 30,000 miles.
Keeping your fleet of tow trucks working is imperative. In an emergency, no one wants to be told that a tow company is unavailable because the tow truck(s) are in the shop. Be sure your tow trucks are always ready to go. Keeping detailed records, having AMSOIL on hand, and making replacements on schedule will help ensure you are ready to go whenever needed. After all, failing to be prepared will cost you money and your reputation.
